HERMANN, MO- This years edition of the Tour of Hermann gave us some of the best weather we’ve seen in years. Partly cloudy with coolers temps made for for some fast time and less bonking than we’ve seen on the 80 and 90 degree years! This year we had over 160 riders back to enjoy the beauty of Hermann’s gravel roads. Within those 160, we had an even smaller pack of riders that were there to conquer all 5 loops.
Day One kicked things off with cool temps, a big field, and big effort from first-timer, Sam Finch. Sam came out to make his Hermann debut ready to race. He stayed with returners from podiums-past like Jordan Kuiper, Devin Handler, and Mat Tallman and other 5 loopers to stay up in the lead group. He stayed with the leaders as they came in from Loop 2. Due requests from local officials, Loop 3 was a redux of Loop 1 so that emergency services could respond to a traffic accident south of Race HQ. Sam stayed with the group well into Loop 3 until he attacked and left the lead group behind for a Day 1 win with a time of 5:16:54.5 followed by Justin Bird of Road Crew (05:18:01.2) and Stephano Porter (05:19:10.8).
Trisha Luke came back this year with gears and determination to nail down her victory (06:03:42.8), followed by the crew from Chicago of Hannah Miller and Lena Mitsuuchi as they crossed the line together (09:03:28.5) to round out the podiums for the day.
Day 2 kicked off on the chilly side again, but the sky opened up to a gorgeous partly cloudy day with some wind from the North. Riders had a nice protected ride across the river until it was all out on the Katy Trail to Portland for 16 miles. Thats then the ride turned North and things got spicy. Tom Schwemberger accelerated hard to push the pace and set everyone’s legs on fire, dropping Stephano Porter out of the podium spot and from the leaders, setting a new leader board on Strava. At the end of the day, Loop 5 was taken by Luke Zuelke followed by Anderson Arnold and Mitchel Jones and a shake-up in the Overall Podium.
After a long second day, Anderson Arnold of the Pathfinder (10:35:35) closed the gap to capture the 2025 Tour of Hermann Gravel Challenge win followed by Mitchel Jones of Road Crew (10:37:13) and in third, Luke Zuelke of Bissell ABG Cycling (10:38:24).
Trisha Luke further solidified her win with a 12:42:45 finish time on all five loops with only one other Women’s finisher in Lena Mitsuuchi, who came down all the way from Chicago with her crew.
A big thank you to SBR Bikes and Brews for bringing us on board to kick off the SBR Grand Prix, a Gravel and Mountain Bike Race Series featuring the Tour of Hermann, The Equalizer Gravel Race, The Dirt Crits, and The Lost Valley Luau. Contact James Coudright at SBR if you’d like more information.
Another big thank you to the Show Me MO Gravel Series for also joining us. This series kicked of with the Ste. Gen Gravel Classic, and the next events will be the Vino Fondo, followed by The Equalizer.
And we couldn’t have done with without the generous support of our sponsors. Terrain Magazine, The North Face, FITS Socks, Optimal Performance Center, Great Harvest Bread Company of Kirkwood, Yakima, Specialized, and 4Hands Brewing Co. Get out and ride your bike!
PHOTOS:
Marcus Janzow Photography | Day ONE | Day TWO
Dan Singer Photography
RESULTS: