Positive reactions are resounding among road and off-road riders to the news that The Growler at Levi's GranFondo has inflated the one-day race prize purse by 283%, the total for the top 10 men and women now a combined $156,000.
In addition, organisers revealed earlier this week that separate start times will be implemented for elite and junior divisions and new finish protocols in the return to Windsor, California will allow top pros to separate from amateur riders on the run-in. Now in a second year with a cash purse in the longest distance event for Levi's GranFondo, The Growler takes place with all fondo rides on Saturday, April 19.
"When you have a prize purse this robust, it will guarantee a very deep field, one of the deepest fields we've ever seen. Once that news dropped [Tuesday], every rider globally who can make it happen is coming out of the woodwork. The win will be much more prestigious than the inaugural one," Sonoma County native Peter Stetina, who finished sixth last year, told Cyclingnews.
"I’m so excited about the huge prize purse for The Growler and never thought I would be making a gran fondo one of my season targets," Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor/The Feed/Wahoo/PERC) verified to Cyclingngnews that she plans to defend her elite women's title.
Confirmations began to hit warp speed for the elite field as registrations opened in the new year for all seven ride distances at Levi's GranFondo, which was co-founded by retired WorldTour pro Levi Leipheimer near his former home in Santa Rosa, California. This will be a sixth edition for The Growler, a 139-mile endurance test with more than 13,500 feet of elevation gain on uncompromising rough roads, and only the second time for a prize purse.
Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep) first rode Levi's GranFondo in 2011 when he was eight years old, completing the 60-mile route. Now taking the start for a fifth time, he was eager to not only show off his home roads to an international field but also officially accept a finisher's prize for the first time.
"For me, it's home roads here in Sonoma County, so any time I have a chance I get to ride with a bunch of people in Sonoma County it's always amazing. Now that it's a race, I'm super excited to come back to it and hopefully competing to win it," Lamperti told Cyclingnews soon after the details were released for the 2025 event.
"When I was nine I first did the gran, which was 100 miles. I remember I got a big bottle of tequila. But obviously, I was underage then and couldn't accept it myself. Now with the prize money this year, it's super awesome to see the amount the amount of money they've put behind it.
"[It will] hopefully get a lot of [riders] out in Sonoma County and see some of the best roads in the world. They are some of my favourite training roads in the entire world and I look forward to sharing it with everyone and competing in Levi's GranFondo."
The timing of The Growler complements the gravel calendar for many riders. It falls between Sea Otter Classic Gravel elite race on April 10, the start of the Life Time Grand Prix series, and an abundance of races the next weekend of April 25-27 that include BWR California and a trio of UCI Gravel World Series races across the US, Canada and Italy.
"The timing of The Growler on April 19 is great for me, especially following Sea Otter Gravel the week prior. I'll only need to book one flight to California," said De Crescenzo, who will line up against Heather Jackson, Sarah Sturm (Specialized) and Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports) as the early women's favourites.
"Last year, I absolutely loved the relentless climbing, rough roads, and 120-mile distance—it felt like the perfect blend of my favourite aspects of gravel merged with my first love-- the road. I think the event is reinvigorating road racing in the US for sure."
On the roadside, The Growler is bookended by Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold Race. Leipheimer and Stetina agreed that the roads in Sonoma County were worthy of comparison with the European Classics. And now the prize money is similar. The total purses vary, but with $25,000 up for grabs for the men's winner in California (the same for the women's winner), that is just $5,000 less than the men's winner of Paris-Roubaix and nearly $10,000 more than the Amstel Gold Race.
"The metrics hold up to any one-day Classic in Europe, but these roads are harder - they're pitchy, undulating, slower. It's just 'hard yards'. It just wallops you physically," Stetina said.
"It uses some of the same roads as the Tour of California ulitized in 2016. That year it was riders in the WorldTour peloton who were hooting and hollering and said it was the most fun day they've had on a bike race. And that stage was the baby version of this Growler route."
Leipheimer said that in addition to Stetina and Lamperti, 2024 men's winner Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) was confirmed to participate, as well as three-time Cape Epic MTB winner (Specialized Off-road) Matt Beers and US gravel national champion Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycles).
