Just hours before the wet and windy weather conditions hit the Bentonville, Arkansas area Saturday morning, organisers of the Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik, the final and decisive race of the Life Time Grand Prix, made the call to shorten the 100-mile event to half the distance.
The forecast from the National Weather Service (NWS), 18 hours before the first riders taking the course, issued a 'hazardous weather outlook', with the possibility of severe thunderstorms 'where large hail and damaging wind gusts will be the main threats'.
Life Time, which owns and organises the race and series, did not wait for the storms but made the call just one-and-a-half hours prior to the elite starts to cut the route by half the distance, now using the 50-mile route to determine winners of Big Sugar Gravel and award final points in the Grand Prix.
On Friday organisers sent an email to competitors to outline a contingency plan in case of severe weather, with options from delaying the start times, cutting the 100-mile route to half the distance or cancelling competitions altogether.
"If conditions become dangerous, the race may be canceled. This is a last resort," the official statement sent from Life Time on Friday afternoon read.
"Depending on weather conditions, start times may be delayed — by no more than one hour. They will not start earlier than scheduled. The 100-mile race may be shortened to the 50-mile course. This will be communicated no later than 7 a.m. We strongly encourage all riders to download both course maps.
"Please remember: weather in this area can bring strong storms, hail, and even tornadoes. If severe weather occurs, seek shelter immediately and do not continue riding until it’s safe."
The first riders on the now 50-mile course of the Life Time Big Sugar Gravel presented by Kenetik, will be the elite men at 7:25 a.m. local time from Bentonville City Square, with the elite women following 10 minutes later. The longest distance had included more than 7,700 feet of elevation gain across remote, rugged climbing with ‘gloriously chunky’ gravel and off-camber descents on the majority of the route.
While more than 105 elite men and 60 elite women are competing for a share in a $30,000 single-race prize purse, the invitation-only Grand Prix competitors - 20 of 25 elite men and 21 of 25 elite women will settle accounts on a $200,000 series prize purse. Additionally, there are qualifications on offer for the 2026 series for the top five elite women and elite men, as well as the top two under-23 riders.
It's not just the elite races for Life Time, but the thousands of amateurs in north-east Arkansas for three distances of gravel rides through the Ozark mountains. Age group divisions are scheduled to take the course at 7:50 a.m., with riders registered for the original 50-mile route beginning at 8:30 a.m. and 25-milers at 9:00 a.m.
Sofía Gómez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) only needs to start Big Sugar Gravel to wrap up her third Life Time Grand Prix title for elite women. Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz htSQD) has swept the men's title since the series began in 2022, but there are three riders who could topple his supremacy on Saturday.
Only the top 10 riders in each elite division of the series will take a share in the rich payout, so stakes are high. On the men's side, there are as many as nine riders fighting to finish in the top 10, including Russell Finsterwald (TREK Driftless), who won Big Sugar Gravel in 2022.
"It looks like we're going to have upwards of two inches of rain at some point, and that gets me excited. You don't know what's gonna happen out there. It takes your mind off the suffering a little bit, and you just get out and do the bike racing," the Colorado rider said Friday before a final ride on part of the course with a group from his sponsor Continental.
"Equipment selection becomes a big role. So it's been fun kind of tinkering, deciding what I'm going to do in terms of everything from chain wax to tyres to how I'm going to consume my nutrition on the bike. So there's a lot of strategy behind it as conditions change, and I think that's something that plays my strength, because I tend to overthink things, which helps in scenarios like this."
A rough timeline could see the first showers as early at 8:00 a.m. local time, just after sunrise and the elite starts. However, the rays of the sun are not expected to peak through clouds until after 5:00 p.m., more than four hours after the first elite men are expected to complete the course. Along with a forecast of one to two inches of rain, a cold front will bring northerly wind gusts by midday ranging between 25 to 35 mph, according to the NWS.
Live streaming for Big Sugar Gravel will begin at 7:10 a.m. local time on the official Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel and Life Time app, through a partnership with Orange Seal. Cameras at the finish line will continue to broadcast riders crossing the finish line through the 12-hour mark.
"Mother Nature can be unpredictable - we appreciate your flexibility. Stay safe, stay smart, and enjoy the ride," Life Time noted in the statement.
