The Growler raises the stakes in 2026 with live stream investment and larger elite, junior fields for third edition on April 25

‘More robust’ was how Levi Leipheimer, a former WorldTour rider and co-founder of Levi’s GranFondo, described to Cyclingnews what next year’s third edition of The Growler would look like.

The 137-mile one-day race held in Sonoma County, California, returns on Saturday, April 25, one week later than last year, with two eye-catching essentials for racers and spectators – a live stream and a $156,000 pro prize purse.

Last year, Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz htSQD) held on to the elite men’s title for a second year in a row, this time from a four-rider sprint, while Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation-Ventum) soloed to the elite women’s victory. Their moves and all the race action was shown live for the first time with a three-hour global broadcast, which Leipheimer said would expand for 2026.

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The application process for elite riders, as well as junior competitors on two shorter routes, opened this week.

“There’s been a strong response, especially after last year with the live stream,” Leipheimer told Cyclingnews. “We’re going to have a minimum of the same amount of prize money, maybe it’ll even increase a little, and we can invest more in the live stream.”

Multiple cameras were used to follow lead riders in the elite men’s and elite women’s races, which had separate starts for the same course. Leipheimer said they would upgrade resources to follow both races through the remote sections of the course this time.

“We’re trying to have a minimum of 180 riders in each of the men’s and women’s pro fields. That would be the goal. And the juniors, there were a lot more that turned out than I had imagined. They all race for free, it’s probably the most notable thing about our race,” he added.

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Compared to last year, the new goals would see the elite women’s field triple in size, while the elite men’s field could expand another 60%. Next year, all riders in the pro field will be asked to commit 2% of their prize money as donations for the event’s charity, the King Ridge Foundation.

Men in the pro field fight in wind gusts of 25-35mph at 2024 Boulder Roubaix (Image credit: DBCEvents)

While stage races seem to struggle in the US, the one-day races are on a resurgence, with collections of criterium races going full force – USA CRITS, American Criterium Cup, Chicago Grit, Tour of America’s Dairyland – as well as Maryland Cycling Classic offering races for men and women and the Philadelphia Cycling Classic scheduled to make a comeback.

Add to that list in 2026 Boulder Roubaix, a biannual Classics-style one-day race that started in 1992 to pay tribute to Paris-Roubaix, both offering unpredictable weather conditions that make the off-road sections treacherous.

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Colorado’s Boulder Roubaix moves away from the same weekend date as the European Monument for the first time, now the day after The Growler, and will extend the length of the route.

The 18.7-mile (30km) circuit will be changed to a 30-mile (48.3km) course, incorporating new sections over the dams at the Boulder Reservoir, ‘the Rez’, with a familiar mix of gravel roads and pavement in north Boulder County. The pro men will complete three laps of almost 90 miles, and the pro women two laps of about 60 miles, with all start/finish lines at the Rez.

“Up-and-coming racers know that a victory here can get them noticed by pro teams. And with the crazy interest in gravel racing in the USA, I’m hearing from many top-level gravel pros who plan to use Boulder Roubaix as a tune-up for their season,” said Chris Grealish, race founder and director, in a press release.

Among the road-turned-gravel racers with success at the Boulder race is Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek Driftless), who won the event in 2022.

“Boulder Roubaix is a sweet race. This is probably my favorite road race I have done in Colorado and it was a great vibe around the start/finish area as well,” the 2022 pro men’s winner Torbjørn Røed told Cyclingnews.

“I remember the course helping to make the race active and explosive. Good mix of gravel and pavement, where the gravel was ‘chunky’ enough to make a difference, but still very good on road bikes.”

The last edition of Boulder Roubaix in 2024 began with the pro men scheduled to make five laps of the shorter circuit and the pro women three laps. However, wind gusts of up to 35 mph shortened the race to just two laps for both fields, Finn Gullickson winning for pro men and Anna Dorovskikh winning the pro women’s category.

Like Levi’s GrandFondo, Boulder Roubaix also has a range of race categories for juniors, with registration opening later in the year.