GR Gran Fondo 2023 Celebrity Riders:

Michigan native Brent Bookwalter recently retired after 16 seasons as a professional bike racer. The American signed his first professional contract back in 2008 and spent a decade with the former BMC Racing Team. He rounded out his career with three seasons with the Australian-registered Team BikeExchange. Brent is a grassroots, homegrown American whose grit and tenacity brought him to the top level of professional cycling. Accolades throughout his career included racing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, serving as part of Cadel Evans’ winning 2011 Tour de France team and earning podium finishes at a myriad of stage races. Brent, wife Jamie, and their son Waylon continue to split their time between Asheville, NC and Girona, Spain.

Christian is the son of hall of fame inductee John Vande Velde. He started his racing career on the velodrome, where he won the World Cup overall as well as earning his first Olympic team birth. He then transitioned to the road, racing for teams like US postal Service, CSC and Garmin-Sharp. Where he saw his biggest results. Including wearing the Maglia Rosa in the Giro d’ Italia, 4th and 7th place overall at the Tour de France and winning the Tour of Missouri and US Pro Challenge. Post career, Christian found his way into broadcasting at NBC and is now entering his 10th year as an analyst. Christian now lives in Greenville, SC with his wife and two children.

• 2x Olympian
• 11x Tour de France
• 5x National Champion