Leadville Trail 100 MTB contenders 2026 - Can anyone unseat Keegan Swenson and who can take the top spot vacated by Kate Courtney?

After a respite of two and a half months in the Life Time Grand Prix series calendar, Leadville Trail 100 MTB will kickstart the competition with its high-elevation 102-mile battle on August 15, a chance to reshuffle the tight overall standings and for other top stars to grab glory at the 'race across the sky'.

The Colorado event marks a shift in the series back to the flat bars – with Chequamegon MTB Festival and Little Sugar MTB next on the agenda in September and October. This mountain bike endurance race can throw a spanner in the works with nearly 10,000 feet of climbing, and altitude adaptation is rigorously tested across even a modified course, with the start in Leadville at 10,152 feet above sea level.

The changes to the route due to wildfire damage may cut out more than 4,000 feet of climbing from the original route, but the remaining elevation gain, including the traditional climb, and tricky descent, to Columbine Mine at 12,424 feet above sea level will push riders to the limit.

The prize purse had been doubled to $60,000, with race winners, regardless of affiliation of the Life Time Grand Prix, taking home $10,000 each. The closely-packed ranks of the Grand Prix competition deliver another incentive, as the series hits a third round of six.

In the men's competition Specialized Off-road teammates Matthew Beers and Keegan Swenson are currently on top of the leaderboard, each with 54 points, while Alexey Vermeulen is third with 46 points while Brendan Johnston, with 42 points, and Cobe Freeburn, sitting on 40 points, rounds out the top five.

Sofia Gomez Villafañe heads the women's leaderboard with 60 points and then it's Cecily Decker in second on 48, with Rosa Klöser, Hayley Preen, Lauren Stephens and Paige Onweller all within seven points of Decker. As Villafañe said in a recent episode of The Cooldown podcast "we're in for a proper battle at Leadville".

Read on for a list of riders that are expected to be vying for the top spots as that 'proper battle' unfolds.

Women's Elite

Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective)

With last year's winner Kate Courtney not on the start line, the person who naturally steps into the limelight as a key rider to watch is 2024 winner Melisa Rollins, particularly as she was also second to Courtney last year. However, it hasn't exactly been an easy season for Rollins after going second at RADL GRVL in South Australia. In March, whilst in the midst of training for a tilt at the Cape Epic with Courtney as her partner, a broken left elbow and injured right wrist derailed her plans, then there was a torn triceps, and finally, when she got back on the bike again, she was sideswiped by a car.

However, she'd had a tough start to 2025 as well – crashing and breaking her wrist in Otway Odyssey in late February – but still was delivering podium form by the time Leadville came around. What's more, she's already proven she's firing despite the brutal run, returning at SBT GRVL in late June and delivering at the US XCM National Championships. That means Rollins will be stepping onto the start line at Leadville with the extra boost of doing it not just as a former winner, but also in the jersey of a national champion.

Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment)

If you look at the results of Leadville in 2025 you will not see Lauren Stephens sitting near the top of the results list, even though she crossed the line with the third-best time, nor did she get to step up to the podium. That's because after the race was run Stephens was disqualified for mistakenly taking aid outside a designated crew location. Therefore, while on the results sheet it may not have looked like much of a debut at the event, what she delivered with her legs is a clear indicator of her potential to be a fierce competitor at the event.

In fact, the events of last year may even add a little more fuel to the fire, which is clearly burning brightly anyway this season. The US Gravel champion has also come second on the road in the battle for the national title the past two years, plus she has delivered a strong run of other results so far this season. That includes overall victory at both the Redlands Bicycle Classic and Tour of the Gila Women as well as second at Sea Otter Classic Gravel and third at SBT GRVL. It's a path to Leadville that bodes well for 2026, particularly as she's bound to have studied the tech guide in meticulous detail this time.

Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road)

It would be the height of foolishness not to have Sofia Gomez Villafañe near the top of any contenders list, given her run of results across the years and particularly this season where she is yet to deviate from the top step. Right from Santa Vall in Spain in February through to UCI Gravel World Series event Castellon Gravel, The Mid South, Sea Otter Classic, The Traka 200, Unbound Gravel 200 and SBT GRVL, Villafañe has reigned supreme. The question now is will she carry all that gravel prowess through to Leadville.

