Reigning Champions Lead Stacked Field as The Mid South Returns to Stillwater
2026 Edition Brings New Venue, Friday Pro Race to Oklahoma's Red Dirt
A year after wildfires silenced Stillwater's marquee gravel event, The Mid South returns this year with new terrain, a new finish line, and a new pro race day — built on the same red dirt foundation that made it one of gravel cycling's most beloved events.
The 2026 edition runs March 12-15, anchored by a new finish line at Block 34 on Husband Street between 8th and 9th avenues in downtown Stillwater. The fires that forced last year's cancellation destroyed 98 homes and burned more than 26,000 acres across southwest Stillwater.
The move to Block 34, on Husband Street between 8th and 9th avenues, is one of the most visible changes to the festival's footprint in its history. But the most significant structural change for competitive cyclists is a new one: for the first time, the professional 100-mile race will be held on a separate day from the mass-participation event. Pros start Friday, March 13, at 1 p.m. — the day before amateur racers and party-pace riders take on the same course — with the podium ceremony scheduled for 6:15 p.m. at Block 34.
The calendar change also sets up what organizers hope will be a landmark spectator moment. Riders checking in for Saturday's mass start will be able to watch the fastest racers in the world finish the same course they'll race the following morning. For the first time, Mid South TV will broadcast the pro race live on YouTube beginning at 1 p.m. Friday.
The women's field carries its own marquee storyline: three-time champion Lauren De Crescenzo has already done something no other rider — regardless of gender or category — has done in Mid South history. Now she is back to extend it.
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PRO WOMEN: De Crescenzo Seeks the Unprecedented
Lauren De Crescenzo — Odds: Heavy favorite
Three consecutive Mid South titles is already a record that belongs to De Crescenzo alone. No other athlete in the race's history — across any gender or category — has won four in a row. She arrives Friday with a chance to do exactly that.
The Broomfield, Colorado, privateer won in 2022, 2023, and 2024 — each time in a different way. She solo'd to victory in her first Mid South win in 2022, set a women's course record of 4:47:42 in 2024, and in 2023 built a gap of more than 12 minutes on second place before the finish. Her Mid South racing has been methodical and dominant in equal measure.
Her story extends well beyond the results. De Crescenzo spent six days in a medically induced coma in 2016 after a race crash and spent months relearning to walk. She returned to win Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas, in 2021 in her first start at the event. Before cycling, she worked as a CDC epidemiologist. She is now a self-funded privateer, which makes her Mid South record all the more striking — she has built it without the infrastructure of a major team sponsorship.
The only question for De Crescenzo entering 2026 is who, if anyone, can close the gap.
Sofia Gomez Villafane — Odds: Best challenger
The Argentine mountain biker turned gravel powerhouse is among the most decorated active riders in the field. Gomez Villafane claimed the Life Time Grand Prix overall title in 2023, 2024, and 2025, is a two-time Cape Epic champion — the legendary multi-day stage race in the Western Cape, South Africa — and represented Argentina in the women's cross-country mountain bike event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing 23rd. She arrives in Stillwater with sharp recent form: just days before the pro race, she won Valley of Tears in Turkey, Texas — the closest major gravel event on the calendar to Mid South — giving her preparation a well-timed exclamation point.
Now racing for Specialized Off-Road, Gomez Villafane lines up as both a tactical threat and a sprint threat. She is the most likely candidate to challenge De Crescenzo in the closing miles.
Lauren Stephens — Odds: Podium contender
The Dallas, Texas-based Stephens brings credentials few in the field can match: three consecutive U.S. Gravel National Championships (2023, 2024, 2025), a Pan American Games gold medal, and runner-up in the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix overall standings. A former professional road cyclist, Stephens has the tactical instincts to race intelligently in large groups and the finishing speed to contend in a sprint.
Stillwater is roughly three hours from her Dallas home, making this a near-hometown race by gravel standards.
Emily Newsom — Odds: Legitimate threat
Newsom came to professional cycling in her mid-thirties and has been making up for lost time. She raced the Tour de France Femmes in 2022, and opened the 2026 season by winning Homegrown Gravel in Franklin, Georgia — a sign that her form is sharp early. A professional pianist who trains out of Fort Worth, Texas, Newsom brings an unusual combination of precision and endurance to every start line.
Her history at Mid South includes a mechanical that ended her 2023 bid while she was positioned near the front. A clean race could put her on the podium.
Sarah Lange — Odds: Legitimate threat
The Lyme, New Hampshire, native came to cycling during the pandemic after a collegiate running career and has climbed quickly. In 2024, she won Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas — the sport's marquee event — in her first start at the distance. She followed that with a runner-up finish at the 2025 U.S. Gravel National Championships, staying with three-time champion Lauren Stephens until the final technical climb. A registered dietitian who applies her professional expertise to her own racing, Lange enters the season among the most complete riders in the field.
