Drawing a line in the gravel – Will anti-drafting rules create structure or friction in Life Time Grand Prix competitions?

Final 12 months, I used to be a part of a gaggle of elite ladies who had a collection of video convention calls with the Life Time Grand Prix organizers to debate bettering equity for the elite ladies throughout competitions. We kicked round concepts like elevated staggered begin occasions and, sure, anti-drafting guidelines. The thought was to scale back the interference from the boys’s fields (each elite and newbie) and create one thing nearer to an precise ladies’s race. 

Life Time held off implementing anti-drafting guidelines final 12 months so as to higher outline laws and tackle implementation, as it will be a large elevate throughout a number of occasions, programs, and rider classes. However they did enhance the beginning time gaps: eventually 12 months’s Unbound Gravel 200, the elite ladies began quarter-hour after the elite males, and 20 minutes earlier than the amateurs. That won’t sound like a lot, but it surely was a strong tweak, which delivered the first-ever ladies’s dash end at Unbound 200 amongst 9 elite riders on the race.

Quick-forward to the week earlier than the 2025 Sea Otter Traditional Gravel, and Life Time casually dropped an e mail into the inboxes of the Grand Prix riders within the subject saying that anti-drafting guidelines had been formally occurring. No warning. No follow-up convention name. No vibe verify. Simply… increase. Inbox shock.

Chances are you’ll like

That is massive. It’s the primary time a high-profile gravel collection is formally regulating drafting. Whether or not you find it irresistible or hate it, we’re watching the game evolve in actual time — and that’s fairly thrilling. 

The rule and enforcement

The brand new guidelines state that elite ladies can not draft off elite males or any newbie riders, and elite males can not draft off elite ladies or any newbie riders. It additionally identifies newbie riders, stating they “could draft off some other Novice Rider, no matter that Novice Rider’s class (Age Group, Single Pace, Male, Feminine, and so on.)”. 

So what’s the definition of “drafting”? For Life Tiime, it’s being “inside 15 ft (or two bike lengths), and three ft to both facet, for longer than 15 seconds”.

What in case you break the rule? “You’re relegated to final place within the elite outcomes and the LTGP standings for that occasion”.

How riders be monitored throughout a race was the largest query. Here’s what Life Time spelled out:

Enforcement will come from impartial moto race marshals, course marshals, and Life Time workers who will present moto, drone, dwell digital camera feed, helicopter, and some other verifiable modes of statement proof, in addition to rider suggestions, on the discretion of a race jury.*Nonetheless, Life Time says, “Rider enter as verifiable proof to find out the validity of a violation will NOT be accepted.” *So principally, in case you see somebody dishonest and inform the officers, your phrase alone isn’t sufficient. They’ll solely depend on goal sources like footage and never he-said-she-said stuff from different rivals.In course sections the place passing is unimaginable, logical concessions will likely be made. For instance, single-track sections, climbs, and areas of congestion.Athletes could have half-hour from the declaration of a violation to submit an official enchantment.

Once we mentioned the rule in 2024, we debated concepts like escalating time penalties for first, second, and even third infractions (which could nonetheless be too lenient — I imply, is 5 minutes sufficient in case you acquire 20 minutes from sitting on a powerful wheel for hours?). 

So now the penalty is so extreme that it removes any incentive to take the danger, which is the purpose. No warnings. No “hey, don’t do this once more.” No slap on the wrist. Only one-and-done relegation. Straight to the underside of the outcomes sheet. 

The concern of relegation is actual. And perhaps that’s sufficient to shift the tradition. 

Comfortable launch

The brand new anti-drafting coverage will likely be enforced in any respect six Grand Prix occasions, and started on April 10 on the Sea Otter Traditional Gravel. Did it matter in Monterey? Truthfully, not likely. 

The elite fields raced on Thursday and the newbie subject on Friday, in order that was no difficulty. Plus, the elite ladies began 20 minutes behind the elite males on a circuit that didn’t lend itself to drafting. It was punchy, technical, and largely singletrack — not precisely a spot you’re going to tuck in and cruise on some random man’s wheel. 

There wasn’t a single occasion the place I noticed somebody breaking the rule. That may not all the time be the case, however at Sea Otter it labored nice. 

Sea Otter was a gentle launch, however Unbound Gravel would be the actual check. The elite males will start the 200-mile course at 5:50 a.m. (CST) from Industrial Road in downtown Emporia, Kansas, on Could 31. The elite ladies will comply with quarter-hour later, like final 12 months, after which the mass begin for amateurs will likely be launched on the identical course 25 minutes after the elite ladies.

Fifteen minutes could really feel like an enormous hole on paper, but it surely’s a protracted race. Individuals have flats,  mechanical points, and full-on meltdowns. It’s not laborious to think about an elite man dropping again and ‘interfering’ with the ladies’s race. Or just a few amateurs with mega-watts can catch dropped riders from the ladies’s elite subject and pull them again to the lead group.

Whereas I’m glad they bumped the newbie subject again 25 minutes — a superb transfer — I nonetheless assume that timing will likely be tight. However I get it. Individuals wish to end earlier than the solar units in Kansas.

How enforceable is that this?

There are such a lot of nuances, so many what-ifs. And as of now, we’re trusting race juries to make sense of them. There’s going to be trial and error. And possibly just a few sacrificial lambs alongside the best way.

However I give Life Time credit score for being keen to attempt. It’s not simple being the primary to place construction right into a sport that prided itself on being unfastened, grassroots, and gloriously chaotic. Life Time is sending a message: they’re severe about equity, and so they’re keen to evolve. That’s price one thing.

This isn’t nearly drafting. It’s about rising pains. Gravel racing is maturing. With prize cash, contracts, and sponsorship {dollars} on the road, construction is inevitable. And generally, construction creates friction.

All of us need a truthful race. We wish outcomes to return all the way down to health, ability, and technique, not who discovered the strongest random dude, pal or vital different to sit down behind for 80 miles. However gravel is messy. It’s a part of why we find it irresistible. 

We’re nonetheless defining what gravel is, what we worth, and how you can defend these values whereas making room for evolution. This rule is one step in that course of. Not the ultimate reply, however perhaps a primary draft.

Is the rule good? No. Is it enforceable? TBD. Is it a step in the proper path? Undoubtedly. 

And identical to Lifetime ends their Elite Tech Information with “Lifetime reserves the proper to amend this coverage at any time,” I’d like to order the proper to alter my opinion at any time, relying on how all this performs out. As a result of that is gravel, we’re figuring it out collectively. One rule change at a time.