Rose Grant came into Leadville Trail 100 MTB to defend her two-year domination in the women’s pro division. It would be her final attempt to claim the big, shiny belt buckle as a professional, as Grant announced prior to the start that she would end her 10-year racing career at the end of the season.
Grant kicked up the dust to repeat on the podium at the 104-mile mountain bike endurance contest in Colorado on Saturday, this time around finishing second to Hannah Otto (née Finchamp). She also added major points to her quest for a top placement in the Life Time Grand Prix Series presented by Mazda, moving to fifth place overall.
“I feel like this season is in some ways a bonus tour. Last year, I was torn about continuing to race into this season. I hadn’t verbally communicated that to anybody because I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know how to transition,” Grant said about her indecision to move away from professional bike racing.
“I didn’t want to continue racing just because I didn’t know how to quit or reinvent myself. Because my identity was so wrapped up in this one thing. The accolades from doing well were so addicting, I didn’t want that to be me.”
For Grant, it was the challenge of the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda that helped her to decide to race another season. Why not, with a season-ending $250,000 prize purse to be split evenly between the top 10 women and top 10 men after the best score in five of six off-road events across the US.
“I would be ecstatic to finish in the top three, so much can happen,” Grant said about the women’s standings in the Life Time GP. “A lot of athletes have already sat out a race so if anything did go wrong with one of the three remaining, there’s a lot of space to shake things up.”
After Leadville, there was a shakeup in the women’s standings of the Life Time GP. Previous leader Sofia Gomez Villafane did not finish the Leadville event, so scored no points. Haley Smith, with her third-place finish Saturday, took over the series lead by one point over Gomez Villafane, while Sarah Sturm, fourth place in Leadville, was now in third. Otto jumped to fourth in the series. Only 11 points separate Rose from the series lead, with two events to go.
Speaking as a rider with six US marathon national championship titles and four appearances at the Mountain Bike World Championships, Grant was looking forward to following Leadville with the final MTB event in the series, Chequamegon MTB…
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