Tour of the Gila

Before the 2009 running, the race almost folded before SRAM was brought in as principal sponsor.[4] Shortly thereafter, the race entered the spotlight when three riders from Astana (which was also sponsored by SRAM) -- Lance Armstrong and his Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner—announced they would attend the race in preparation for the Giro d'Italia. In addition, it was Armstrong's first race after he underwent surgery to repair a broken collarbone sustained in the Vuelta a Castilla y León. The three entered the race under the team name "Mellow Johnny's", in reference to Armstrong's nickname and the name of his Austin bicycle shop.[5] Leipheimer went on to win the event overall, while Armstrong took second.[6] On the women's side, Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong won for the second time, during her planned final season (though she un-retired in 2011).

Once again, Leipheimer and Armstrong competed as part of Armstrong's "Mellow Johnny's" team, along with Team RadioShack teammate Jason McCartney. Armstrong also entered a "Livestrong" team of under-23 riders, including Jesse Sergent, who won the stage 3 time trial, and Taylor Phinney, who won stage 4, which, when combined with Leipheimer's stage 1 victory, gave Armstrong's teams victories in three of the five stages. Fellow American professionals Tom Danielson and David Zabriskie, who ride for Garmin-Slipstream, also entered, as part of Zabriskie's "DZ Nuts" team. Ultimately, Leipheimer defeated Danielson by 59 seconds for his second consecutive Gila title. On the women's side, Mara Abbott, the 2007 winner, won again.

After the success of the previous two editions of the Tour of the Gila, the event's organizers applied for the race to be added to the 2010-2011 UCI America Tour calendar.[7] However, the organizers were unable to attract sufficient funding and had to request in January 2011 that the race be moved back to the U.S. national calendar.[8] As a result, no UCI Pro Tour riders entered, unlike the previous two years. The men's race was won by Francisco Mancebo of Realcyclist.com, who won two road stages, with 18-year-old Australian Dale Parker of Armstrong's Trek-Livestrong U23 team winning the time trial and finishing second.[9][10] In the women's race, 1996 Olympic medalist Clara Hughes of Pactimo Cycling won the time trial and criterium stages and defeated defending champion Mara Abbott of the Italian team Diadora Pasta Zara by about three minutes.[9]

The 2012 edition was scheduled for May 2 to 6, 2012, with the same stages as during the previous three editions. Because of the Tour of the Gila's upgrade to UCI America Tour status, Tour organizers are required to invite the top three teams in the UCI America Tour rankings from the prior year.[11] Ultimately, three UCI Pro Continental teams chose to enter: UnitedHealthcare and Team Type 1–Sanofi from the US and Champion System from China.[12] National teams from Mexico and Colombia also competed.[12] The women's race, with its higher prize money, attracted a field led by two-time champion (and defending Olympic gold medalist) Kristin Armstrong of Team Exergy TWENTY12.[13] In the race, American Rory Sutherland of UnitedHealthcare won the first stage and stayed close in the others to win the men's title by 15 seconds over Chad Beyer of Competitive Cyclist Racing Team, while Armstrong won four of the five stages to win the women's title for the third time by a decisive 6:41 over Carmen Small.[14] Surprisingly, the Bontrager-LiveStrong under-23 youth team, a remnant of the now-defunct Team RadioShack, took the top two places in the "Gila Monster" final stage with Lawson Craddock and Ian Boswell and won the men's team competition.[15]

• – leader of the General classification
• – leader of the Mountains classification
• – leader of the Points classification
• – leader of the Youth classification