2025 is wrapping up the same wild way it started for Andrew L’Esperance, mixing a new race, some success, and a little uncertainty.
The Canadian World Cup-racer turned gravel and endurance athlete kicked off his year at the Cape Epic, his first time at the iconic mountain bike stage race, before putting in two big results at the Life Time Grand Prix to earn his way back into the series via the new wild card system. Eight months of racing later, L’Espy wrapped up Life Time with a podium at Little Sugar and a surge up the series standings over a wild weekend at Big Sugar before jetting of back to South Africa, where he’s due to start the first-ever Gravel Burn stage race.
Andrew L’Esperance at the 2025 Beligan Waffle Ride Arizona. Image: Belgian Waffle Wide Photo Pool/@dhughes101
Gravel Burn and the South Africa return
While the Gravel Burn is new, far flung and late in the year, it’s attracted quite the start list. Alison Jackson, Haley Smith, and L’Espy are part of the Canadian contingent taking on a roster that includes Lachlan Morton, Matt Beers and a mix of other top mountain bike, road and gravel racers. It’s also incredibly remote, running across the Cape on a new route designed to show off the wild side of South Africa. That kind of adventure is something L’Esperance is looking forward to.
“It’s not like the Cape Epic, where we use Air B’n’B’s because its simpler. That’s not really even an option where we’re going. It’s just motor homes or camping,” L’Esperance says. While rustic, it has advantages. “It’s a more or less an even playing field with everyone during the race.”
Gravel Burn, which starts October 26, is organized by Kevin Vermaak, one of the founders of the Cape Epic.
L’Esperance and Britton’s Cape Epic debut
That classic stage race is where L’Esperance started his 2025, racing with fellow Canadian Rob Britton.
“We had such a good time at Cape Epic,” L’Espy says of himself and wife Haley Smith, “We signed up for Gravel Burn pretty much right after.”
Most people don’t describe eight gruelling days of Cape Epic racing as a “good time.” Even among the top pros, the punishing mix of long miles and rough terrain takes its toll. L’Esperance admits that 2025 was a bit of a recon year for him and teammate Rob Britton. While Britton is accomplished on the road and in the world of gravel, and has done well at races like BCBR, Cape Epic is on another level. Nino Schurter won with teammate Filippo Colombo, with Simone Avondetto and Luca Braidot, all World Cup heavyweights, in second.
“Rob crushed it. He rode out of his skin and did super well,” L’Espy says, giving full credit to his teammate for crossing disciplines at one of the world’s hardest XC races. “But there’s just a level that’s not possible when you’re going up against some of the best mountain bikers in the world”
The Canadian’s finished 22nd, a couple spots ahead of Greg van Aevermat and his teammate.
“I got to experience the Cape Epic not being on the absolute limit every day, which likely helped me come out of it – both physically and mentally – in a very positive way,” L’Espy says. Adding, “Mountain bike stage racing is pretty much my favourite way to race bikes. Since 2017, when Haley and I went down and did the eight-day Croc Trophy in Australia, it’s been my favourite. And there’s really not that many opportunities throughout the season to do it.”
L’Esperance crosses the line at Unbound Gravel 2025 12th. Image: Marc Arjol Rodriguez
Wild card leads to a successful season at Life Time Grand Prix
While L’Esperance is already planning his way back to the Cape Epic for 2026, the his focus after the ‘25 edition was on this side of the Atlantic. For the past four years, he’s raced the Life Time Grand Prix. With an ever-changing qualification system for the big-money gravel and XC series, L’Esperance had to race his way in as a “wild card” entry for 2025.
With big finishes at Sea Otter and Unbound Gravel (where Britton won the XL edition in a staggering time), L’Espy did just that. But he didn’t stop there. The Canadian didn’t finish outside the top 10 at a Life Time event all season. That incredible consistency culminated in a podium at Little Sugar, part of an Arkansas back-to-back race week that wraps up the Life Time GP. It’s also arguably the only true, singletrack heavy, mountain bike event of the series.
“I surprised my self at some of the others where I wasn’t expecting to do that well. But it was nice to go into a race like Little Sugar and be fairly calm, and confident that I knew what I had to do to have a good day. You still need a little bit of luck to succeed at that race, just with the rain and the super sharp rocks.” L’Esperance did that, walking away with third. “It was sweet to have a clean run at it and turn that into a solid performance.”
