Life Time has confirmed the final seven riders who have earned their place on the Life Time Grand Prix as part of the series’ inaugural Wild Card competition.
The successful Life Time Grand Prix Wild Card riders are:
Men:
Cameron Jones
Andrew L’Esperance
Skyler Taylor*
Matthew Wilson
*While Petr Vakoc would have qualified for the Wild Card roster, he chose to roll his spot to the next contender.
Women:
Haley Dumke
Laurel Quinones
Leah Van der Linden
The Wild Card competition is one of two new initiatives that have been introduced for the 2025 series, alongside the U23 Development Program. Both have been created to give athletes the chance to earn their way into the Grand Prix, as well as providing fans with more competition, action and drama to follow.
After making it onto the initial Wild Card roster, riders had to compete at both the Life Time Sea Otter Classic Gravel and Life Time UNBOUND Gravel presented by Shimano, with the top performers across both those races accepting their spots.
Originally, six Life Time Grand Prix places had been made available, split equally between men and women, but an additional spot opened up for the men after Howard Grotts chose to withdraw from the series as he continues to recover from a serious crash sustained last year.
U23 Development Program
The U23 Development Program is a season-long competition, launched to identify and nurture young talent, providing opportunities to gain experience and compete alongside top athletes in the US nation’s premier off-road cycling series. The top male and female U23 finishers in the overall series will each earn a spot in the 2026 Life Time Grand Prix.
The program is open to cyclists aged 18-22 and following the completion of UNBOUND Gravel, the following riders from the initial athlete pool have been selected to compete in the remainder of the program, based on their performances at Sea Otter and/or the UNBOUND 100:
Women:
Samantha Campbell
Alexandra Charles
Ellory Clason
Ruth Holcomb
Aunika Kemp
Terese Martens
Maire Noonan
Emily Stapleton
Madine Whitmer
Kayla Yuengling
Men:
Isaac Allred
Caden Budd
Hayden Christian
Theo De Groote
Beckam Drake
Jason Freihofner
Elouan Gardon
Griffin Hoppin
Yusuf Johnson
Luke Pankratz
Justin Peck
Adam Ptaszek
Jade Rohde
Oliver Rutberg
Caleb Smith
Jack Spang
Oskar Stack-Michasiw
Kash Steele
Brady White
Jonas Woodruff
The under 23 program requires each athlete to compete in four of the six events that make up the 2025 series. These athletes are scored on a separate U23 leaderboard, with the best four race results counting towards their overall standing.
Two drop races are allowed, and a minimum of four starts are required for eligibility. In the event of a tie, Life Time Big Sugar Gravel will serve as tiebreaker, but is not a required start.
The calendar for the 2025 Time Grand Prix series is as follows:
- Life Time UNBOUND Gravel 200 presented by Shimano – Saturday, May 31, 2025
- Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik – Saturday, August 9, 2025
- Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival – Saturday, September 13, 2025
- Life Time Little Sugar MTB – Sunday, October 12, 2025
- Life Time Big Sugar Gravel – Saturday, October 18, 2025
