Despite being 10 years younger than the 'big kids', multi-discipline U23 talent Kylee Hanel thriving in 'long, grueling races of gravel' with Leadville looming

Just a year ago, while still a teenager, Kylee Hanel was learning the ropes for road racing at kermesses in Belgium and stage races in the US. She proved to be a fast learner.

She competed in competitions at the Tucson Bicycle Classic and the Redlands Bicycle Classic with a club team based near her home in Oregon, showing consistent top-20 results. Then she moved to Aegis Cycling, founded by former USPro road champion Lauren Stephens, for her first UCI races at the Tour of the Gila and the Tour de Bloom, with consistent results on climbing stages and in time trials.

At the one-day Zottegem-Strijpen, Hanel finished in the lead group of six, which was won by Sandrine Tas, who is now with Lotto-Intermarché. She may have been sixth out of the six, but it showed she belonged.

It was in one-day races on home soil, be it dirt or tarmac, that summer where Hanel's name became more familiar to her competitors, as well as future sponsors and racing fans. She finished 10th in the U23 women's road race at USPro Road Nationals, her first appearance at a championships event. Her next championship event was four months later, and she went eighth on the elite stage at US Gravel Nationals.

Now 20 years old, Hanel earned a roster spot with Stephen's road team for 2026, Aegis x Land of Enchantment, and jumped into a gravel privateer path with Cervélo. How's her breakout year going, you ask? Perhaps better than planned.

Hanel is leading the women's U23 standings in the Life Time Grand Prix, taking top points at both the Sea Otter Classic Gravel and Unbound Gravel 100. On the road, she was the best rider on the Gila Monster queen stage and finished fourth on GC at Tour of the Gila, with Stephens winning the overall. She capped her first half of the season with the gold medal at the USPro U23 time trial, and took seventh at the U23 road race for good measure.

It's a fast upward trajectory on multiple surfaces for Hanel, but she still speaks with a bit of caution in her voice. She told Cyclingnews ahead of her debut at Leadville Trail 100 MTB about her interest in cycling, what she has learned so far and where she would like her career on a bike to lead.

Cyclingnews: Tell us about growing up in Portland, Oregon. How did you get involved in cycling?

Kylee Hanel: Growing up in Portland honestly gave me a lot of opportunities. There's a huge cycling culture here, and even though it's more commuter-style riding, it's still a cycling culture. I grew up going on short rides with my mom, dad, and sister, but when I was 13 I started riding with just my dad [Dr. Chris Hanel, ed.]. We would do really short rides, like a three-mile ride that would take 25 minutes. But I loved it because I wanted to spend time with him.

For high school, I went to Central Catholic in Northeast Portland, and now I go to Oregon State University, and I'm part of their eCampus program. I am majoring in business with a minor in sports management. I actually decided to do online school because of cycling.

CN: Road racing and some cyclocross in the Pacific Northwest is where you raced the most, but in the past three years you've added gravel racing, so which is your favourite discipline?

KH: If you asked me to choose between gravel and road, I honestly could not tell you which one I prefer more. They are both very different, yet similar. I really like the team aspect of road, but I like the long, gruelling races of gravel.

CN: On the road, you ride now for AEGIS x LOE. How did you connect with her and what have you learned from this experience so far?

KH: I race for Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment right now, and I race under Lauren Stephens. She's definitely a leader, but she's also a teammate. I have learned so much from her. I've not only learned positioning, bike handling skills, and teamwork from her, but the most important thing I learned from her is humility. She knows it's a blessing to be racing and is appreciative of the fact that she gets to go out and race. She doesn't look at the world like it owes her something, which I admire a lot about her.

CN: For gravel, you have a different setup for equipment and your team. Tell us about that.

KH: On the gravel side, I am a privateer. I ride for Cervélo. I got introduced to them through Michael Engleman, who is one of my greatest mentors and my current coach and friend. I didn't have a whole lot of results last year, so Cervélo just saw my power numbers and decided to take a chance on me, which I could not be more grateful for.

