By Jordan Cheyne

The Tour of the Gila roars into Silver City this week for its 38th edition, bringing world-class bike racing to the Gila National Forest. The tour is the country’s most storied stage race, and the only multi-day UCI event on the American circuit. The race’s grueling parcours also makes it one of the most difficult domestic events to win, and a proving ground for the continent’s elite aspiring talent. Tour of the Gila has produced a sparkling list of former champions, including Olympic and World champions, and Tour de France stage winners. The 2025 edition promises another wave of world-class riders fighting for a victory that would make their entire season and possibly tilt the trajectory of their careers toward the World Tour.

The Race

This year, the race opens with the demanding Tyrone Individual Time Trial presented by Freeport McMoRan. The 16-mile test will be the longest and almost certainly hardest time trial North American racers face all season. With over 1,000 feet of climbing and often high winds, winning in Tyrone is a possibility for both strong climbers as well as larger, more powerful time trial specialists. The course is unforgiving and always produces significant time gaps in the field.

The next day’s climb to the ghost town of Mogollon usually serves as the finale to Tour of the Gila’s opening stage and determines the first rider to wear the red leader’s jersey. Often, this led to conservative racing with teams aiming to set their best climbers up for the 25-minute-plus finishing climb after many miles across desolate, crosswind-riden plains. This year, the time gaps from stage one may put less time trial-adept overall contenders in a desperate position early in the race and produce more aggressive action throughout the Mogollon Road Race presented by Grant County.

Stage three’s Inner Loop Road Race presented by Southwest Bone and Joint Institute/Brian and Lynn Robinson from Fort Bayard is a one-of-a-kind route in North American racing in which the most selective climbing sections hit the riders almost immediately off the start line. Race-winning breakaways can form, sprinters can be dropped, and GC riders can throw testing jabs at their competition, hoping to catch them out of position on the winding road through Pinos Altos and into the Gila National Forest. The remainder of the stage is less intense but hardly straightforward. If the field miscalculates its response to a day-long breakaway or late attack, the sprinters will be denied their chance for a victory on the technical, high-speed run into the finish.

The Tour of the Gila emerges from the serene Gila National Forest and onto MainStreet for the spectator-favorite stage four Downtown Criterium presented by the Town of Silver City. The fast and loud one-mile circuit is complete with a leg-stinging climb and four technically unique corners. It is usually a day for the sprinters, but with a fatigued and often hesitant field, gaps can form, and brave, attacking riders can be rewarded.

On the final stage, the Gila Monster Road Race presented by Gila Regional Medical Center, the riders depart Silver City for the final time, and in the team cars behind, the race radio invariably crackles “Welcome to the Gila Monster, the hardest day in North American racing.” That message is not hyperbole. With multiple mountain passes followed by daunting descents, it is all to play for on stage five. The red New Mexico True leader jersey wearer has the opportunity to put his or her stamp on the race to confirm a dominant week. Equally, contenders who have been left wanting in the previous stages can use the course’s difficulty to reverse their fortunes and tear away the overall victory for themselves.

The Women’s Race Contenders

This year’s Tour of the Gila features deep international fields on both the men’s and women’s sides, with teams and riders travelling from Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Colombia. In the women’s race, defending champion Lauren Stephens returns on the composite Aegis Cycling Foundation mixed team. Stephens may find either competition or elite support from teammate Emma Langley, who has graced Tour of the Gila podiums for years.

The Aegis women will have to fend off proven contenders like last year’s third overall finisher Eleanor Wiseman of Fount Cycling and 2022 Tour of the Gila champion Lauren De Crescenzo riding on the Speedblock presented by Terun team. Perhaps even more threatening are emerging stars like TaG Cycling’s 17-year-old phenom Sidney Sweirenga and Speedblock’s Kira Payer, who delivered breakthrough climbing performances in last week’s Redlands Bicycle Classic. It should be a breathless battle for the win that will only be settled on the final slopes to Pinos Altos on Sunday.

Predictions:
Sweirenga
Stephens
Payer

Dark Horses: Wiseman, Azteca Cycling and Pato Bike teams

The Men’s Race Contenders

In the men’s field, the race is wide open and there for the taking. Last year’s champion, Project Echelon’s Tyler Stites, isn’t returning, nor is Team Medellín with the other two podium finishers. Echelon will look to keep the red leader’s jersey within the team, though, returning with 2024’s Best Young Rider, Jonas Walton, among other potential GC talent.

They will fight with their hands from both international teams like Canels-Java, but also from North American threats like Redlands Bicycle Classic stage winner Quinn Felton and his teammate Eric Brunner of Competitive Edge Racing. Recent Redlands Bicycle Classic winner and Mexican national champion Eder Freyre is the man on form at the right time. Still, as a guest rider on the SoCalCycling.com team, he may find himself without strong team support in the race’s critical moments. Claiming the final winner’s red New Mexico True leader’s jersey at the Tour of the Gila requires power, skill, and often cunning race tactics. We will find out who has what it takes this week in Silver City.

Predictions:
Brunner
Walton
Freyre

Darkhorses: Arnopol, Felton, Olinka-Specialized team