As money and attention continue to flow into gravel racing, a desire to ensure fair competition follows.
Life Time
Gravel racing and endurance off-road competitions have professionalized to the level at which more top talent is filling results sheets, prize purses are getting bigger, factory teams are forming, and organizations like the UCI are getting more involved in the discipline. Despite all of that, and the high media and industry profile of the discipline, anti-doping efforts are less talked about in gravel compared to road cycling. But lack of talk doesn’t necessarily mean lack of action, and followers of the sport should be encouraged to know that systems are in place to discourage cheating in gravel competitions.
Anti-doping in the Life Time Grand Prix
Anti-doping efforts began in earnest in the U.S. gravel scene at the 2022 edition of Unbound Gravel, during the first year of the Life Time Grand Prix, where three men and three women were tested by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
The following year, Life Time and USADA expanded testing in the Grand Prix to more races and expanded its testing pool to include athletes riding in the elite fields of individual Grand Prix races, but who were not a part of the overall Grand Prix series. Life Time’s rules state that random doping controls may be conducted at Grand Prix events, and that no riders under a current doping ban may race in the Grand Prix.
“Life Time works in partnership with organizations such as USADA to promote clean sport,” Life Time said in an emailed statement. “We do not disclose what events have testing, or how many athletes are tested at each event.” However, a document found on Life Time’s site seems to indicate that Life Time contracted USADA for all seven of the Grand Prix rounds in 2024.
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