The mountain bike events haven't exactly been the three time Life time Grand Prix winner's strong suit in previous years but you'd be really pushing it to call that discipline a weakness. Villafañe is after all a two-time Cape Epic and did win at Leadville in 2023. Plus last year the Specialized rider was fourth and was second in 2024, so has never been far from the front, it just that sometimes she hasn't been right at the very front. That, however, could well change in 2026, after all she has won everything else.

Cecily Decker (PAS Racing)

Last year Cecily Decker proved her ability to perform at the top of Leadville as, after finishing last in the pro women's category in 2024, in 2025 she'd gone all out to target the race which didn't suit her. The former US Ski Team racer, who last year finished second to Villafañe at the Life Time Grand Prix, has now proven she's got what it takes to target the top spots.

It's been another strong year so far for Decker, with an early -season podium at The Mid South and the rider is once again sitting second in the LTGP between her eighth at Sea Otter and powerful third overall at Unbound at the end of May. After stepping onto the podium for a second year running at the brutal test in Kansas, there was a patch of illness. However, she was back racing late June and stepped straight back to the podium at Big Horn Gravel, and this time it was the top step.

After a solid fifth at SBT GRVL, she also then went on to claim the Leadville stage race in late July. Decker has been out doing a recon of the fire-modified Leadville 100 MTB course this week and, given her current form, and what she achieved last year, it's clear she'll be heading into this edition as one of the key riders to watch.

Others to watch

It's also hard to look past Sarah Lange as a possible contender. Firstly, she has finished fifth at the event the past two years, and Lange was also clearly building some strong form at SBT Gravel, when she came second after being caught by Villafañe. Then there is also Haley Preen, not only the South African gravel champion but also wearing the national marathon mountain bike jersey as well.

Paige Onweller, who was in the top 10 at Leadville last year, has also been putting some flying form clearly on display in recent months. After her fourth at Unbound Gravel 200 she then swapped to the road for the USPro National Championships and was third in the time trial and then, even after being caught following a long solo effort, she still managed to hold on for sixth in the road race.

Another rider to watch is Rosa Klöser, as it will be fascinating to see how the gravel and road rider adapts to another discipline when she takes on her first Leadville. The German 2024 Unbound 200 winner has proven time and time again she is not afraid of a challenge but this is unquestionably a big one, not least of all because she is coming straight from an arduous effort on the road at the Tour de France Femmes, where she also became unwell.

Men's elite

Keegan Swenson (Specialized Off-road)

If Keegan Swenson wasn't a marked rider before, he's even more so in 2026 - going for a record-tying sixth consecutive victory in Colorado and doing so this time with the marathon mountain bike World Champion's rainbow stripes for team Specialized Off-road. But he isn't really concerned about the other elite riders, it's all about a self-admitted 'obsession' with winning Leadville and going faster.

"Leadville, it's one of the most iconic mountain bike races in the world. It was always one of those races that I really wanted to win, and then it kind of became an obsession of how fast I could go and how hard I could push myself. So every year I'm trying to find ways to push a little harder, whether it's fitness, or equipment, or tactics. It's a lot of work, it's never easy. You've just got to be stubborn," he said with a laugh in the ROAD iD YouTube film, Unseen Miles.

The 32-year-old suffered a hip injury in February which disrupted his early season, then cranked up the engine for a podium at Sea Otter Classic, an epic fifth place at Unbound Gravel 200, and a fourth win at SBT GRVL. He'll have one Specialized teammate along for company in Leadville, Matt Beers, the duo tied in first place on the Life Time Grand Prix men's leaderboard. Look for the twosome to set a wicked pace, the larger frame of Beers doing some major miles to slingshot Swenson to a sixth win.

Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek)

Just four days before Saturday's early-morning race start, an unexpected entry by WorldTour rider Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) spiced up the elite men's start list. However, it's not as big a surprise as the first time the Colorado native competed in Leadville was in 2019, and that time as an unproven 18-year-old he outsprinted Lachlan Morton and Peter Stetina to take second place.

