Haley Smith leads Life Time Grand Prix going into final event

The first year of Life Time’s new Grand Prix is coming to a dramatic conclusion this weekend in Bentonville, Arkansas. The 100-mile Big Sugar Gravel race will determine overall winners in the big-money series.

Smith leads close women’s contest

Haley Smith is positioned to get a big portion of that prize purse. The Canadian leads the women’s standings with one event left to go. Smith’s consistent riding all year, and win at Crushar in the Tushar, puts her just ahead of Sarah Sturm and Sofia Gomez Villafane going into this weekend’s race. Sturm has 109 points to Smith’s 113, with Villafane close behind at 108 points total. Both riders could still beat, or tie, Smith depending one how this weekend plays out.

Riders are allowed to drop one result in the best five-of-six Life Time Grand Prix format. In the event of a tie, though, the result from Big Sugar will serve as a tie-breaker to determine placings in the overall standing. That will make for interesting strategic racing for the lead women on Saturday in Bentonville.

If Smith finishes sixth (or worse) on Saturday her points total will increase to 138. If Smith does finish sixth or worse, Sturm could win outright with a win on Saturday, which would give her 139 points. Alternately, a second place finish for Sturm would still give her the series lead over Smith on the tie-breaker, unless Villafane wins. If Villafane wins (and Smith is sixth or worse) she will match Smith with 138 points and take the series title based on her Big Sugar result. In a fun bit of math, if Villafane wins, Sturm finishes second and Smith finishes sixth or worse, all three will be tied at 138 points. In that scenario, Villafane still take the title based on her Big Sugar result.

That’s all to say that the pressure is on the others to attack, while Smith has some freedom to ride defensively and try protect her position in Life Time’s overall standings.

Keegan Swenson leaves Life Time men fighting for podium positions

Keegan Swenson has a commanding lead of the men’s division. The U.S. rider’s won four out of five race starts this year. His worst result is third, which would drop from his total if he places first or second this weekend in Bentonville.

Alexey Vermeulen is second, with 109 points to Swenson’s 120. Cole Paton is third with 106, Peter Stetina fourth with 103 and Russell Finsterwald fifth with 101, making the battle for podium positions far from finished. With $20,00 and $16,000 up for grabs…