Sofía Gómez Villafañe grew up in Esquel, Patagonia, before moving to Los Gatos, California, at age 12 — and it's a move that would eventually shape women's cycling. She found her way into the sport through the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League, a program Levi's GranFondo has long supported, before heading to Fort Lewis College in Colorado to earn a degree in exercise science and race collegiately. Under the guidance of coach Carmen Small, the transition from collegiate competitor to international force was swift.

Sofía made history at the Tokyo 2020 Games as the first Argentine woman since 2004 to race Olympic mountain biking, and she hasn't slowed down since. A two-time Argentine national champion, she's proven equally at home on gravel — with victories at Unbound Gravel and the Life Time Grand Prix series among her most notable results. Last year she returned to the Growler and finished on the podium in third, a result that left little doubt she'd be back.

She will be. Sofía returns to Levi's GranFondo in 2026, and if last year's ride is any indication, her versatility and tenacity will be on full display on the roads she first discovered as a NorCal kid on a mountain bike.