Next weekend, you won’t have to wait for extended highlights or a spicy Call of a Life Time episode to find out what happened at the Life Time Grand Prix grand finale. The Big Sugar Classic will be live broadcast, from start to finish.
Turn the lights on
Big Sugar is the final event in the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix. That means there is a whopping $200,000 in prize money on the line. That hefty hunk of cash will be split between the men’s and women’s top 10 riders, based on results in the 100-mile race on Oct. 18 in Bentonville, Ark.
That racing will be broadcast live this year, free to watch. All 100 miles of racing will be shown, starting at 7:10 a.m. CST, on the Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel.
Tight racing going into Arkansas double header
Big Sugar, the final event in the series, completes and Arkansas double header for the Life Time GP. That starts this weekend with the Little Sugar, a 100km mountain bike race before finishing on Gravel next weekend with the grand daddy Big Sugar Classic.
Men put pressure on Swenson
Unlike some years, the Big Sugar Classic will be crucial not just to top 10 placings, but the overall title. The usually dominant Keegan Swenson leads by just a single point going into the final round. While the Santa Cruz recently added a world championship title in XCM, his quest for a fourth-straight Life Time GP title is still up in the air. Simon Pellaud has 97 points to Swenson’s 98. Torbjorn Andre Roed trails another single point behind, with 96. That mean’s the race for the men’s title is wide open.
Canada’s Andrew L’Esperance is currently tied for sixth overall with Brendan Johnson, after strong showings at Unbound, Leadville and Chequamegon. That could turn into a sizable share of the overall prize purse if the N.S. rider can bring the series home with some sweet speed at Big Sugar. Especially with Life Time’s best five-of-six scoring, there’s room for L’Espy to jump up the standings.
Vallafane leads out women’s field
Sofia Gomez Villafane, Specialized’s perennial gravel favourite, leads the 25-rider, invite-only women’s field into the Arkansas showdown. She also is in a similarly tight race for the title, holding a two-point advantage over Cecily Decker. Melissa Rollins sits third, 10 points back of Villafane. But Rollins rolls into Bentonville with momentum on her side, having won the last two rounds in Leadville and Chequamegon.
Haley Smith is the top Canadian in the women’s field….
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