Geerike Schreurs — Odds: Dark horse with elite pedigree
The tall Dutch athlete spent years as a WorldTour soigneur — caring for riders on teams including Lidl-Trek — before deciding at age 34 in 2023 to chase the bike racing career she had set aside too soon. The results came almost immediately. In 2024, she won The Gralloch in Scotland, finished second at Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas, in a sprint, and placed second at The Traka 360 in Spain. In 2025, she added wins at Turnhout Gravel in Belgium and Wörthersee Gravel in Austria, both UCI World Series rounds. For 2026 she joins Gomez Villafane on Specialized Off-Road, making their Mid South matchup one of the more intriguing team dynamics in the women's field.
Cecily Decker — Odds: Dark horse
A former U.S. Ski Team alpine racer whose career ended with a knee injury, Decker pivoted to cycling and has produced results: runner-up at the 2025 Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas; second overall in the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix; and a win at Belgian Waffle Ride Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, in 2023. She races for PAS Racing and finished fifth at Mid South in 2024. A podium step up in 2026 would not be a surprise.
Also watch: Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) left eight years as an emergency physician's assistant to race full time after winning Big Sugar in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2022, and has since earned podiums at Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska, and U.S. Gravel Nationals.
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PRO MEN: Reigning Champion Røed Faces Jones and a Deep International Field
The Mid South is not an official stop on the Life Time Grand Prix series, but the pro race has drawn a field that reads like a Grand Prix start list — with several of the circuit's top names making Stillwater a priority race on their own.
Cameron Jones — Odds: Heavy favorite
Twelve months ago, Jones was a virtual unknown — a New Zealand-born rider who won Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas, in 8:37:09, shattering the previous course record by more than 34 minutes, and claimed the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix overall title. His fitness heading into his first Mid South start is the only meaningful question mark.
Torbjørn André Røed — Odds: Co-favorite, defending champion
The Norwegian who goes by "Toby" won the 2024 Mid South in a reduced bunch sprint that came down to a bike throw after four and a half hours of racing on dry, fast red clay — conditions that kept the field together and made every attack answerable. His winning time of 4:26:54 stood as the men's course record. Røed grew up racing cyclocross, road, and cross-country mountain biking in Norway, moved to Colorado in 2018 for college at Colorado Mesa University, and has lived there since. He won Big Sugar in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2023 and Mid South in 2024 back to back — each in a sprint — demonstrating that his finishing kick is legitimate at the highest level. He races for Trek Driftless and arrives with recent form, finishing on the podium at Valley of Tears in Turkey, Texas, the weekend before Mid South.
Simon Pellaud — Odds: Podium contender
The Swiss professional finished second in the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix overall after sharing the decisive Unbound breakaway with Jones before being dropped in the final miles. Pellaud has four Grand Tour starts on his road palmares, won the TransCordilleras stage race in Colombia, and finished second at Gravel Burn in South Africa. He is one of the few riders in the field who has raced Jones to the limit.
Adam Roberge — Odds: Podium contender
The Quebec-based Canadian won Belgian Waffle Ride North Carolina near Asheville, North Carolina, in 2025 and finished third at Mid South in 2022, the last time he raced here. Roberge has demonstrated the ability to read a gravel race well and to stay near the front when conditions turn selective.
Peter Stetina — Odds: Top five, farewell-tour favorite
Stetina announced before the 2026 season that it would be his last as a professional racer, and he named Mid South as one of the events closest to him. A former WorldTour professional who survived a near-career-ending crash at the 2015 Tour of the Basque Country, Stetina became one of the defining figures of the early gravel era — a three-time Belgian Waffle Ride California champion who helped build the sport's credibility with elite road cyclists. He finished sixth in 2024. Whether a farewell-tour race produces a podium or simply a meaningful finish on a course he loves, Stetina's final Mid South start will be one of Friday's most-watched storylines.
Brennan Wertz — Odds: Podium dark horse
Wertz won SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 2025 and brings legitimate finishing speed. In 2022, he finished fourth in a sprint — one second off the podium in a race decided in the final moments — and a podium in 2026 would fit the Mid South's pattern of producing surprise results alongside expected ones.
Alexey Vermeulen — Odds: Dark horse
The Boulder, Colorado, professional is a former WorldTour rider who founded Phase II, a junior development program and has held a career-long sponsorship with ENVE. He won Valley of Tears in Turkey, Texas, the weekend before Mid South — in a five-rider sprint — arriving with sharp legs and proven recent form.
Simen Nordahl Svendsen — Odds: Dark horse
The Norwegian from Hokksund finished on the podium at Valley of Tears the weekend before Mid South. Svendsen was the 2024 Gravel Earth Series overall champion, claimed back-to-back wins at The Rift in Iceland, and won Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2024. He races for PAS Racing and Fara Cycling.
Dylan Johnson — Odds: Top 10, legitimate surprise
Johnson finished fifth at Mid South in 2024 in his first start at the event, then backed it up with 10th at Unbound Gravel in Emporia, Kansas. The Brevard, North Carolina, rider is as well-known for his YouTube channel, where he breaks down exercise physiology, tire selection, and race tactics for hundreds of thousands of viewers, as he is for his results. Johnson races Felt bikes.
