{"id":939104,"date":"2026-10-19T18:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/939104\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T18:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T18:28:15","slug":"qa-what-is-the-future-of-the-life-time-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/939104\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: What is the Future of the Life Time Grand Prix?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated October 19, 2026 12:10PM<\/p>\n

There was a feeling in the air on the night after Big Sugar Gravel that is probably best described as the feeling of the last day of school. Minus the yearbooks and textbook burning, the final Life Time Grand Prix<\/a> podiums and \u201cGravel Rave\u201d was filled with the cycling equivalent of a bunch of riders, support staff, and content folks wishing all their bike friends a happy break.<\/p>\n

Yet, it\u2019s one of those goodbyes that had the happy undertones that the vast majority of those same people will be back around when the circus gets on the road again in the spring.<\/p>\n

That feeling was reaffirmed even more when Kimo Seymour, the head of the Life Time Grand Prix, got on the mic before the final podiums started. The tone was set with a high-octane montage of helicopter-shot clips from the racing and reaffirmed with what Seymour would go on to say next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have all the details in a few weeks,\u201d Seymour said, \u201cBut what I can say is next year we will be back, and we will have exponentially more prize money than this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, what exactly exponentially more prize money means is unclear. What was clear, however, is that Seymour is only projecting bullish confidence that the Life Time Grand Prix will continue its steady march of year-on-year growth.<\/p>\n

Plus, with over half a million dollars in prize money already guaranteed, any raising of the stakes just fuels that attitude of grandeur more. Five years into this experiment to make cycling\u2019s newest discipline professional, Life Time is the undisputed king of the castle.<\/p>\n

All that being said, it\u2019s still a pretty small castle in the grand scheme of the cycling world. The next five years will be telling on how the king can manage it.<\/p>\n

To get a deeper sense of the health, future, and challenges of the series, we sat down with Seymour and Michelle Duffy, vice president of marketing, retail and events at Life Time.<\/p>\n

Note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"2026_BigSugar_RaceDay_JustinBritton126\"<\/a>Paige Onweller attacking at Big Sugar Gravel. (Photo: Life Time\/Justin Britton)<\/p>\n

Velo: You guys are in year five, and in corporate jargon, a five-year plan is a big deal, right? I\u2019m sure you had some kind of five-year plan at the beginning. How much has the series lived up to that, how much has it deviated, and would you generally call it a success?<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour: I would certainly call it a success. What do they say about all good plans? You know, the quote about getting punched in the mouth.<\/p>\n

Velo: Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.<\/p>\n

Kimo: Yeah, that\u2019s kind of what\u2019s happened with it. We\u2019ve had to figure out how to navigate on our own, even with what we thought was a good, solid plan in the beginning. It\u2019s evolved so much.<\/p>\n

I joke that I was going on walks with people in the industry who live in Boulder, where I live most of the year. I\u2019d invite them to go on a walk, and I\u2019d pitch the idea. Some people were like, \u201cThat\u2019s a stupid idea, it\u2019s crazy,\u201d while others were like, \u201cOh, yeah, I think that could work.\u201d<\/p>\n

But at the beginning, those conversations were more about taking in the feedback and ideas from people. I\u2019d be honest and tell them we had no idea what we were doing. We just had a series of races, and we said, \u201cLet\u2019s put them together and see if we can make something happen.\u201d We built a plan, but it\u2019s literally evolved every year.<\/p>\n

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that the five-year plan has evolved greatly, and I would say it\u2019s been a success, but we still feel like we have a long way to go.<\/p>\n

Michelle Duffy: While we put together a vision and a strategy and where we want to be, both Kimo and I, as leaders, don\u2019t always think with the corporate playbook. So yes, we talk about where we want to be in five years, but we\u2019re both very gut-driven leaders and decision-makers. So much of our decision-making is driven by intuition, flexibility, and open-mindedness, too.<\/p>\n

