Leah Thomas

A Bay Area native, Leah grew up as a competitive gymnast. She attended Northwestern University outside Chicago where she began to dabble in long distance running, completing her first marathon that year. However, ignoring the warning signs, she developed severe plantar fasciitis and was forced to leave her running shoes behind. To fill the running’s absence, she picked up a bicycle and quickly became hooked. While living on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona, cycling became a way to balance the stresses of being a new teacher. After some convincing, she completed her first race in late 2013 and won. She moved back to the Bay Area in mid 2014 to be closer to family and to ride. As the 2015 season progressed, Leah began to have bigger cycling dreams and decided to put full-time teaching on hold in order to see what see where cycling could take her. After competing as a stagier in the 2015 World Championship Team Time Trial, Leah raced for her first professional team in 2016. As she continued to develop, she eventually made her way to race full time in Europe in 2019 and currently races for Bigla-Katusha. Leah, a true all-arounder specializing in the time trial, thrives under hard, dynamic courses. Career highlights include 5th place World Championship ITT 2018, 7th Place World Championship ITT 2019, 2nd place Giro Rosa 2019 Stage 1 and 8, and winning the Tour of Scotland in 2019. She dreams of representing her country in the Olympics, winning a spring classic, and one day dawning the rainbow jersey in the time trial. Off the bike, Leah likes to spend time with family and friends on spontaneous outdoor adventures. She also enjoys time to herself curled up with a book, experimenting in the kitchen, and traveling to new places.