Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) pushed past recently-retired WorldTour pro Lawrence Naesen in a sprint finish to win the men’s division of The Growler at Levi’s Gran Fondo, while Lauren De Crescenzo (LDC) soloed to victory in the women’s division.
The 140-mile, one-day road race was modified this year as a pro event with hefty elevation gain, more than 13,500 feet, and a hefty prize purse, $55,000. The Growler was part of 14th edition of Levi’s GranFondo based in Windsor, California, with the pro race on rough, twisting roads of Sonoma County in northern California –considered to be ‘single track for road bikes’.
The top five men and five women in the Growler shared the big payout equally. There were a flurry of entries from young riders not competing at Redlands Bicycle Classic, right through to experienced pros now seeking fame and fortune in several off-road series.
Joining Swenson and Naesen on the five-rider men’s podium were Petr Vakoc in third, Ian Boswell in fourth while fifth went to Griffin Easter, who edged Peter Stetina in a sprint for the final spot.
De Crescenzo was joined on the women’s podium by runner-up Lauren Stephens, Sarah Sturm in third ahead of Flavia Oliveira Parks and Emily Newsom in fifth.
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It wasn't only the riders that finished in those top slots that had the chance to walk away from the race with something valuable.
There was far more than prize money at stake explained event founder Levi Leipheimer, a former WorldTour rider and Sonoma County native who won the Amgen Tour of California three times before he retired in 2012. He included the King Ridge climb in The Growler, as it was also featured in the 2016 Tour of California, and he wanted to create an opportunity for new riders, not just veterans.
“We had the majority of the strongest riders in the nation,” Leipheimer told Cyclingnews as he discussed the field of 104 men and women in The Growler.
“I was hoping to create opportunities for up-and-coming young riders to go toe-to-toe with these guys, on a level playing field, because there was no team support allowed on course. We had neutral aid stations, neutral mechanical support, so everyone came into it with equal opportunity.”
One of the youngest riders in the field was 17-year-old Elouan Gardon, who had top-five finishes for Fount Cycling on stages as a category 3 rider at Valley of the Sun and Tucson Bicycle Classic. He finished The Growler in 7:08:40 which was good for ninth overall, Leipheimer calling him a “diamond in the rough”.
“And, you know, I'm very proud of myself and Bike Monkey for creating and sort of forging a new way to have a road race that borrows from the gravel format and the self-supported environment that those athletes have learned to curate for themselves, and apply that to the road."
A majority of climbing on the course came across three sections, King Ridge in the opening 45 miles, back-to-back climbs on Stewarts Point Road at the mid-points, and then the Geysers, a 15-mile stretch with pitches of 12-13%, with a steep descent to a rolling 21 miles to the finish.
“Awesome day out at Levi’s GranFondo! it was so much fun ripping the skinny tires on some amazing roads. Very stoked to be able to pull off the win after Tobin Ortenblad suffered off the front all day long in order to make my day a bit easier back in the chase group,” Swenson said in an Instagram post about the race and his Santa Cruz teammate.
Overnight rain soaked the course and brought snowfall to the highest peaks in the coastal hills of the region, with wintry cold weather on race day, which Swenson politely called “less than ideal conditions for a bike race”.
Ortenblad was the first rider to attack at the front and stayed away for the first half. Naesen and Vakoč joined forces to reel back the breakaway, and the duo spent 60 miles alone together. Swenson was able to get to the front group riding with Boswell and Easter, with Ortenblad off the back.
On the final downhill to the Alexander Valley, Boswell and Swenson accelerated away, but Naesen rejoined and he broke away with Swenson for the two-rider battle to the finish line, the US gravel national champion winning in 6:43:40.
The winner of her third MidSouth gravel race in March, De Crescenzo was part of the early selection of pro women with Stephens, Parks and Strum on the first of three climbing sections. At the double climbing section called the “dragon’s backbone” with 70 miles to go, De Crescenzo ignited a second solo effort and this one stuck to the finish in a time of 7:18:50.
“The all day rain made an already epic day even more epic. I attacked on a steep pitch on the second of three climbs from a group with Lauren Stephens and Flavia. For the next 80 miles, it was just me and the open road,” De Crescenzo said on Instagram.
Parks gave chase along with Stephens, while Sturm rode further back with Emily Newsom. The US gravel national champion was able to drop Parks on the final climb. Sturm then found the back wheel of the Parks with eight miles to ride, and the two rode together until Sturm surged across the line for third ahead of the Brazilian.
Leipheimer has already begun planning the second edition of The Growler, scheduled for April 19, 2025.