We try to put ourselves on a path, but we\u2019re not afraid to deviate if it gets us to where we\u2019re going or adapt the plan over time.<\/p>\n

From highlight clips to helicopters, the Grand Prix has changed its content massively
\n\"2026_BigSugar_RaceDay_JustinBritton199\"<\/a>TV-like coverage has been brought to the Grand Prix over the last two years. (Photo: Life Time\/Justin Britton)<\/p>\n

Velo: From the outside, it seems like the biggest change has been how the Life Time Grand Prix continues to function as a media house.<\/p>\n

This is not just an event organization, there is also the series as a media asset. It\u2019s almost its own thing in terms of connecting to a broader audience that might not be interested in racing these races, especially if you\u2019re thinking of Europeans who might be viewing the series from afar or road racing fans dropping into the series in the United States.<\/p>\n

How has that media asset evolved, and is that something that you feel like you have been able to improve on the fly?<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0A couple of years ago, we started realizing that we knew we needed to create content that people could put in the palm of their hands. We wanted people to want to see it on their phone or on their TV in their house, right? To create cycling entertainment that would belong in people\u2019s living rooms was one of the ideas of the series in the beginning, and then, two-three years ago, we started saying that this needs to become even more of a media property.<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, the future of professional cycling needs to evolve away from this sponsorship model into more of a media rights distribution model. There needs to ultimately be a rep share from those distribution dollars. Everybody knows that\u2019s what the sport of professional cycling needs. We\u2019re not brilliant because we came up with that. \u2029You\u2019ve read that 10 different places over the years, but we\u2019re all still trying to figure out how to crack that code and how to make it happen.<\/p>\n

One of the criticisms we get is that we\u2019re no different than the big behemoth in Europe that has the same challenge.\u2029They\u2019re a for-profit-driven entity and why would they give up any of that revenue?<\/p>\n

I think what we\u2019ve recognized is that we can still grow that revenue, and that pool can get bigger and bigger as we evolve into more of a media property. But the only way it does that is with the athletes. \u2029You can\u2019t do it without the athletes. There needs to be an opportunity for the athletes to share and benefit from that as we grow it.<\/p>\n

Michelle Duffy: And content is not a new priority for the Life Time Grand Prix. In year one, we did a deal with FloBikes and invested in Call of a Life Time. So from the get-go, it was bold to launch with such a strong, robust content plan in year one. It\u2019s always been part of the plan.\u2029 Defining why it is part of the plan and how it can be a part of the future is what\u2019s evolving.<\/p>\n

The other thing is that we could move that along much quicker if we went outside of ourselves and our team and invested with some big media group, but we\u2019re not. We have built it internally, and I think that\u2019s really unique: we\u2019re not afraid to try new things, and our content plan is what has adjusted a lot.<\/p>\n

We came out with live broadcasts, and we tabled that for a few years to make sure that the product we could put out was something that we were proud of, and we\u2019re back to that now. We do work with an amazing group, BCC out of Boulder, but our team is ultimately still crafting the run of show and acting as the director of the products.<\/p>\n

Velo: And commentating! [Gestures at Kimo Seymour who has commentated on the live streams this year.]<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0Yeah, but I\u2019m doing that begrudgingly.<\/p>\n

Finding the balance of creating content and building a professional competition
\n\"IMG_7534\"<\/a>Stella Hobbs win at Big Sugar maybe have been anti-climatic for some, but it was huge to bring another long time competitor to the top step of the podium. (Photo: Life Time\/Dan Hughes)<\/p>\n

Velo: If you look at it from the series moving forward, it seems like there\u2019s this constant parallel structure to create a better product in terms of who\u2019s racing and that content side. Would you say you feel like you\u2019re stronger on the content side or the rider side?<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour: That\u2019s an interesting question. The rider side kind of develops itself. We ask ourselves sometimes how much we can control, dictate, and manage what is happening in the peloton. It is one of the things we\u2019ve talked about a lot on the live broadcast and in some of our content.<\/p>\n

