Petr Vakoč, Alex Howes, Peta Mullens, Amity Rockwell among 138 wildcard contenders aiming for 6 spots in Life Time Grand Prix
Rock Cobbler 12.0 winner Ruth Holcomb makes cut for new U23 programme, which confirmed 63 athletes

A total of 201 athletes were named to compete in a pair of new high-stakes contests for the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix. For the six wildcard spots into this year's off-road series handed out after Unbound Gravel 200, 138 riders were selected this week comprised of 40 women competing for three of those entries and 98 men competing for the other three.
Top women's riders who have been part of the series in past years and are looking to return include Australian Peta Mullens, Canadian Angela Naeth and US riders Emily Newsom, Amity Rockwell, Hannah Shell and Anna Yamauchi. Among the men looking to return to the series are Czechia's Petr Vakoč, Canadians Andrew l'Esperance and Adam Roberge, and a hefty list of US riders which includes Alex Howes, Truman Glasgow, Taylor Lideen, Tobin Ortenblad, Ryan Standish and Kyle Trudeau.
A roster of 63 athletes between the ages of 18-22 will take part in the inaugural U23 Development Program, the names of 12 women and 51 men revealed to vye for two spots in the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix, one spot each for the top male and female finishers across four of six races this season.
The fourth edition of the Life Time Grand Prix series begins April 10 at the Sea Otter Classic gravel race in Monterey, California, followed by the second round at Unbound Gravel 200 in Emporia, Kansas on May 31. This year these two races count for more than just a season-ending share of a $200,000 prize purse, split among the top 10 overall men and women in October after Big Sugar Gravel.
"These initiatives will not only provide fans with exciting new storylines to follow but also create new opportunities for emerging athletes to prove themselves on the biggest stage. We’re excited to see these athletes pushing themselves for the opportunity to race in the Life Time Grand Prix," Kimo Seymour, president of Life Time Events, said in a press release.
Details have not been disclosed about the selection process, or number of spots on offer, for either programme, which assessed personal applications from individual athletes. Once rosters were revealed, a large disparity in gender numbers among both programmes was evident, with four times as many men competing in the U23 Development Program than women and more than double the number of men's accepted applications for the wildcard berths than women. However, even with larger fields, the men do not compete for higher numbers of entries in either the wildcard or U23 programmes.
"I was in the Grand Prix for the last three years, but I didn't make the cut this year. It seems like Life Time is just bringing in some diversity, which is great to see. It's disappointing not to make the cut, but I'll earn my way in through on of the wildcard spots. If not, I'll shift my priorities for the season. It's all good either way," L'Esperance told Cyclingnews before he departed to South Africa for Cape Epic.
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Wildcard athletes must contest the opening two rounds of the Grand Prix, and the top performers across the two races combined will earn spots in the 2025 series, bringing the invitation-only fields to a maximum of 25 women and 25 men across the final four races.
New to gravel racing this year, 22-year-old Colorado native Ruth Holcomb said she did not apply to the Grand Prix last fall, but decided to apply for the U23 programme since it was her final year in that category, and she's glad she did.
"I'm excited about it. I was just going to do some the [Grand Prix] races that I could with the htSQD and I was going to do four of them anyway, so I talked to Keegan [Swenson] and Tobin [Ortenblad] and they said I should totally do it. I think it will be fun," Holcomb said about her new teammates with htSQD, including three-time Life Time Grand Prix champion Swenson, encouraging her to apply.
Having competed with the Bear National team in mountain biking as a junior, she said other women to watch in the U23 field are Emily Stapleton, also a Bear National grad, and Kylie De Jager. On the men's side, she said that field was stacked, and watch for riders like Luke Mosteller, Justin Peck and Brady White.
The U23 riders must compete in four of the six events of this year's series, with a separate leaderboard tracking scores for female and males. All the rules are available at the Life Time Grand Prix web site.