Simmons now returns as a three-time USPro road race champion, and fresh off his fourth Tour de France, winning a Best Teammate special prize for a second time as selected by a race jury. He was often in breakaways at this year's Tour, landing second place on stage 4 and helping Lidl-Trek teammate Mads Pedersen secure the points classification title. Look for Simmons to go on the attack, often, and treat this mountain bike challenge as a hilly one-day Classic.

John Gaston (STRAFE-Specialized)

Last year's runner-up to Swenson was mountain bike specialist John Gaston, who was 15 minutes behind the race leader though just 51 seconds away from going under the 6-hour mark. He was four minutes faster than 2024, when he also went solo for second place. In fact, he has been on the podium each of the last four years, so it would be no surprise to find the 39-year-old back in the hunt.

Winter has been the main focus for the 39-year-old from Aspen, Colorado, who has competed most often with 12,000 vertical feet in ski mountaineering for more than a decade and most recently won the US Skimo Nationals. He mixes some mountain biking in summer, and comes in fresh to Leadville again, as he does not compete in any off-road cycling series.

Brendan Johnston (Giant)

Brendan Johnston had a "devastating" DNF at Leadville last year, thanks to a huge rock that destroyed his rear wheel just 20km in on the Powerline descent. This summer 's US campaign finds him firing on all cylinders again, with a fourth-place finish at a muddy Unbound Gravel 200, which was one spot better than 2025 but "significantly more savage". That effort boosted him to fourth position in the Life Time Grand Prix headed into Leadville.

He has settled into a lead role in the Life Time Grand Prix, finishing in the top 10 for three seasons, saying in an Australian Gravel interview, "Now that I'm established, it feels like a home away from home" to be in the US often for the races.

Racing on Australian soil on two separate trips, he won both UCI Gravel World Series races, extending his streak in that collection of events to six consecutive victories. In the US, he has a road podium in The Growler at Levi's Grand Fondo, a gravel win at the Salty Lizard in Utah, and two weeks' acclimation in Colorado ahead of Leadville. The six-time Australian cross-country marathon MTB champion is back with confidence on a new Anthem full-suspension bike with new Giant mountain bike wheels, and among the Grand Prix riders behind Swenson looks to make a move at this long-distance Colorado race.

Others to watch

Among the elite men in the Life Time Grand Prix, there are a large number of riders who can survive the altitude, power across Columbine and overcome encroaching fatigue to kick pavement at the finish. Tops among this group is versatile Simon Pellaud (Cervelo-Assos-Maxxis), who is seventh overall in the Grand Prix with eight points separating him from four other riders.

The Swiss-born rider who has lived in Colombia for many years was third in his Leadville debut last year. An early season knee issue has been resolved and he comes in with a solid base of road racing, fifth overall at a UCI stage race in South Korea and eighth at Swiss road nationals. Just a week ago he had a dominant win at the UCI Gravel World Series race in Colombia.

The US duo of Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE) and Cobe Freeburn (Trek Driftless) are two of the riders being chased by Pellaud, Vermeulen in third overall and Freeburn fifth. While they both finished in the top 15 last year in Leadville, it was Freeburn's debut after going third at SBT GRVL. He's from Durango and started out racing mountain bikes, though he focused on the shorter cross-country races and not the six-hour endurance events.

Vermeulen has the experience at Leadville, going second in 2023, outsprinting Gaston that time, and going fourth in 2022. This year he was third at Sea Otter Gravel and second at SBT GRVL.

Big moves are needed by Andrew l'Esperance (3T Bike-Maxxis-Pearl Izumi) and Toby Røed (Trek Driftless) to crack the Grand Prix top 10, the Canadian rider in 11th and the Norwegian living in Colorado in 17th. L'Esperance has his racing roots on the mountain bike and can improve from sixth place last year. He most recently had a solid ride at The Rift with fourth place. Røed had a late start to his season, missing Sea Otter Classic, but he comes in as the new Norwegian gravel champion. Based on his fourth and eighth place finishes the last two years at Leadville, he's looking for an even better finish and grab Grand Prix points as well.

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