The seven riders who earned spots within the invitation-only Life Time Grand Prix have been introduced a day after the mud from Unbound Gravel 200 on Saturday. Cameron Jones led the choice within the males’s division after his victory in Emporia and was joined by Andrew L’Esperance, Matthew Wilson and Skyler Taylor who accomplished the 4 berths for males. The three ladies incomes spots within the Grand Prix have been Haley Dumke, Laurel Quinones and Leah Van der Linden.
The highest ladies’s contenders coming into Kansas have been Anna Yamauchi, Emily Newsom and Hannah Shell, however all three failed to complete the race. Each Newsom, who was third at Unbound 200 two years in the past, and Yamauchi withdrew after having crashed.
Van der Linden and Dumke had been within the high 5 of the wildcard standings after Sea Otter, and Quinones was eighth however finally shifted up into the highest three of the wildcard alternatives after ending thirty third at Unbound. Van der Linden was twentieth over the road in Emporia and Dumke got here thirty ninth.
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Petr Vakoč had truly led the lads’s wildcard standings after the primary spherical at Sea Otter Gravel in April. He completed fifteenth total at Unbound 200, third among the many wildcard opponents, however declined the invitation. His spot was stuffed by Taylor. Wilson, Jones and L’Esperance have been all among the many high 4 after Sea Otter.
With seven contemporary foes for the sequence contenders to now watch, the factors standings have been re-calibrated the day after Unbound’s race-within-a-race outcomes.
After his Unbound 200 win Jones entered the competitors proper close to the highest of the leaderboard, in a 3 method tie for third with Matthew Beers and Unbound runner-up Simon Pellaud. L’Esperance slotted in to eighth place, Wilson is tied in tenth and Taylor sits 14th. On the ladies’s leaderboard Van der Linden is in a three-way tie for thirteenth, Quinones twenty first and Dumke twenty second.
Now in a fourth season, the off-road sequence this 12 months decreased the whole variety of riders from 60 to 50 riders – 25 ladies and 25 males – with three spots reserved in each divisions for wildcards to be added after Unbound Gravel 200.
Primarily based on the ultimate outcomes from Unbound Gravel 200, mixed with April’s lead-off occasion at Sea Otter Gravel in April, these six riders, plus a seventh within the males’s discipline, now participate within the chase for a share of the hefty prize purse, $200,000 cut up evenly amongst high 10 elite males and elite ladies after Massive Sugar Gravel in October.
Initially, there have been three spots for girls and three spots for males on provide, however an additional spot for males opened when Howard Grotts (Specialised) pulled out, as he made the choice to remain sidelined and get well from a severe crash final August at a mountain bike race in Colorado.
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