Keegan Swenson and Sofía Gómez Villafañe won the 2026 editions of SBT GRVL presented by Wahoo on Sunday in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Swenson claimed his fourth title at the 108-mile Black Course while Gómez Villafañe held off a determined Sarah Lange in the final kilometre.
SBT GRVL is one of the marquee events on the American gravel calendar, drawing thousands of riders to the champagne gravel roads of Routt County. The 2026 edition returned to downtown Steamboat Springs after last year’s race was held on a modified circuit in nearby Hayden. Each SBT GRVL course started and finished on Yampa Street, with the new 2026 Black Course featuring favourite sections of previous routes plus with entirely new segments. There were also separate starts for elite men, elite women, and amateur categories in 2026, as well as a rolling safety enclosure.
How the race played out
After beginning the 2026 season with a devastating hip fracture, Keegan Swenson has made a brilliant return to form. After an early breakaway featuring Adam Roberge got away, Swenson forced a selection partway through the race. Following the steep gradients of Wahooligan Hill, Swenson bridged across to Roberge along with Cobe Freeburn and Henry Nelson.
Swenson wasn’t going to wait around for the sprint, so with 20 miles to go, he went solo. With a healthy gap to the field, Swenson nabbed his fourth SBT GRVL title ahead of Alexey Vermeulen who came impressively out of the chase group. Freeburn sprinted to third on the podium, while Nelson finished fourth, the best result of his young career.
Swenson’s approach at SBT GRVL is consistent and dominant: make the race hard early, reduce the group, and solo to the line. “You have to push all day and break the group up and whittle it down,” he said after his third title in 2024. “You don’t want to come to the line with a bunch of guys, ideally you want to come solo or with just one other. You slowly want to turn the pace up, see how everyone else is doing.” The same was true in 2026.
Result: SBT GRVL men’s 2026
1. Keegan Swenson
2. A. Vermeulen
3. C. Freeburn
4. H. Nelson
5. A. Roberge
SBT GRVL Women’s race
In the women’s race, everyone had their eye on Unbound Gravel winner Sofia Gómez Villafañe. The Specialized Off-Road rider arrived as the pre-race favourite and former Steamboat winner, but it was another rider who made the decisive move of the day.
Sarah Lange led the small group of leaders over the top of Wahooligan Pass, and with a few miles to go, Lange still had a gap. But then came the charging figure of Gómez Villafañe. A two-up sprint seemed imminent, but Gómez Villafañe had other ideas. The Specialized Off-Road rider launched just inside the final kilometre and Lange had no answer. Gómez Villafañe took the win with Lange in second, and US gravel national champion Lauren Stephens in third.
For Gómez Villafañe, winning SBT GRVL was about more than the place on the results sheet. In fact, she almost didn’t line up for the race, saying, “Physically and mentally you don’t always get to show up at 100% for events, and that’s kinda what I felt here. Once I got into Cow Creek, I found the Sofia that I know, the Sofia that knows how to race hard.”
Result: Sea Otter Gravel women’s 2026
1. Sofía Gómez Villafañe
2. S. Lange
3. L. Stephens
4. P. Onweller
5. C. Decker
