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Update: Life Time Grand Prix released a statement after the 2025 Leadville 100 MTB race saying that elite racer Lauren Stephens has been disqualified. Here is the official statement, with the original story below:
OFFICIAL STATEMENT: Following an official review after the conclusion of the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik, Lauren Stephens has been disqualified on account of her taking aid outside of a designated crew location. As a result, every rider who initially finished in fourth place onwards has been moved up one place in the final standings.
Keegan Swenson and Kate Courtney took commanding solo wins at the Leadville 100 MTB race in similar fashion: going solo at Columbine and powering through the back half of the course with massive gaps to the rest of their fields. Courtney managed to make it an even sweeter debut with a course record on her first attempt.
For Kate Courtney, Leadville served as an intermission from the UCI Cross Country World Cup circuit to challenge the best Life Time Grand Prix riders in her first stab at the historic American Mountain bike race. Her big challenger on the day was 2024 Leadville 100 MTB winner Melisa Rollins, who proved to be second best when all was said and done.
(Photo: Life Time)
However, when Courtney hit out from the lead group of seven near the base of Columbine, it was clear she was on another level. That became evident throughout the race, but was confirmed in spades when she crossed the line, taking eleven minutes off the course record in her first attempt.
“This has been a bucket list item for so long,” Courtney said after the race. “I have always wanted to do this, I have always been curious about it — I love the history, I love the community around it, and also the challenge. It is cool to have a course at this altitude that is so challenging.
“But I didn’t decide to do this that long ago! I am 8 weeks out from wrist surgery, and about two weeks out, I knew the next two World Cups and Nationals were out, so I thought about what might be a good motivator to get back in shape, and this turned out to be the perfect fit.”
The big battle on the women’s side ended up between Melisa Rollins and Lauren Stephens, who battled throughout the entire back half of the race to decide the final two places on the Leadville podium. At Columbine, it was Stephens who had the advantage, climbing well and gapping Rollins and the other lead women.
Rollins, who is a better technical rider than Stephens, was able to claw back the gap on the Columbine downhill and the rolling terrain after the base. Stephens wasn’t quite done with the fight and gapped Rollins once again on the way back to town, but it was Rollins who got the last laugh, passing Stephens in the final 10 miles and also besting the previous course record.
Keegan Swenson headed into the race as the overwhelming favorite with four wins and two consecutive course records heading into the 2025 edition. Few riders have ever been as dominant at the high altitude of Leadville, and no one in the current off-road line-up has even come close to challenging Swenson at the line.
This year, Swenson hit out early with two intrepid challengers in John Gaston and Simon Pellaud, but once the lower slopes of Columbine started and Swenson jettisoned his two compatriots, it was clear Swenson was here to race his own past efforts because no one would come close to his pace for a fifth straight win.
“It was a good day,” Swenson said after the finish. “We rode hard up Carter Summit, and Simon, John, and I were able to slip away. We were able to have a nice, careful, smooth descent down Powerline to keep everyone together and keep air in the tires. We trucked out to Columbine, keeping a good pace and there on it we were all doing our own thing.
“Today was a bit sketchy, the dirt was super loose so I was very careful down Columbine just trying to keep it upright and not crash. Unfortunately it was a bit windy on the way home but I still rode, gave it everything I had on the way here.
“I was trying to go a bit faster than I had before, but unfortunately, I came up a bit short. It wasn’t for a lack of trying.”
As consistent as Swenson has been at Leadville, John Gaston has been right there just behind him with his fifth podium finish at the race. The 38-year-old ski mountaineer professional is a pure Leadville specialist as it is one of two bike races Gaston does each year. Even with the lack of on-the-bike racing in his legs, Gaston is a staple at the front of Leadville and weathered a crash and a strong challenge from Simon Pellaud to be second best once again at the Race Across the Sky.
Pellaud wrapped up the podium, a healthy 23 minutes behind the Swenson, but in second place for Life Time Grand Prix points which will keep him well within range of a top Grand Prix result with three stops left in the race.
