Published April 25, 2026 09:01PM
Marcis Shelton pulled off a major result Saturday, winning the Skipstone’s Growler Road Race at Levi’s Granfondo in Windsor, California.
The 21-year-old Competitive Edge Racing rider was part of a strong six-rider lead group in the finale and was quickest in the gallop to the line, coming past the Australian Brendan Johnston and snatching the win.
Cascadia rider Kent Ross was third in the savage 138 mile event, which racks up 13,851 feet of climbing.
“I wanted it to stay together, pretty much,” Shelton said, speaking to race organizer and former pro Levi Leipheimer. “The end is really long and there is a headwind usually. We just rolled really well with that big group and I figured why not keep it together? Maybe I had thoughts of trying to whittle it down a little bit to a smaller group, but I am pretty confident in my sprint and it paid off.”
Johnson looked poised to win but was just pipped at the line. He made the decision not to attack in the finale an will likely replay that decision over again in his mind as a result of his second place.
Still, he made a choice and followed through on it.
“To be honest, I was happy to sprint,” he said. “I have had in the past some key moments in races like this that are quite long and the sprint is okay.
“I thought that Marcus might go because he had great legs all day. He was like very climb..I just made it with him and Mike [Woods] over Geysers. So I expected one of them to go there. I am not sure [why they didn’t]. Maybe they were backing their sprint too.
“Obviously he was right too because he came around me at the line there and pipped me. But it was a good day out.”
Shelton finished third last year behind Keegan Swenson and Conn McDunphy. He learned from that experience and was able to use that Saturday to scoop a cool $25,000 prize.
“I remember Keegan jumped us last year at the roundabout. And the finish is not very long after the roundabout, 50 meters or 100 meters,” he said. “You just have to be first or second wheel through that roundabout and just punch out of it with everything you have.”
He did just that, and pulled off a really big win.
Logan Unger, Brennan Wertz and the former WorldTour rider Woods were fourth, fifth and sixth.
Stephens wins yet again
The 156,000 dollar prize purse is shared between men and women and for the second year running, Lauren Stephens was triumphant.
The 39-year-old made her move on the daunting Geysers climb, dropping a select group and soloing from there to the finish.
The chasers initially made inroads into her lead but with Stephens putting in a very strong performance, the momentum went out of the pursuit.
MTB star Kate Courtney launched a huge attack inside the final 500 meters but Sofia Gomez Villafane managed to get by her for the win.
Hayley Preen was fourth, with Alia Shafi and Lauren de Crescenzo three minutes back in fifth and sixth.
Stephens took $25,000 for her victory.
“I wasn’t sure if it was going to work two years in a row,” she said, speaking about the location of her attack. “I went in the same place as last year, but this year I had some teammates out there to help me. My teammate Kylie was keeping the pace high on the lower part of Geysers, which really set me up to be able to hit it on the steep part.”
That selfless dedication was something which spurred her on.
“For me it is the motivation for that final 50K,” she said, “And even when there was 20K to go and I heard what the time gap was, I was like, ‘man, I have to do this for Kylie.’ She sacrificed her race to help me and just having teammates, that is what I love. It gives me that second piece of motivation I need.”
Villafane was the closest rider to her in the end, but was almost two minutes back.
“I am super happy to go first loser, as I like to call it,” she said. “I definitely had high hopes of having good legs to go with Lauren on the climb. I knew that was her tactic. She just rode away and I was like, ‘I’ll just ride at my own pace and then we will catch her’ and we never saw her again.
“That was a super strong ride. It was cool to how her team rode for her and helped her.”
The Growler Levi’s GranFondo results
Elite men
1, Marcis Shelton, 5 hours 58.09
2, Brendan Johnston, same time
3, Kent Ross, at 1 second
4, Logan Unger
5, Brennan Wertz
6, Mike Woods, all same time
Elite women
1, Lauren Stephens, 7 hours 20 mins 5 secs
2, Sofia Gomez Villafane, at 1 min 49 seconds
3, Kate Courtney, same time
4, Hayley Preen, at 1 min 51 secs
5, Alia Shafi, at 3 mins 1 sec
6, Lauren de Crescenzo, same time