Saturday 18 April 2026 was not a normal day at California’s Laguna Seca Raceway. While the circuit is more accustomed to motorcycle screams and tyre smoke, this time it hosted something altogether more civilised — and considerably more eccentric. The Brompton World Championship returned to the Americas for the first time since 2018, and it did not disappoint.
Competitors dashed Le Mans-style to unfold their bikes before charging onto Laguna Seca’s famed circuit to race 6.7 miles, dressed in bespoke race-day costumes. Think tweed blazers, bow ties, and the kind of effort usually reserved for a royal garden party — on a folding bike doing full gas.
Monterey local Alexander Akins (SpeedBlock-Terun Cycling) was crowned men’s World Champion with a winning time of 21:23 — remarkable given he first had to locate, unfold, and actually mount his Brompton. 24-year-old Akins, an elite amateur who won the 57th Santa Cruz Criterium in March, is a Monterey County product with road racing roots stretching back to his teens, when he competed for the Don Chapin Monterey Bay Racing Team. Racing in your own hometown has its perks, apparently.
Robin Betz (Alto Velo) claimed the women’s title in 25:27. Betz, 34, is also an elite racer, with Northern California District TT Champion honours and multiple road race wins to her name. A Stanford-trained computational biophysicist, Betz regularly races her bike around the Monterey Bay area — which may explain why she looked suspiciously comfortable on a folding bike in a Hawaiian flower print shirt sprinting around a motor racing circuit.
Both winners went home with brand new Brompton special edition world champion prize bikes. Presumably they folded them up neatly.
Photo Credit: Brompton
© 2026 Copyright Gran Fondo Daily News – All Rights Reserved