Rosa Klöser may have just spent nine days racing the Tour de France Femmes, supporting her Canyon-SRAM teammate Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney in a finely balanced battle for yellow, but just because that huge challenge has been completed doesn't mean the time has now come for the German rider to put her feet up. Instead, the multi-discipline racer and Life Time Grand Prix competitor has another entirely different debut ahead at Leadville Trail 100 MTB.
The unconventional path, however, is well-trodden territory for the rider who made a late entry into competitive cycling while still a PhD student. She went from being a commuter to a local racer in 2022, became a gravel racer in 2023 and then quickly rose to the top of the gravel world in 2024 by winning Unbound 200 on debut. Klöser then also joined Canyon-SRAM on the road in 2025 and quickly proved her competence in another discipline, debuting at Paris-Roubaix in her first season and finishing a more than respectable 31st, all while still delivering gravel results near the top of the standings.
There was no getting comfortable in 2026 either, with Klöser adding a spot in the six-event Life Time Grand Prix Series to the agenda, along with her first-ever Grand Tour. True to form, it was the biggest of them all – the Tour de France Femmes.
"What an incredible experience and bike race to be part of, especially with an incredible Canyon-SRAM team. Beyond proud of our double GC trouble Kasia Niewiadoma & Antonia Niedermaier but also all my other extremely strong and talented teammates," said Klöser in an Instagram post after Niewiadoma finished second overall and Niedermaier fourth.
"Thanks to all the girls & staff - who supported me through my first Grand Tour!"
Despite her limited road experience – racing ten race days with Canyon-SRAM in 2025 and six this year before taking on the Tour de France Femmes – Klöser was clearly up to the challenge.
"Personally, I was flying the first three days and was really happy with how I could support the girls in positioning and being represented in the breakaways, as well as covering moves or even doing leadouts, also had my first TT race ever, unfortunately caught a cold around stage 5 & kissed the tarmac on a downhill just 3 km out from Ventoux on stage 7," said Klöser. "Therefore, stage 8 & 9 were survival and without my teammates in mind I would have stopped, but we made it all the way to the line in Nice."
There, Klöser crossed the final finish line with teammate Chiara Consonni, taking 111th place on stage 9 and 43rd overall, though the prize at the end was substantial regardless. She had made it through her first Tour de France Femmes and contributed to her teammates' impressive results.
"Ultimately, I came to learn and support the girls as best as possible, I LEARNED that I have a lot to learn (also I guess I will become a slave of heat training and better recovery/sleep management)," said Klöser.
Sleep and recovery, however, may be two things that aren't so easy to fit in over the next few days as another, arguably even bigger, leap into the unknown awaits on Saturday.
While Klöser has spread her wings on gravel and on the road, committing to the six-event Life Time Grand Prix series also meant committing to another discipline, given three of the six races are mountain bike events and the first of these is Leadville Trail 100 MTB.
That means many of Klöser's rivals have been brushing up on their mountain bike skills during the series hiatus after Unbound at the end of May. On the other hand, the rider who is now in third place on the series leaderboard has been heading into her debut with time on the tarmac, negotiating the ebb and flow of the peloton rather than that of the rough terrain.
What's more, there has been little time for recovery after finishing the Tour unwell and even less time to check out the unfamiliar course, recently altered due to wildfires, given she has just finished racing in France and has to throw a ten-hour flight into the mix.
Still, Klöser has proven she is a rider who knows how to perform on debut, even in challenging circumstances. Plus, she's already managed to cram Paris-Roubaix and Sea Otter Classic Gravel in within the space of four days at the beginning of the season and then topped it off by turning around and going back to Europe to win The Traka 360 two weeks later.
It may be hard to know where Klöser will sit on the race and series leaderboard after Leadville on Saturday, but one thing that her record clearly shows is that she won't be afraid to dive right in and embrace the challenge of the 102-mile, high-altitude mountain bike race.
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