2025 Life Time Grand Prix: Star-Studded Roster Announced

UCI WorldTour Pros and National Champions

Selected to Race the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix

Life Time, the nation’s premier healthy lifestyle brand and athletic event producer, has unveiled the men’s and women’s rosters for the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix.

Returning for the fourth year, the Life Time Grand Prix is the premier elite off-road cycling series in the United States, drawing athletes and fans from across the globe. The 2025 lineup is the most international yet, with 12 countries represented across the men’s and women’s competitions and over a third of the selected athletes originating from outside the US.

Drawing from hundreds of applicants representing 23 countries, the initial selection includes 22 male and 22 female athletes who will compete in the six-race series. An additional three men and three women will then be selected as wildcard athletes after the Life Time UNBOUND Gravel 200 concludes on Saturday, May 31st.

Men’s Field

Three-time returning champion Keegan Swenson will be joined by the remainder of the 2024 Life Time Grand Prix overall podium – Matthew Beers and Payson McElveen.

Almost half the men’s field will be made up of international riders, including three-time The Traka 360 winner Mattia De Marchi (Italy) and ex-UCI WorldTour road racer Lawrence Naesen (Belgium).

A number of other renowned athletes will shake up the roster for 2025, including 10-time Ethiopian national champion Tsgabu Grmay, and Switzerland’s Simon Pellaud, who arrives fresh from a 12-year road career.

Matthew Beers
30, Cape Town, South Africa
John Borstelmann
33, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
Zach Calton
27, Ogden, UT, USA
Hugo Drechou
33, Ceret, France
Griffin Easter
33, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Sean Fincham
26, Squamish, BC, Canada
Russell Finsterwald
34, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Tsgabu Grmay
33, Mekelle, Ethiopia
Howard Grotts
31, Durano, CO, USA
Finn Gullickson
24, Boulder, CO, USA
Dylan Johnson
29, Brevard, NC, USA

Brendan Johnston
32, Canberra, Australia
Bradyn Lange
25, Fairfax, CA, USA
Payson McElveen
31, Durango, CO, USA
Mattia De Marchi
33, Noale, Italy
Lawrence Naesen
32, Ostend, Belgium
Simon Pellaud
32, Chemin-Dessus, Switzerland
Cole Paton
26, Cashmere, WA, USA
Torbjørn Andre Røed
27, Asker, Norway
Keegan Swenson
30, Midway, UT, USA
Alexey Vermeulen
30, Dexter, MI, USA
Alex Wild
32, San Jose, CA, USA

Women’s Field

Over two thirds (68%) of the women’s field is made up of returning Life Time Grand Prix athletes, including defending champion Sofia Gomez Villafañe and all top-10 finishers from the 2024 series.

Six female riders are set to make their Life Time Grand Prix debuts in 2025 including France’s Cécile Lejeune, who placed second at this year’s Tucson Bicycle Classic; reigning Australian gravel champion, Courtney Sherwell, and Annabel Fisher (Great Britain), winner of the 2024 Octopus Gravel.

Crystal Anthony
43, Beverly, MA, USA
Ellen Campbell
27, Durango, CO, USA
Lauren De Crescenzo
34, Broomfield, CO, USA
Cecily Decker
26, Santa Fe, NM, USA
Axelle Dubau-Prévot
28, Reims, France
Annabel Fisher
35, Leeds, Great Britain
Sofia Gomez Villafañe
30, Esquel, Argentina
Stella Hobbs
31, Whitefish, MT, USA
Erin Huck
43, Boulder, CO, USA
Sarah Lange
33, Brattleboro, VT, USA
Cécile Lejeune
26, Tucson AZ, USA

Deanna Mayles
31, Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Paige Onweller
35, Bella Vista, AR, USA
Hannah Otto
29, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Hayley Preen
26, Cape Town, South Africa
Jenna Rinehart
40, Mankato, MN, USA
Melisa Rollins
28, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Samara Sheppard
35, Wellington, New Zealand
Courtney Sherwell
36, Bendigo, Australia
Alexis Skarda
35, Great Junction, CO, USA
Haley Smith
31, Waterloo, Quebec, Canada
Michaela Thompson
22, Durango, CO, USA

Wildcard Selection

The final three spots in each the men’s and women’s fields will be filled following the completion of Sea Otter Classic Gravel and UNBOUND Gravel. Within the application, athletes selected if they would be a part of the wildcard pool if not selected. Those athletes must contest both events, and the top performers amongst the pool of athletes will earn them a spot in the 2025 series. Additionally, should an athlete within the originally selected 22 athletes drop out of the series between now and UNBOUND Gravel, their spot will be backfilled by a wildcard athlete.

Kimo Seymour, Senior Vice President of Life Time Events said:

The fourth season of the Life Time Grand Prix, building on three years of momentum, is set to bring a whole new level of competition. We’re excited to announce the 2025 athlete roster with a mix of new and returning talent across both the men’s and women’s fields. We continue to elevate the series’ global profile and increase engagement amongst gravel and mountain bike racing fans both in the US and around the world; as a result, we’re thrilled to share that this year’s cohort of racers is the most international yet.

Photos – Life Time Grand Prix

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