Keegan Swenson dominates Leadville Trail 100 MTB, takes third consecutive win

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Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) won his third consecutive Stages Cycling Leadville Trail 100 MTB on Saturday in Colorado, dominating his competitors and the course as he set a new record time of 5:43:29.

The Utah rider smashed the previous record by 15 minutes, and 6 seconds. That former mark had stood since 2015 when two riders went under the 6-hour mark and Alban Lakata won in 5:58:35. 

“It was great last year [but] I came up short of the record. This year I was all-in. I was going to send it, I wanted to make it mine,” he said after being 1:26 short of the course record in 2022.

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Swenson broke free from a 13-rider front group one-third of the way through the 105-mile (169km) out-and-back course and rode solo for the victory, 24 and a half minutes ahead of his closest chasers.

The best of the pursuers were the same riders as last year, but this time they lost more time to Swenson and finished in a new order. Alexey Vermeulen (Jukebox-Shimano-Q+M), outsprinted John Gaston (STRAFE) to improve from fourth in 2022 to second, while Gaston moved down one spot to third. Cole Paton (Giant) moved up a position from a year ago, taking a solo fourth. Howard Grotts (Specialized) settled for fifth, two spots adrift from last year.

“I just put my head down and gave everything I had on Columbine. Conditions were good, the course was fast and tacky. There was a little bit of wind and rain, but I think overall it was good on the way out. I just knew the pace I had to ride and that was it,” Swenson said at the finish.

With the victory Swenson also extended his lead in the men’s standings of the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda. Leadville Trail 100 MTB is the fourth stop of the seven-race off-road series, and Swenson has swept all four races. His run of top points across the series gives him a solid margin over second-placed Russell Finsterwald.

How it unfolded

The Leadville Trail 100 MTB covers 105 miles with the Rocky Mountain adventure starting at 10,152 feet (3,094m) at “Cloud City”, and the highest elevation reaches into the clouds at 12,424 feet at Columbine Mine on the far end of the course. Once cresting the summit, riders reverse direction and return with a slight deviation between mile 68 to 70.5 and then the final 3 miles back into Leadville using the rock-strewn Boulevard climb. 

The elite men and women formed the first group on the start grid with cold temperatures, 48°F, and low, threatening clouds. A large group of 13 riders soon set the pace passing Twin Lakes Dam, 41 miles into the race. Swenson did most of the pacemaking, along with Vermeulen, Gaston, Paton, Grotts, Eric Brunner, Alex Howes, Lachlan Morton, Bradyn Lange, Payson McElveen, Petr Vakoč, Cody Cupp and Ryan Standish. Finsterwald dropped from the group due to a mechanical.

From that point, the front group made the approach to the Columbine climb, a 7.8-mile ascent with an average gradient of 8.2%, and the steepest section at 16.2%. Keegan kicked up his effort a notch and began to create gaps to the riders behind, with only Vermeulen able to stay on his back wheel. By the time Swenson began his return trip to the finish, he was alone.

On the Powerline Climb (3.5 miles at 7.6%) with 27 miles to go, Vermeulen made his move and broke free of a six-rider group. 

With 16 miles to go at Carter Summit, Swenson had sailed away for a major margin of 21:17 back to Vermeulen, who held a slight 14-second advantage over Grotts, and another minute back to Paton and Gaston. Trailing later were Lange and Calton. The next four riders rolled across the time checkpoint spaced 30 to 60 seconds apart – Finsterwald, who had recovered from his untimely mechanical, then Vakoč, Andreas Seewald and McElveen.

Swenson focused on his solo effort, time trialling to a record performance, while Vermeulen and Gaston took the final two podium spots