'Get the grit, still be friends and race together' - Lauren Stephens, Emma Langley and U23 rider Kylee Hanel form off-road partnership to pursue Life Time Grand Prix rewards

Gravel, mountain bike and road races are all on the priority list for Lauren Stephens, and the Texas native has found a few fresh variations to energise her 14th professional season. She will captain her own multi-rider road team, Aegis by Leaders of Enchantment, and will have teammates for the first time at Life Time Grand Prix races.

After a year with Aegis Cycling Foundation as an off-road privateer and a composite group for road races, Stephens and her husband, Mat Stephens, formed a true road team for 2026, Aegis x LOE. They will debut the new kits this weekend at the two-day La Primavera in Lago Vista, Texas.

Last year at 38, she went on a tear and won GC titles at Tour of the Gila and Tour de Bloom, won Levi's Gran Fondo The Growler road race and earned silver at USPro road race nationals. Off-road success included a third US Gravel national title, second at Big Sugar Gravel, third at SBT GRVL and fourth on GC at Gravel Burn stage race.

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"I mean, this has been my dream to start a team. And starting something from nothing, you're like, where do I start cracking the egg? We are a road team, and we are supporting our athletes on gravel and mountain bike," Stephens told Cyclingnews.

"So it was really great that I knew I had the equipment for these girls, and so I had something to draw in riders to the road team. They're free to go after their own sponsors and ride whatever equipment that they want or have the opportunity to, and then we'll ride as a collective on the off-road side of things."

Commitments for road equipment came from ENVE for two years, including bikes and wheels, Shimano for drivetrain, Vittoria for tyres, and Capo for cycling apparel. She said they had enough setups for a total of eight riders, but would begin the season with herself and six others on the road.

Core road riders are from the US and include U23 athletes Kylee Hanel and Marien Lawson, the lone Canadian, along with Grace Arlandson, Jamie Chapman and Katey Krisky. Three development riders will be supported - Jocelyn Gamulcek, Kate Rhyne and the youngest at 18, Natalie Rehklau.

The most notable member of the off-road squad will be 2022 USPro road race champion Emma Langley, who competed with Stephens last year in a few races with Aegis including Maryland Cycling Classic where she finished third. She will use her own Ventum bikes and DT Swiss/Kenda equipment. Last year, Langley rode to second place at Crusher in the Tushar and seventh at US Gravel Nationals. It is her debut in the Grand Prix.

"On the off-road side, that's where Emma Langley comes into things. She has her own personal sponsors, but she's part of our off-road collective," Stephens said. "We're going to be on different equipment, and we'll show that we can still be friends and race together."

Joining Stephens and Langley at Life Time Grand Prix races will be 20-year-old Hanel, who will compete in the under-23 programme. Should Hanel finish in the U23 top 10 for women after the first two LTGP races, she would earn free entries for the other four series events.

"I am part of the Life Time Grand Prix, so performance-wise, that is where I'm focused for my personal results. And then on the roadside, I see this as an opportunity for me to mentor riders and teach them from within the peloton," Stephens explained to Cyclingnews.

"Emma is racing the Grand Prix, and she wants to win as well. We have Kylee going for the U23 at Sea Otter and then Unbound (100). It's a positive to have a team with you.

"Even if you're not out there racing with team tactics [on gravel], you've got this team around you - checking out the courses beforehand, talking about the courses, and just having that group of people to hang out with and enjoy the experience, rather than showing up and racing and driving home [by yourself]."

Two years ago, Stephens was invited to the Grand Prix's invitation-only field, but withdrew before the opening round to focus on shorter time trial efforts in pursuit of a spot on Team USA for the Paris Olympic Games. Even with Pan-American gold in the road race and silver in the ITT, she did not make the Olympic team.

Even without an Olympic Games berth, Stephens has represented Team USA nine times at UCI Road Worlds and three times at UCI Gravel Worlds, finishing sixth in the off-road contest in 2023.

Last year, Stephens raced as a one-woman show on gravel, retaining the US title in gravel and landing on the podium across races in the US and South Africa. The only blemish was disqualification at Leadville for taking nutrition outside an approved feed zone. She sees the partnership with Langley and Hanel as the boost needed for morale and for better use of resources to make an immediate impact in the Grand Prix series.

She will make her season debut on gravel at The Mid South on March 13 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, then back to Texas to defend the Rattlesnake Gravel Grind title she has held for two years. April ramps up road racing April 8-12 at Redlands Cycling Classic in southern California and heads north to start the LTGP campaign on April 16 at Sea Otter in Monterey.

The main support for the road team comes from Aegis Cycling Foundation for a second season, a non-profit that raises awareness and uses the sport as a healing tool for victims of human trafficking. The Leaders of Enchantment supported Stephens' road group at the Tour of the Gila last year and stepped up as co-title sponsor. Lee Whaley, formerly with DNA Pro Cycling, will serve as a team manager and in an advisory role.

"My goal with this team is to develop riders, teaching them on the road the tactics and the savviness of cycling, to get them over to Europe," Stephens added. "And then we'll race the gravel and mountain bike stuff to get the grit. Put those two things together, and then you get your Europe."

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