Lauren Stephens defends title at FoCo Fondo gravel race while Torbjørn Røed outsprints former winner Alexey Vermeulen

Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation) and Torbjørn Røed (Trek Bikes-MAAP) won elite titles at FoCo Fondo gravel race in Colorado on Sunday.

Stephens defended her FoCo title with a move on the big climb of the day shaking off Courtney Sherwell (Santa Cruz-SRAM), while Røed needed a final burst of speed to outsprint two-time FoCo winner Alexey Vermeulen.

Now in its 10th edition, 2025 was a year of firsts for the Fort Collins, 'FoCo', off-road race, with first-time live broadcast on YouTube for elite races, separate starts for each of the three elite fields - women, men and gender expansive/non-binary athletes - plus a dedicated finish chute for the 118-mile distance riders.

The elite fields competed on the 118-mile 'quadruple dog dare' route, with 7,432 feet of vertical gain, using a new start and finish area from New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, on the north front range of the Rocky Mountains.

The two-time US gravel national champion made separation with Sherwell and Emma Grant (Ventum) at the front of the women's field after mile 20, on the doubletrack of One Tree Hill. Once Grant was dropped, Stephens then made her move another 29 miles on at a ranch underpass to begin the main climb of the day.

“I really wasn’t planning to go that early, but I had a gap coming out of the [ranch’s] field, and I decided to go from there, and yeah, it was a long day by myself," Stephens told race organisers.

"I had to stop at the last aid station, where most folks were grabbing beer, and I really wanted to do that, but I was grabbing some water to cool off a bit on the last few miles.”

Stephens crossed the finish solo in 6:20:08, Sherwell crossing the line for second a little more than 14 minutes later. Grant secured third, for a second year in a row, riding one-and-a-half minutes ahead of Kyleigh Spearing.

It was Stephens' first race back since she suffered a hand injury and mild concussion in a third-place finish at Firecracker 50 mountain bike race in Breckenridge, Colorado two weeks ago.

The men's race, which started at 6:00 a.m. local time, five minutes ahead of the elite women, saw a large group marking each other until the mile-49 underpass through the ranch section. Heading onto the Prairie Divide climb, eight riders moved away at the front - Røed, Vermeulen, Joe Goettl, Ethan Overson, Michael Kanter, Mason Schofield, John Keller, and George Kasch.

Røed was the first to attack. He crossed the summit along with Vermeulen and Keller, then Keller slipped backwards after a mechanical. The final duo rolled across the last 24 miles together, Røed taking the sprint win.

“I knew it was going to be hard to beat Toby in a sprint. Didn’t feel great,” said Vermeulen at the finish. “I was at a wedding yesterday, so I had some ‘dancing legs’ at the start. We all made the decision at the Prairie Divide summit to stop and fill bottles, but then Toby dropped his, and John wasn’t attached anymore when we got to the bottom, so it was just a race in.”

When Røed lost both his water bottles on the bumpy descent, he recognised Vermeulen as "a gentleman and stopped with me when I filled up at the next aid station", so the duo continued the battle back into Fort Collins.

Røed won his first FoCo Fondo in 5:22:02, with Vermeulen three seconds back as runner-up. Goettl chased down Overson and Keller to finish for third, with Overson and Kanter in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Robin Cummings (Team S&M) created a gap after 12 miles in a sandy road section on defending non-binary champion Rach McBride (BMC) and continued to stretch their lead until the finish. Cummings won in 6:14:05, with McBride 50 minutes back in second, and Safety Tregelles well back in third.

"I come from a cyclocross background, so I tried to ride it at cyclocross speed, got a gap [on McBride] and that was it.”

FoCo Fondo was born in 2015 by cycling friends Zack Allison, Whitney Allison and Jake Arnold, with only two timed segments counting for results. In 2020 the husband-wife pro cycling duo founded Bike Sports and took ownership of the growing off-road event. The event now has five ride options, the longest route now offering a $15,000 cash purse for elite riders.

Results