It begins and ends with Keegan Swenson
From the start of the race at 5:45 AM it was clear that the script for the 2025 men’s race would be pretty similar to the past editions of the Swenson-era, with all eyes on the early climbs to see who could stick with Swenson on the first few climbs.
Swenson, who was going to try to reset his own course record, needed to race full-gas all day, whether anyone came with him or not, so those who would be able to match his speed on the opening climb like Carter Summit was going to get a huge leg up over the rest of the race.
This year, the two riders to match Swenson off the jump on Powerline were John Gaston and Simon Pellaud. The trio got the gap and worked well together, pushing the tempo and taking pulls through the undulating terrain that makes up the middle portion of the out-and-back course. Behind them, the carnage that typically shakes out some of the contenders took its toll once again, with Brendan Johnston suffering a massive flat tire, forcing him to ride on the rim, resulting in a DNF. Other notable DNFs were Lachlan Morton and Tsgabu Grmay.
(Photo: Life Time)
Without the live stream covering the big peloton behind, it is hard to understand exactly what was happening, but what was clear was it would be a huge effort for anyone behind catching the leading trio without any mishaps forcing their hands, as they took a two and a half minute gap into the base of Columbine when Swenson took up the baton and gapped Gaston and Pellaud within minutes. By the top of Columbine, the gap to Swenson was four and a half minutes as Gaston and Pellaud crested within a few seconds of each other. What’s more, the gap to everyone else ballooned even further to seven minutes.
From the top of Columbine in, the race remained fairly consistent with Swenson slowly adding to his gap ahead of Gaston and Pellaud, who were pulling together ahead of a constantly changing chase group of nine riders. Eventually, Gaston was able to hold onto the effort just a bit longer into the final 30 miles, gapping Pellaud on Powerline and never looking back. Pellaud faded, but had enough of a buffer to hold on ahead of the rest of the chasers who were led home by Torbjorn Anders Roẽd and Payson McElveen.
First time’s the charm for Kate Courtney
While the men’s race had one overwhelming favorite, the women’s race was positioned more as a two-woman race between Kate Courtney and Melisa Rollins. At the Leadville Stage Race, the pre-Leadville event, many of the pro women used as the primer for the big event, Rollins and Courtney went back and forth with Courtney taking two of the stage wins and Rollins taking one stage win and the overall.
Nevertheless, whereas the men’s race was down to just three at the front by the Carter Summit checkpoint at mile 10.5, the women had a group of eight top riders cresting together. Those eight would end up sticking together all the way to Columbine, just as the leading trio of men worked together to keep all the other challengers at bay, losing just one rider from the lead in the process.
On Columbine the lead group detonated with the seven riders quickly separating over the aspen-covered lower slopes of the climb as Courtney showed her supremacy when the time came. Halfway up the climb, Courtney had carved out a gap of over a minute, and it kept growing as no one could touch her infernal pace.
Stephens was the next best on the climb, coming over the top two minutes down on Courtney, but with Courtney’s world-class skills forged on the World Cup, Stephens’ deficit to the lead doubled by the bottom.
Rollins also closed the gap on the downhill to Stephens and caught her a few miles later on the dirt roads back to Leadville. At that point, however, all that was left to be decided was in what order Stephens and Rollins would finish, as they had a gap of around five minutes to the rest of the contenders.
Up front, Courtney was undeniable, powering through the final climbs with an infernal pace that kept building her gap over the rest of the women in the 2025 edition, but also her gap ahead of the course record as Courtney kept pouring on the pressure. All of that effort pushed her to a massive win and a course record by a staggering 11 minutes.
Behind the flying Courtney was a back-and-forth battle between Rollins and Stephens. Stephens took the first stab in the fight, gapping Rollins and looking strong heading into the final 10 miles. Nevertheless, Rollins charged hard, caught Stephens on the Boulevard climb, and stormed past her in pursuit of the second step on the podium.
In the process, Rollins also took down the pre-established course record and took full Life Time Grand Prix points. Stephens trailed behind in third, just past the seven-hour mark and also almost going below the previous course record.
Men’s Elite Leadville 100 results
Name
Time
Pace (mph)
Women’s Elite Leadville 100 results
Name
Time
Pace (mph)