Life Time Grand Prix selections 2025
Note: asterik indicates riders who have applied for both programmes
Women | Men |
---|---|
Ann-Christine Allik | Isaac Allred* |
Gabby Arnold | Evan Arthur |
Alexandra Benda | Trevor August |
Lizi Brooke | Elliott Baring |
Clara Brown | George Beck |
Alexandra Charles* | Rossouw Bekker |
Caroline Dezendorf | Hunter Bell |
Maria Doering | Cody Berta |
Haley Dumke | Caleb Bottcher |
Amelia Durst | Samuel Brännlund |
Jenny Fletcher | Alexis Cartier |
Izzy Flint | Brayan Chaves |
Natalia Franco Villegas | Maxence Coquet |
Siena Hermon | Cody Cupp |
Caitlyn Kellogg | Brendon Davids |
Karissa Lamb | Andrew Dillman |
Colleen Maher | Trevor Foley |
Rachel McCloskey | Alvaro Franco |
Peta Mullens | Cobe Freeburn |
Angela Naeth | Thomas Fuller |
Emily Newsom | Julien Gagne |
Eden Nykamp | Truman Glasgow |
Erin Osborne | Joe Goettl |
Irena Ossola | Cory Greenberg |
Olivia Pantano | Julien Guarniere |
Laurel Quinones | Nathan Guerra |
Amity Rockwell | Matthew Hamsa |
Brianna Samuhel | Joey Hassett |
Hannah Shell | Peter Hogan |
Hannah Simms | Dillon Hollinger |
Sierra Sims | Griffin Hoppin* |
Kylie Small | Alex Howes |
Kyleigh Spearing | Dylan Humber-Kelly |
Alayna Szuch | Declan Irvine |
Monique van den Boogaart | Cameron Ivory |
Leah Van der Linden | Cameron Jones |
Emma Viotto | Logan Jones-Wilkins |
Eleanor Wiseman | Marco Joubert |
Grace Woods | Kyle Kalish |
Anna Yamauchi | Connor Kamm |
Row 40 - Cell 0 | Pete Karinen |
Row 41 - Cell 0 | Trevor King |
Row 42 - Cell 0 | Taj Krieger |
Row 43 - Cell 0 | Andrew L’Esperance |
Row 44 - Cell 0 | Brandan Lewis |
Row 45 - Cell 0 | Taylor Lideen |
Row 46 - Cell 0 | Amando Martinez Galvan |
Row 47 - Cell 0 | Cian McCann |
Row 48 - Cell 0 | Justin McQuerry |
Row 49 - Cell 0 | Leandro Messineo |
Row 50 - Cell 0 | Ben Metcalfe |
Row 51 - Cell 0 | Trip Meunier |
Row 52 - Cell 0 | Lucas Miers |
Row 53 - Cell 0 | Daxton Mock |
Row 54 - Cell 0 | Paolo Montoya |
Row 55 - Cell 0 | Luke Mosteller* |
Row 56 - Cell 0 | Henry Nelson |
Row 57 - Cell 0 | Carter Nieuwesteeg |
Row 58 - Cell 0 | Kyan Olshove |
Row 59 - Cell 0 | Jonas Orset |
Row 60 - Cell 0 | Tobin Ortenblad |
Row 61 - Cell 0 | Blair Perkes |
Row 62 - Cell 0 | Jacob Peterson |
Row 63 - Cell 0 | Matt Pike |
Row 64 - Cell 0 | Marc Pritzen |
Row 65 - Cell 0 | Adam Ptaszek* |
Row 66 - Cell 0 | Carlos Julian Quintero |
Row 67 - Cell 0 | David Ramon |
Row 68 - Cell 0 | Brent Rees |
Row 69 - Cell 0 | Jacob Richards |
Row 70 - Cell 0 | Adam Roberge |
Row 71 - Cell 0 | Brody Sanderson |
Row 72 - Cell 0 | Miguel Santillanes |
Row 73 - Cell 0 | Nate Schneider |
Row 74 - Cell 0 | Trey Shepard |
