2025 Gran Fondo National Series
United States | Midwest | Ohio >> Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo postponed until 2022 due to Pandemic

Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo postponed until 2022 due to Pandemic

Regarded as America's Premier Gran Fondo, organizers Bike Monkey have been forced to postpone the event until 2022 due to California's ongoing battle with Coronavirus

Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo postponed until 2022 due to Pandemic

In it 12th year, Levi’s Grand Fondo attracted over 7,500 riders in 2021, making it one of the largest Gran Fondos in North America.

California lifted its stay-at-home order statewide llast Monday after four-week projections showed intensive care unit capacity to be above 15% in beleaguered regions for the first time in weeks.

Monday’s change moves counties back to a tiered system of reopening, with most regions across the state expected to move into the most restrictive tier. It lifts an evening curfew and, in many areas, will allow restaurants and churches to resume outdoor operations and hair and nail salons to reopen. 

The state is rolling out a huge vacination program to as many residents as quickly as possible, following the UK, who is leading the vacination race.

Levi’s Gran Fondo routes range from a family rollout to a brand new, absolutely mammoth 138 mile epic that rivals the hardest stages of any pro world tour.

The cycing festival was scheduled for Sunday, May 30 and features a weekend of live music, entertainment and a family festival feel.

Stetina’s Paydirt and Hammer Road Rally, two other events, are scheduled to go ahead in the autumn. 

Carlos Perez asked those registered for his company’s events to accept event credit, rather than request a refund, acknowledging that “if we refund everyone their entry fees, we’ll go under.”

“We need to be honest with people about the situation we’re in,” he said. “We need to have enough money to do the work of producing the next event. So yeah, we are appealing to the loyalty and the desire of our community.”

The event is held in the town of Windsor, Sonoma Country, with epic rides around Santa Rosa, home of ex-pro Levi Leipheimer who rode all three Grand Tours a total of 15 times.

Leipheimer’s philanthropy and continued passion for cycling has helped transform the lives of young people and rebuild the lives of those affected by devastating wildfires, raising tens of millions of dollars for charitable causes through the King Ridge Foundation.

Leipheimer isn’t certain what his namesake ride will look like when it returns in the spring of 2022. Much of that, he said, “comes down to the participants. Are they going to weather the storm with us?”

In addition to switching from Santa Rosa to Windsor, and from autumn to spring, the Gran Fondo will cover some new and different roads next year. While riders of some routes can still tackle the spectacular but punishing King Ridge Road, they’ll have the option of climbing the county’s highest pass, on Geysers Road in the Mayacamas Mountains range.

True, King Ridge is “a 10, a marquee route,” Leipheimer said. “But we’ve got a hundred 9.9s out there, waiting in the wings.”

The 2022 Levi’s Granfondo could be “smaller and more intimate,” he allowed. “It will be great, but maybe a different kind of great.”

Levi’s GranFondo supports the King Ridge Foundation, an organization benefiting at-risk youth since 2009.

Learn more about Levi’s Granfondo at levisgranfondo.com.