Life Time Grand Prix to have fewer riders and wild cards in 2025

The USA's flagship gravel competition, the Life Time Grand Prix, has announced that it will have a smaller field and wildcard entries in 2025.

While there is still one last event still to come this year, Big Sugar Gravel on Saturday 19 October, the six races on next year's calendar have already been confirmed.

Introduced in 2022, the Life Time Grand Prix is a season-long race series in which a cast of handpicked competitors travel across the United States to contest the country's toughest gravel and mountain bike endurance events. The racer who stands atop of the final series podium can call themselves the best unpaved racer in the country and took home a large of the $300,000 prize purse this year.

25 women and 25 men will be on the start line next year, down from 30 each this year. However, of those 25 spots, three will be left for wildcard entries until after the opening two rounds. The top scorers in these, who have not already got a spot, will then get a second chance at entry to the rest of the series. The field had already been cut for 2024.

Former rounds of the Life Time Grand Prix, like Crushar in the Tushar and Rad Dirt Fest have missed out on being part of the series next year. In their place, Little Sugar MTB has been entered in the week ahead of Big Sugar Gravel. Meanwhile, the whole competition will be kicked off by the Sea Otter Classic Gravel, rather than the Fuego XL 100K MTB at Sea Otter Classic.

The series begins on 11 April at Sea Otter, and is followed by Unbound Gravel 200 on 31 May; after this, the wildcard entries will be allowed in. It finishes with the Big Sugar Gravel, like this year, on 18 October.

In between, there's also the Leadville Trail 100 MTB on 9 August, and the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival on 13 September. Currently, Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized) and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz) lead the women's and men's categories in 2024.

"We’re excited to announce these updates to the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix as we believe it will make the fourth edition of the series the most dynamic one yet," Kimo Seymour, Life Time's president of media and events, said.

"We’re just wrapping up the 2024 series - only our third season - but we’ve already seen immense progress in our goal of bringing more fans and growing the sport of cycling domestically.

"From continually sold out events to the success of our Life Time Grand Prix Race Highlights recap video series on YouTube, it is clear the appetite for professional and recreational off-road cycling in the U.S. is continuing to grow."