Taking place in Silver City, New Mexico, The Tour of the Gila is the last remaining UCI stage race in the United States. This makes it a very high value target for America’s best teams and racers. It is also a notoriously difficult race to win, only three men and three women have claimed the overall victory more than once in the race’s thirty-seven editions. On the men’s side, only one former winner Alex Hoehn of Team Skyline is returning to try to defend his 2023 title. The women’s provisional start list suggests that the race will have a new champion in 2024, with no former winners returning.
Gila is always somewhat of a journey into the unknown for racers who take on challenges they rarely face on the American calendar. The race can be turned on its head on any stage with gruelling high altitude mountain finishes, technical descents, an exacting twenty-six kilometer time trial and a strong contingent of international teams in attendance. In my own career, my teams managed to capture the overall victory twice. Despite having dominant leaders in James Piccoli and Lachlan Morton, the win was never secure until the final meters to the stage five finish at Pinos Altos. This year, with a wide-open field and only a few early season races as form indicators, the outcome will be especially hard to predict. Of course we are going to give it a go anyways.
The Women: Dominant Teams and Individual Talents
I have been fortunate enough to direct the TaG Racing women’s development team at the key early season stage races so far this season at Valley of the Sun, Tucson Bicycle Classic and the Redlands Bicycle Classic. In each race a definite theme has emerged at the sharp end of the peloton: DNA Pro Cycling vs. Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24. The two dominant squads are stacked with talent from climbing to time trialling to sprinting and have traded victories throughout the early season. Twenty24 drew first blood at VOS with Emily Ehlrich taking the overall, while DNA’s Nadia Gontova took a commanding win at Redlands.
Ehlrich will look to make ground in Gila’s stage three time trial, which she won by a devastating one minute plus margin last year. Gontova, on the other hand will be aiming to strike on the steep twenty minute climb to finish stage one and again on the final stage-often referred to as the Gila Monster. On paper, in a race with as many climbs as Gila it would appear that Gontova would have the upper hand, but last year Elhrich placed third to Gontova’s fifth, more than three minutes ahead. Gila is more than just a power-to-weight climbing test-skill, tactical nous and occasionally luck, play a major role in a racer’s success.
Both powerhouse teams pack plenty of back up as well of course. DNA brings former podium finisher Sara Poidevin as well as last year’s fourth place racer Meaghan Easler among others to wreak havoc in the mountains. Twenty24 adds Redlands stand out climber Emma Langely as well as sprint weapons Marlies Mejias Garcia and Jennifer Valente for any bunch finish opportunities. With all of that said, perhaps the biggest favorite for the overall win rides for neither of those big teams: 2023 second place finisher Marcela Prieto of Mexico and the Patobike team. Prieto displayed her talent as a super-climber in last year’s edition winning on stage one and putting on a masterful display in the Monster stage. There are rumblings that visa complications will mean that Prieto will start the race for the composite Steve Tilford Foundation team which also features Redlands white jersey winner Cecile Lejeune.
To round out the presumed contenders, the rising Fount team brings Alia Shafi and Eleanor Wiseman who both impressed at Redlands. The Cynisca team will start with Redlands double-stage Canadian winner Mara Roldan as well as an under-the-radar Lauren Stephens. A legend in American bike racing, Stephens boasts top level climbing and time trial abilities and has already scored a sixth place GC finish this year against WorldTour competition at the UCI Tour de Normandie.
Jordan’s Picks:
1) Prieto
2) Ehlrich
3) Gontova
Darkhorses: Stephens, Poidevin and Shafi
The Men: Project Echelon vs Everyone
It can’t be understated, the Project Echelon team has crushed its opposition so far in the 2024 season. In a performance befitting of the Harlem Globetrotters, they left no doubt at Redlands, winning four out of five stages while guiding Tyler Stites to a seemingly pre-destined three-peat in the overall. However, the Tour of the Gila actually represents somewhat of a hole in the team’s sparkling resume in recent years. Their best overall finish has been eighth with Ricky Arnopol last year, with Stites placing an uncharacteristic tenth in 2022. Although the team has won stages, the general classification has eluded them-something they will be looking to change next week.
But can they do it? Stites seems to excel in every aspect of racing from climbs to time trials to sprinting, but he remains unproven in long, high altitude finishes. He finished eight in a reduced sprint at the top of the 8000 foot Onyx Summit in Redlands, a situation where he would usually be expected to win at lower altitudes. With his blistering time trial, he doesn’t need to drop the field uphill to win in Gila but he will need to limit any losses-something his strong team may be able to help with. Arnopol may serve as an effective final climbing domestique or even a Plan B for the super-squad, having shown great climbing form with a podium on stage one last year. Echelon are up against a fairly eclectic group of opponents trying to snap their streak of success so far this season.
Of course last year’s champion Alex Hoehn is principal among them, this time taking on the race with the relatively unheralded Skyline team. Hoehn’s victory came in a final stage caper with the controversial forty-seven (!) year-old Oscar Sevilla who took the white jersey in the 2001 Tour de France. Sevilla is back with a strong Medellin team, and proved he can still win by taking the UCI Tour of Hainan last fall. If Echelon can’t control the high-altitude specialist Columbian squad in the mountains, they will have a major problem on their hands.
Redlands also revealed new GC contenders from other squads. CS Velo which won Gila in 2022, have Owen Wright and Josh Lebo on their roster. Those two finished second and fifth in California respectively. The always aggressive, Silver City based, Aevolo team features Quinn Felton and Gavin Hlady who came fourth and sixth in the same race. Team California has made huge strides forward this year as well, giving Echelon a good fight in the Tucson Bicycle Classic and placing two riders, Narraway and Caldwell in the top 10 at Redlands. Finally, the top two U23 development teams from Canada, EcoFlo Chronos and TaG Racing will also take the start. TaG’s Nathan Pruner grabbed a pair of top tens last week on the tough climbing stages. Canadians stars like Rob Britton and Michael Woods had breakthrough rides here in the past so don’t rule out a surprise from the young Canucks.
Jordan’s Picks:
1) Stites
2) Hoehn
3) Wright
Darkhorses: Pruner, Felton, Arnopol