This year, the big debate was about teams coming to the sport. We didn\u2019t know how much we could dictate what\u2019s going on there versus how much is happening with or without us, right? \u2029Like, how do we stop 10 people from showing up from the same team at Unbound and racing for one person to win? And then how much do we care? You know, like we might personally care, but from a business perspective, should we care? \u2029And I think that comes into play too. Like, are we fixing something that doesn\u2019t need fixing?<\/p>\n

Velo: Is that part of why you pivoted to this different qualification method? Because it seems like for a while you were trying to find that right mix directly. You put out an open invitation, but you were the ones selecting. And it seemed like that mix was always hard for you to figure out, especially for riders from abroad.<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0\u00a0The decision to move to more of a qualifications system had multiple components to it. One, try as we might, we just weren\u2019t very good at selecting athletes. \u2029We left out some athletes that have now proved us wrong over the last few years. We had a wild card last year that won the whole series.<\/p>\n

These are athletes we turned down. We looked at results and we\u2019re trying to figure out who the best riders are. With international riders, it\u2019s so hard to compare them because we can\u2019t stack them up against the riders here that we\u2019re at least more familiar with.<\/p>\n

So the reality is as much as we tried, it was really hard to be objective. A lot of the criticism we got is, \u201d How are they doing this? It\u2019s not very transparent.\u201d Well, we\u2019re gonna make it transparent now. They\u2019re gonna decide for themselves.<\/p>\n

Still, we\u2019re getting some people who are casting a little bit of shade even on that new process. You know, the unfairness of having to qualify in two days at Sea Otter. But that was a suggestion from a number of the athletes, actually. That was an athlete-driven idea for the selection process next year. We asked them, \u201cGosh, how do we get out of the business of selecting athletes? What would be the best way to do it?\u201d And collectively, there was a big debate.<\/p>\n

Questions like do we take 10 athletes automatically, 15, five, make everybody race\u2014eventually we settled on top 10 and 10 on each side, plus our U23 athletes. Everybody else has to race their way in. It really was more athlete-driven than anything. I wish we could take credit for it, but we\u2019re excited to see how that works.<\/p>\n

The constant search to find the right calendar will continue
\n\"2026_Chequamegon_Race<\/a>Cobe Freeburn, the breakthrough gravel rider on the men\u2019s side this year, contemplates the race that was. (Photo: Life Time\/Justin Britton)<\/p>\n

Velo: On the note of events, for the first few years there was experimentation about where the calendar would land.\u2029 In the last two years, the calendar crystallized. But now you\u2019ve gone back and added the Rad Dirtfest back in. Was there any desire to try to do more turnover? You do have other touted events outside of the ones we\u2019ve seen; why run something back that has been tried in past years?<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0\u00a0Michelle, tell them what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Michelle Duffy: Firstly, we believe the Rad is the most beautiful gravel course in the United States, and many of the athletes agree. It is a true, stunning gravel course that deserves the visibility that the Life Time Grand Prix would bring it.<\/p>\n

We have done a lot of experimentation, but we\u2019re also learning each year when we bring the same events back. We believe that cutting a bunch of events to bring new events every year doesn\u2019t actually allow us to build on the prior years\u2019 learnings.<\/p>\n

We want icons in the Grand Prix, or monuments as they\u2019re often referred to in cycling, and I think that this current series really solidified around true monuments in the off-road cycling industry. \u2029But, Kimo, I don\u2019t know if you want to build on that answer.<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0Yeah, I wanted to put 10 events in this year.<\/p>\n

Velo: So why didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0Well, the team shot it down, I guess.<\/p>\n

Collectively, we talked about it, and I could see it evolving to eight, nine, 10 events over the next few years. I do think adding one event a year is an option.<\/p>\n

One of the other criticisms we get is there\u2019s a big gap in the summer. \u2029But if you ask some of the international athletes, they\u2019re thankful for it. So as much as we would like to put something in July, that one month in the middle would make it really challenging for the international athletes to be able to stay and raise the entire series, both for travel and from a visa perspective.<\/p>\n

