Is gravel racing getting stale already? A Life Time Grand Prix 2025 preview

The fourth season of the Life Time Grand Prix begins Thursday at the Sea Otter Classic in the coastal hills outside Monterey, California. The race will have similar flavours as previous Sea Otter showdowns, but unlike the past three LTGP races at Sea Otter, it will be contested on gravel bikes rather than mountain bikes.

In addition to changes to the calendar's makeup, Life Time has brought in new riders while reducing the total number of riders, added a wild card contest, and implemented a no-draft rule. Keep reading for a dive into all of these updates and who to watch this week at the series' opening round

The calendar

That’s right: Life Time shifted the calendar this year, dropping back down to six races (compared to last season’s seven) and turning the Sea Otter event into a gravel race, though it will still be contested in Fort Ord National Monument, similar to the mountain bike course.

The other major change to the calendar is the elimination of Crushar in the Tushar and The Rad Dirt Fest in favour of Little Sugar, a technical, singletrack-heavy mountain bike race in Bentonville, Arkansas, one week before the series finale at Big Sugar Gravel.

• April 11th: Sea Otter Classic Gravel
• May 31st: UNBOUND Gravel 200
• August 9th: Leadville Trail 100 MTB
• September 13th: Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival
• October 12th: Little Sugar MTB
• October 18th: Big Sugar Gravel

Series rules allow for a one-drop race. However, riders with series podium ambitions argue that, barring illness or injury, it’s not worth the risk to sit out a race. Big Sugar remains mandatory for overall contenders to start, and it serves as a tie-breaker in the overall points race.

With the schedule changes, the Leadville 100 mountain bike race is now the only race taking place in thin air, a potential handicap for three-time series champion Keegan Swenson.

The dates of the races are at least slightly easier on racers' travel schedules and allow the athletes more recovery and training time in between the events.

The contenders

Before we delve into the rest of the changes, let’s take a look at some racers to watch. If you’re reading this, you likely already know about three-time series champion Keegan Swenson. As we mentioned, the lack of altitude races theoretically gives the Utah-native a slightly reduced chance. However, he's no slouch at sea level races and beating Swenson will be the name of the game.

If we're being honest, the men’s overall title chase in the Life Time Grand Prix has become a little stale over the course of the past three seasons. It’s the same as the Team Sky Tour de France winning days or the current Tadej Pogačar era.

Who can challenge him?

Last year, the only men to beat him in LTGP races were Lachlan Morton at Unbound Gravel and Alexey Vermeulen at Big Sugar. Morton is not contending the Grand Prix this season, but Vermeulen will be a perennial threat. Other strong series contestants include Matt Beers, Zach Calton, Russell Finsterwald, Dylan Johnson, Payson McElveen, Cole Paton, and Torbjorn Andre Roed.

One story I’m watching this season is the influx of international riders in the LTGP peloton. There's former Italian road racer Mattia De Marchi who placed fifth at Unbound last year. Ethiopian former Grand Tour rider Tsgabu Grmay, and French mountain biker Hugo Drechou. Lawrence Naesen and Simon Pellaud, also join from the other side of the Atlantic.

In the women’s gravel peloton, Sofia Gomez Villafane is still the overall favourite after winning two editions. The only woman to beat her in the overall is Canadian Haley Smith, who has had a good start to the season with a fifth place at Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona.

American former pro road racer Lauren De Crescenzo is always a threat on gravel courses, as is Paige Onweller. At the mountain bike races, watch out for riders like Hannah Otto, Alexis Skarda and Melisa Rollins.

Continuing the international rider trend are Aussie Courtney Sherwell, who placed second at BWR Arizona, and Axelle Dubau-Prevot, sister of the formidable multi-time XCO, road and cyclosross world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot. Third-place Leadville finisher Michaela Thompson is in the mix again this season, though her off-season training was cut short due to injury.

Wild card system

We won’t know who else could contend for the overall LTPG title until the first two races are over. Life Time dropped the number of riders in the fields to 25 men and 25 women, but they’ve only announced 22 racers in each field. That’s because for 2025, the organisers are implementing a wild card system. After Sea Otter and Unbound, three additional riders in each category will be selected for the full Grand Prix season.

The wild card nominees have been announced, and the fields are more stacked than a plate of breakfast at IHOP. Watch out for former Unbound winner Amity Rockwell and youngster Anna Yamauchi in the women’s field. In the men's field, we'll be keeping an eye on Norwegian Jonas Orset and Petr Vakoč, formerly of Team Alpecin-Fenix.

Life Time also introduced a U23 category for this season, “designed to identify and nurture young talent.” Athletes must compete in four of the six races to get an overall score, and Big Sugar will serve as a tiebreaker race. The overall winners in the men’s and women’s categories will earn a guaranteed spot in the elite Grand Prix fields for 2026.

Rider to watch in the U23 category include Ruth Holcomb, Emily Stapleton, Griffin Hoppin, and Luke Mosteller.

No-draft rule

Life Time has finally introduced a no-draft rule after women’s riders have advocated for it for years. Last year, each race in the Grand Prix featured separate women’s and men’s starts, and the no-draft rule further gives the women’s field their own race. Now, riders in different categories are not permitted to draft off of each other. No longer can a woman draft off a men’s group or vice versa. Categories will now race mano a mano and won’t be influenced by other categories on the road.

Sea Otter Gravel

The Sea Otter Gravel course features a 30-mile lap, and the Grand Prix riders will complete three laps for a total of 90 miles and more than 8,000 feet of climbing. The course takes in similar terrain as the Fuego XL mountain bike course but stays on gravel roads. However, those gravel roads are rough, sandy, rutted and feature punchy climbs. Each lap builds up to the final climb up Lookout Ridge, which also featured in the mountain bike course from last year. If a group stays together through the race, the winning move will likely come on the Lookout climb.

Who could do well? In addition to the previously mentioned riders above, Alex Wild lives about an hour from Monterey and always does well at Sea Otter. Villafane, Otto, Smith, Skarda, Swenson, Vermeulen, Beers, Finsterwald and Paton also have also podiumed at Sea Otter.

As usual, Life Time will post updates on Instagram throughout the race and upload a highlights package to YouTube. No announcement has been made about the possibility of a livestream. Cycling Weekly will report on everything that went down during the race as well.