Chad Haga — Odds: Long shot, high intrigue
Haga won the final time trial stage of the 2019 Giro d'Italia and helped anchor Tom Dumoulin's overall victory in 2017. He finished second at Unbound Gravel in Emporia, Kansas, in 2024 in his first gravel season — an immediate statement of ability. A classical pianist and mechanical engineering graduate, Haga approaches difficult days methodically. His Mid South debut will be one of the more interesting individual storylines in the men's field.
Also watch: Joe Laverick of Grimsby, England, brings a strong road background to what shapes up as a deep international field.
PRO NON-BINARY: Defending Champion King Returns, McBride Seeks Redemption
Li King — Odds: Defending champion, co-favorite
King, who uses they/them pronouns, claimed the 2024 Mid South non-binary title in one of the category's most dramatic finishes in the race's history. After suffering a front tire burp and dropped chain around mile 15 — "I fixed it and jumped back on and kept going and didn't really know how to feel," King said — they stayed patient, tracked down four-time champion Rach McBride over the course of the next 80 miles, and sprinted to the finish in 5:18:05, setting a new course record and edging McBride by 14 seconds.
The Oakland, California-based athlete is a 2023 Singlespeed Cyclocross World Champion and builds custom steel frames under the King Fabrications label. They arrive as the defending champion in Stillwater with unfinished business to defend.
Rach McBride — Odds: Co-favorite
McBride, who uses they/them pronouns, has won the non-binary category at Mid South multiple times and holds four Unbound Gravel 200 non-binary titles. They have also claimed non-binary victories at Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Leadville, Colorado; Rebecca's Private Idaho in Sun Valley, Idaho; Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska; and Big Sugar in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-based athlete credited Mid South as an early leader in non-binary inclusion in gravel racing. The 2024 result — the closest finish in the category's history at this race — sets up a compelling rematch. McBride arrives in Stillwater with motivation to reclaim a title they have won before and came within seconds of defending. And after the pro race ends Friday, McBride won't be done with Mid South weekend — they are registered for the Mega Mid South, a 300-mile gravel route that begins Sunday and runs through Tuesday.
Robin Cummings — Odds: Challenger
The Portland, Oregon-based Cummings, who uses they/them pronouns, is a non-binary cyclocross national champion and arrives in Stillwater as one of the more accomplished newcomers to the pro field. Their cyclocross credentials translate directly to the kind of variable, technical terrain Mid South can deliver on red clay roads in March.
Oklahoma Pros: Bell and Jennings Represent the State
Two Oklahoma athletes will line up with the pro fields Friday. Rob Bell of Oklahoma City is not just a local face — he is a former champion. Bell won the 2017 Land Run 100, predating the event's current name, and has been racing these red dirt roads longer than most of the riders who will line up alongside him. Alex Jennings of Oklahoma City will race in the pro women's field, bringing a home-state presence to one of the sport's most competitive lineups.
The Course: Built to Punish Late
The 2026 Mid South course has been designed with a specific philosophy: the hardest miles come last.
Race director Bobby Wintle and his team have updated the course at both ends, but the changes that matter most to competitive outcomes are concentrated in the final 25 miles. The opening section is new — a stretch running from Husband Street and Highway 68 out to Range Road that has never appeared in the race before, added to reduce two-way traffic with returning ultramarathon runners. Around mile 22, a natural spring beneath the road surface on Highway 68 creates a mud crossing that will be present regardless of conditions. It is a permanent feature of this road and will be there Friday.
The pro feed zone sits at Dunagan Farms at mile 52.4 — not in downtown Guthrie, where amateur riders stop at mile 62. Traffic and safety on the rural approaches to Guthrie made a dedicated pro stop necessary. Dunagan Farms will operate as the race's only pro feed zone all Friday afternoon, and it is the logistical anchor for every crew and support operation on the course.
The final third is where Wintle has concentrated the course's most selective terrain. Triple XXX — a roughly five-mile stretch running from miles 76 to 81 — is one of the race's most demanding sustained sections. Carson Creek follows at miles 88 to 89, a water crossing that demands attention in any conditions. And at mile 95.7, the course enters Bovine Pass: just over a mile of private land through double-track and single-track cattle trails before releasing riders onto the road for the final push to Block 34.
The sequencing is intentional. By the time riders reach Triple XXX, they have already been racing for more than three hours. By Carson Creek, the legs that felt strong at Dunagan Farms are working on reserves. And Bovine Pass — the last true obstacle before the finish chute — arrives at the moment when any gap that has been opened will either hold or collapse.
"The finish line chute is by far the scariest piece of the puzzle," Wintle said. "We have groups of pros, men, women, non-binary — that are literally fighting for a position that will impact their career."
In dry years, the closing miles unfold fast and tactical. In wet years, the area's red clay becomes a viscous paste capable of locking up a drivetrain, and survival instincts replace race tactics. Either way, the course Wintle has built for 2026 rewards riders who can stay composed when it hurts most.
The Mid South pro race begins Friday, March 13, at 1 p.m., with the finish line and podium ceremony at Block 34 on Husband Street in downtown Stillwater. The amateur 100-mile race follows Saturday, March 14. Mid South TV will livestream the pro race on YouTube beginning at 1 p.m. Friday. See the complete list of events.
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