The possibility of European expansion
\n\"2026_Sea<\/a>This year\u2019s Sea Otter podium showed that Americans are still the central characters of the series. Would that changed if Europe got a race in the series? (Photo: Life Time\/Dan Hughes)<\/p>\n

Velo: I think when I look at the series, my main criticism is the balance of the calendar and balance of geography. The east coast has never hosted a Grand Prix event. \u2029Are there conversations or desire to acquire or set up events that could fill the gaps in the schedule or fill that big sort of geographic skew that Life Time has towards the rest?<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0 There are lots of conversations about it. We\u2019ve been out and sent people out looking and consulted with people up and down the east coast and looked at different venues and courses, and it\u2019s weird how much of what we do is kind of west of here in Bentonville.<\/p>\n

Somehow, there just isn\u2019t that big of an event in the east. You can\u2019t name any really big, monumental-type events that are further east of here, so we just haven\u2019t quite found that one opportunity to acquire. We don\u2019t have a big appetite to add new events right now, to green-field new events, just because we have so much on our plate.<\/p>\n

I would tell you that I think the next move east might be across the pond. If we were going to add something in July, I\u2019d love to add something in Europe. I think that would mix things up pretty dramatically. It doesn\u2019t help the Australian athletes or the South Africans, but for the European athletes, it would be cool to make everybody come over to their turf.<\/p>\n

So if we were to go, I think it\u2019s more likely if we go east that we end up in Europe than we end up on the east coast, at least in the foreseeable future. Unless someone comes up with something we just had missed.<\/p>\n

Velo: Next year, I think the big conflict that a lot of people were talking about this year was Little Sugar with the UCI Gravel World Championships. You won\u2019t have that conflict next year with the UCI Super Worlds.\u2029 Is there optimism around next year kind of being the biggest one yet? Do you have anything that makes you feel particularly optimistic about 2027?<\/p>\n

Michelle Duffy: I\u2019ll let Kimo handle the meat of that response, but one thing that I think is interesting is there was a lot of chatter around Little Sugar and UCI Gravel Worlds and the intersection and what it would mean for the Grand Prix, almost as if the Grand Prix became second to UCI Gravel Worlds, but we had two athletes in the Life Time Grand Prix choose Worlds over racing at Little Sugar.<\/p>\n

For me, I think that really shows the number of athletes who could have raced for Team USA, that decided to stay and prioritize their standings in the series, or even Brendan Johnston going to race Worlds in his home country. I think that really starts to show the commitment that folks are feeling to this series and the potential impact it can have on their career. That\u2019s indicative of the value.<\/p>\n

Kimo Seymour:\u00a0I think what I\u2019m most hopeful about next year is the reach of the content that we\u2019re thinking about creating and some potential partners that might help us really expand that reach and kind of get that exponential growth we\u2019ve been looking for.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re always open to suggestions and we\u2019re always evaluating what the content should look like. \u2029Should it focus on more of a Call of a Life Time, binge-able type postseason series that is 6 episodes or 7 episodes, or should we continue with the live coverage and the short post-race cutdowns that we\u2019ve been doing this year? Should it be a combination of both?<\/p>\n

As we look to evolve that and then look to potential partners that might help us get more reach, that\u2019s the biggest opportunity. If we can get to where, you know, now we\u2019ve got one, two million views a year on the content that we\u2019re putting out of the Grand Prix\u2014that\u2019s what\u2019s gonna bring in the non-endemic dollars and the partners that we\u2019ve all been talking about to elevate the sport of cycling. \u2029That\u2019s where there is the biggest opportunity with what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated October 19, 2026 12:10PM There was a feeling in the air on the night after Big Sugar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,55293,82,68742,54267],"class_list":["post-939104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-parent_category-gravel","tag-sports","tag-tag-life-time-grand-prix","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}