Pretty much this year I have just been supported by equipment, which makes sense considering that I really didn't have much of a name for myself until this year. But next year I'm learning about signing contracts where I'll get bonuses and be salaried.

This year Cervélo have provided me with bikes, while PEARL iZUMi is sponsoring me with clothing and shoes, Giro is sponsoring me with helmets, Oakley with glasses, LOOK gave me pedals, Prologo gave me saddles, Reserves and Maxxis are supporting me with tires/wheels.

CN: In 2025 you finished 12th among elite women at SBT GRVL and in the top 10 at US Gravel Nationals, won a third time by Stephens. Did you feel these races proved you were an 'elite' rider off-road?

KH: No, I really didn't feel like an elite road or off-road rider last year. My dad is always telling me that I need to have more confidence in myself, and I am learning that when I line up and race, I have to know that I deserve to be there and that I can win because a lot of cycling is mental. While it was super cool to be racing with what I like to call the "big kids", I would usually assume that if I beat them, it was just because they had a bad race. Now that I'm actually racing with them and performing well alongside them, I still think I view it differently than they view each other, just because I am 10 years younger than most of them. I admire them and look up to them in a way that a middle schooler would look up to somebody in college.

CN: So far in 2026 you've won some big races, including Unbound Gravel 100 and USPro U23 ITT national championship. Tell us what made each of those events special and challenging.

KH: Unbound Gravel 100 and the ITT National Championships were surprisingly similar in terms of mindset. Unbound was such a hard year because of the mud. It was my first year doing it, so I really didn't have any expectations, but from what I've heard from people who have been doing it for two decades, it was a very difficult year. I had to be mentally strong for both. The only difference was that the TT was shorter, and obviously they were on different bikes.

CN: You are at the top of the leaderboard in the women's U23 competition of the Life Time Grand Prix. Which event remaining on the schedule in the LTGP suits you best?

KH: Going into this year, I had no idea and no expectations of what the Life Time Grand Prix U23 was going to be. I have been pleasantly surprised by these events and the amazing people who run them. It is an awesome culture, and I really love being able to race with people who care about racing as much as I do.

I also really like the structure. It's nice because if you have a bad race, you still have other chances to prove that you can perform and be the best. It was an honour to be chosen to be part of the Life Time U23 field, and I hope to race in the elite field next year. The next race that I think will suit me best is probably the last gravel race of the series, Big Sugar. I haven't mountain biked a whole lot, but I started out mountain biking, so I have some high hopes for doing well there, too.

CN: Speaking of mountain biking, next on the calendar in the LTGP series is Leadville Trail 100 MTB. What do you see as most challenging for this event, and what part of the race are you eager to take on?

KH: No, I have not done Leadville yet. This will be my first year. I think the most challenging part of it will be the elevation. I live at sea level, so I'm going two and a half weeks early to train and get used to the elevation, so hopefully there are no major problems while racing. I think I'm most eager to take on this long, seven-plus-hour course because one thing I know about myself is that I persevere.

CN: Living in Oregon, are you able to train with any of the other U23 riders, or elite riders? Who do you tend to train with, or do you just ride solo?

KH: I have become friends with some of the U23 riders in the LTGP series. If I lived in Colorado, I'd probably train with Lauren Aggeler, but we are hours and hours apart. So I train with my friends in Portland, and I train a lot with my dad, who is the one who got me into cycling. I am just now finally able to beat him, haha. However, I do really like to train solo and listen to podcasts and music.

CN: In the next few years, what are the top races you look forward to racing the most? And where would you just like to travel?

KH: I think the race I'm most looking forward to next year is Road Nationals again because I'm always wanting to do better than I did the previous year, and the course stays the same [in Charleston, West Virginia], so it's a good chance for me to see my progress. I also really want to travel to Switzerland and Italy just because of how pretty I've heard the riding is.

CN: Name a few racing goals you would like to achieve this year, and in the coming years.

KH: This year I would really like to do well at the TT and Road World Championships and win the Life Time Grand Prix U23 series. I also really want to place well among the elite LTGP field in the coming years. By the time I am 25, I hope to be living in Europe.

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