“If I’m being really honest, in a lot of the Life Time I don’t really get to express my mountain bike skills as much as I’d like. There’s a lot of subtle things that I get to use them for, but, at Little Sugar, you really get to use them” L’Esperance admits, giving his third at Little Sugar added weight.
2025 saw L’Esperance return to the Life Time GP top 10, with the help of a big podium at Little Sugar. Photo: Gretchen Powers
A wild little Big Sugar finale
Little Sugar is the first half of the Arkansas double, an XC prelude to the gravel finale that is Big Sugar. This year, that was shortened by weather at the last minute and ended up being just 50 miles. That made the little Big Sugar more hectic than usual.
“We didn’t know what race we were doing until about 30 minutes before the start. So it was a weird situation to be in as an athlete. You don’t know if you’re racing for five hours or for two and a half,” L’Espy explained adding, “The first hour of Big Sugar is always pretty hectic. But there was another layer to that because no one had pre-ridden. We’re pretty familiar with the terrain, but no ones ridden the whole course. There was definitely some coming into corners way too fast, like at 50 and you need to be going way slower. So it ended up being just a wild race. With it being half the distance, too, everyone was just pinning it.”
The Canadian finished with the main group in a bunch sprint, earning enough points to finish seventh overall in the series. One point off of matching his best-ever Life Time GP placing of sixth, back in the series’ first year. While the numbers are close, L’Espy says the level of racing at the GP has stepped up over the years.
“ I feel like they’re just completely different results. Everyone knows all these races now and everyone’s really targeting it. I’m definitely more proud of this year’s ride compared to the first year, although that was also pretty good.”
L’Esperance says the key to elevating his performance this year lies in nutrition and training. Coming from the world of 90-minute XCO World Cups to the endurance-focused Life Time series where finish times can range up to nearly nine hours took some adjustment.
“I think the main thing that helped with consistency were nutrition, both on and off of the bike, and balancing load and recovery in a much better way than previous years. Coming from XCO, he adds “I was learning so much about fuelling for these longer races in the first few years, and so much about training for these longer training rides and events. I was able to refine that all quite a bit more this year.”
Fincham and L’Esperance at the finish line of Big Sugar Classic. Photo: Gretchen Powers
The return of Forward Racing
Consistency over a long year in a hectic sport also requires rolling with the unexpected. Like Big Sugar’s last-second shift from 100 miles to a race that finished in just two hours. For that, L’Esperance says reuniting with his Forward Racing teammate, Sean Fincham, to bring back their privateer program can actually be a benefit.
“There’s definitely something to having a very simple, agile program. We were able to partner with really good equipment sponsors, stuff that we know really well, that we could manage quite well on our own and is reliable. So we didn’t have any issues throughout the year,” L’Espy says, “But honestly, I think the main thing is that we had a lot of fun. Sean and I are both pretty relaxed guys. So even if there were problems, we’d sort them out. Just go into problem solving mode and get through it.”
The veteran Canadian racer pauses, before qualifying.
“That’s probably not completely accurate.There was probably some stressful moments, but we were just able to manage them super well and get through them. So it feels like, looking looking back on it all, this year went super smooth.”
Like last minute bike builds at Sea Otter and in Arkansas that might have rattled a less flexible racer.
“We received new bikes, to build on Tuesday for a Saturday race. But we had been through it all already, so it was just like, ‘OK, no big deal. We’ve got this,’” L’Esperance says of building up 3T’s new Race Max Italia in Arkansas. Or, say, having two race routes loaded on your Wahoo at 7 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. start.
“Our sport doesn’t happen in an indoor arena. So, shit happens all the time and you have to be really flexible and resilient in that way.”
L’Esperance will surely get to draw on some of that resilience and flexibility this week as he races into South Africa’s unknown at Gravel Burn. He’ll need to rely on it rolling into 2026, too, as Life Time again changed their qualification system meaning L’Espy’s top 10 finish this year no longer earns an automatic entry. He could be selected or he could be facing another year chasing a wild card spot. Whatever happens, though, the Canadian is enjoying the ride.
“If you would have told me when I left World Cup racing that I’d be going for my fifth season of this new lifetime Grand Prix race series, I wouldn’t have believed it.”