Row 75 - Cell 0 | Rogan Smart |
Row 76 - Cell 0 | Caleb Smith* |
Row 77 - Cell 0 | Jim Snitzer |
Row 78 - Cell 0 | Marc Spratt |
Row 79 - Cell 0 | Nathan Spratt |
Row 80 - Cell 0 | Ryan Standish |
Row 81 - Cell 0 | Nathan Surowiec |
Row 82 - Cell 0 | Caleb Swartz |
Row 83 - Cell 0 | Nicholas Tabares |
Row 84 - Cell 0 | Skyler Taylor |
Row 85 - Cell 0 | Kyle Trudeau |
Row 86 - Cell 0 | Petr Vakoc |
Row 87 - Cell 0 | Michael van den Ham |
Row 88 - Cell 0 | Daniel van der Walt |
Row 89 - Cell 0 | Deven van Greuningen |
Row 90 - Cell 0 | Jacob Velasco |
Row 91 - Cell 0 | Cory Wallace |
Row 92 - Cell 0 | Chase Wark |
Row 93 - Cell 0 | Brennan Wertz |
Row 94 - Cell 0 | CJ Wiggins |
Row 95 - Cell 0 | Jaxon Wiggins* |
Row 96 - Cell 0 | Matthew Wilson |
Row 97 - Cell 0 | Jonas Woodruff* |
U23 women | U23 men |
---|---|
Samantha Campbell | Isaac Allred* |
Alexandra Charles* | Finn Borstmayer |
Ellory Clason | Andrew Bosch |
Kylie De Jager | Ryker Brand |
Mya Graham | Ian Brown |
Ruth Holcomb | Caden Budd |
Aunika Kemp | Ben Carmody |
Máire Noonan | Hayden Christian |
Izabella Slosberg | Wiley Close |
Emily Stapleton | Theo De Groote |
Nadine Visser | Nicholas Dohr |
Madine Whitmer | Beckam Drake |
Row 12 - Cell 0 | Eli Ferguson |
Row 13 - Cell 0 | Jason Freihofner |
Row 14 - Cell 0 | Elouan Gardon |
Row 15 - Cell 0 | Morgan Hendricks |
Row 16 - Cell 0 | Luke Hensley |
Row 17 - Cell 0 | Logan Hodges |
Row 18 - Cell 0 | Blake Hoffer |
Row 19 - Cell 0 | Kelly Hoffman |
Row 20 - Cell 0 | Griffin Hoppin* |
Row 21 - Cell 0 | Calvin Horner |
Row 22 - Cell 0 | Jacob Huber |
Row 23 - Cell 0 | Jake Johansen |
Row 24 - Cell 0 | Yusuf Johnson |
Row 25 - Cell 0 | Lance Lakoski |
Row 26 - Cell 0 | Xander Lyman |
Row 27 - Cell 0 | Luke Mosteller* |
Row 28 - Cell 0 | Brandon Naseath |
Row 29 - Cell 0 | Mitt Niederhauser |
Row 30 - Cell 0 | Roston Nordell |
Row 31 - Cell 0 | Alex Novak |
Row 32 - Cell 0 | Luke Pankratz |
Row 33 - Cell 0 | Justin Peck |
Row 34 - Cell 0 | Adam Ptaszek* |
Row 35 - Cell 0 | Jack Ralston |
Row 36 - Cell 0 | Jade Rohde |
Row 37 - Cell 0 | Oliver Rutberg |
Row 38 - Cell 0 | Jacob Schneller |
Row 39 - Cell 0 | Will Silk |
Row 40 - Cell 0 | Caleb Smith* |
Row 41 - Cell 0 | Aiden Sorich |
Row 42 - Cell 0 | Jack Spang |
Row 43 - Cell 0 | Oskar Stack-Michasiw |
Row 44 - Cell 0 | Kash Steele |
Row 45 - Cell 0 | Jose Eduardo Tijerina Cuesta |
Row 46 - Cell 0 | Samuel Warner |
Row 47 - Cell 0 | Brady White |
Row 48 - Cell 0 | Jaxon Wiggins* |
Row 49 - Cell 0 | Jonas Woodruff* |
Row 50 - Cell 0 | Lief Yergensen |
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
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