Big Sugar Classic Preview: Niewiadoma and Swenson headline final major gravel race of 2023

The Life Time Grand Prix is wrapping up this weekend in the verdant hills and forests of northwest Arkansas with the Big Sugar Classic gravel race. Big Sugar is the grand finale of the seven-stop series and the only event that is mandatory for all the Life Time participants who will be scored in the final standings and in the running for the biggest prize purse in American cycling.

The series so far has been running since Sea Otter Fuego mountain bike race, before resuming in earnest in the summer with Unbound in June, Crusher in the Tushar in July, the Leadville 100 in August, the Chequamegon MTB festival, and the Rad Dirt Fest in September.

Big Sugar, an event built by Life Time a couple of years ago, is meant to be the capstone and rival any of the other events in intrigue as the organisation has positioned it to be the last major event of the season. With a distance of 'only' 100 miles, with the short punchy climbs of the Ozarks and the chunky gravel of the roads offering the main challenge, the race is an all-round test of a rider's ability instead of a race that demands a specificity.

It might be the LifeTime race with the most potential winners, especially compared to the length of a race like Unbound or the altitude of the likes of Leadville.

This time around, the race will have the added shine of the rainbow bands of Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), who's jumping headlong into the true-blue American version of gravel racing.

While the race will not be streamed, it is still one to follow as the gravel discipline continues to develop. Here is what you should know before the racing this weekend.

The course

© Big Sugar

The route for Big Sugar 2023

The race runs as a 100-mile loop running around the hills and hollers of northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri in the heartland of the United States. The race starts and finishes in Bentonville, home to the HQ of the Walmart corporation, and winds its way around many of some of the top trails in the United States.

Ostensibly, the course is in the Ozark Mountain range, but the mountains are the oldest geologically in North America and have been worn down over the millennia to appear to be mere bumps on a profile. However, with the roads winding through river valleys and their incredibly steep embankments, the climbs all have a bite and a total of 7,000 feet of climbing.

Yet the climbs and the distances are only part of the difficulty of the race. What has emerged as the big x-factor has been the surface. Whatever you imagine gravel might be, the 'chunk' of the Ozarks is undoubtedly gnarlier. The rocks are impossible to avoid, the off-camber nature of the roads to shed water makes turning difficult and the gravel rolls like golf balls on top of the hard-packed dirt.

Courtesy of LifeTime

The men's lead pack on one of the tamer stretches of road

The general rule of thumb is whatever tyre you think of running is not big enough. The best tyre size is closer to a 50mm compared to a 40mm and even a 50 would not be immune to sidewall cuts and a disastrous incident with an anonymous rock on the road. Crashing, flats and other mechanicals will certainly claim some of the big names.

The women’s field: rainbow bands versus the world

© Sprint Cycling Agency

Kasia Niewiadoma tasted gravel success at the UCI World Championships, but will be against a different challenge in Arkansas

By far the biggest storyline heading into the Big Sugar weekend is Kasia Niewiadoma. The gravel world champion, who took the rainbow bands in Italy earlier this month, will be doing her first big American gravel race and will surely want to capitalise on the form she is holding from the tail end of the season.

The big challenge will come from Sofia Gomez Villafañe. Villafañe has been the marquee rider on the Life Time Grand Prix. Even with the final race still to come, Villafañe has clinched the overall title after her wins in Sea Otter, Crusher in the Tushar and Leadville.

Read more: UCI Gravel World Championships: Kasia Niewiadoma wins elite women's title with solo attack

Nevertheless, a two horse race it is not. A long list of strong women will be taking the start including Sarah Sturm, who was a podium finisher at Unbound Gravel, Haley Hunter Smith, who won the Life Time Grand Prix last season, and Lauren De Crescenzo, the winner of the most recent stop on the Grand Prix at the Rad Dirt Fest.

Additionally, British gravel specialist Danni Shrosbree has had a strong inaugural season on American gravel, while Paige Onweller, who was the winner of Big Sugar last year, Heather Jackson, who will turn around the very next week to run a 100-mile running race, and Alexis Skarda, who has been on fine fiddle this year, will all be riders to watch.

A couple of newcomers to the scene have been making inroads this season with Cecily Decker making a strong impression winning the BWR Kansas race last weekend, while Anna Yamauchi has been a contender in a number of races this season.

Read more: Anna Yamauchi’s Specialized Crux

One rider who is not green but has done less in the shorter races is Cynthia Frazier. Frazier is quickly becoming one of the top riders in ultra-endurance cycling with two wins at Badlands showing her ability to go far. While Big Sugar is a sprint for her, it is undoubtedly an interesting name on the startlist.

Two riders who will likely not be there are Lauren Stephens, who was the top American woman at Worlds with her sixth place, or Ruth Edwards who suffered a crash at the Rad Dirt Fest.

The men’s field: all about Swenson

It does not take a deep analysis to find the odds-on favourite in the men’s race as Keegan Swenson comes into the race head and shoulders ahead of his rivals, having only lost once this year in big off-road racing in the United States.

Furthermore, the man who has pushed him closest – Petr Vakoc – is not down to race the season finale. With a fifth place at Worlds to boot, Swenson is no doubt hungry to take one more crown to go with all his hardwear from 2023.

Read more: Gravel Worlds: Keegan Swenson brushes off crashes and goes toe-to-toe with WorldTour pros

Alexey Vermeulen is the one rider who has beaten Swenson, in a sprint at the Chequamegon mountain bike race, and also won the most recent Life Time Grand Prix stop at the Rad. Russell Finsterwald was able to crack the code of Keegan Swenson last year in Bentonville and will be hoping to take the win again this season, while Matthew Beers was able to push Swenson all the way to the line at the little Sugar mountain bike race.

Courtesy of LifeTime

Russel "Finsty" Finsterwald leading the charge at the 2022 Big Sugar

Peter Stetina, Alex Howes and Laurens Ten Dam will be flying the flag for the former WorldTour pros, while Lachlan Morton will be continuing his summer out of endurance heaven. Big Sugar will be yet another dip into the bucket after his Leadville-Breck Epic-SBT-Continental Divide-Chequamegon-The Rad block which saw him finish in the top five in nearly each one of those events while blowing the doors off the Divide FKT (if you consider media an okay element of his attempt.)

Read more: Lachlan Morton, with a spoke in his derailleur, breaks Great Divide record

Brendan Johnston and Tasman Nankervis are two strong Australians on the start line, with Johnston finishing a strong third at the Rad, while Payson McElveen will be hoping to get a result in front of his sponsors who call Arkansas home.

Two groups of promising gravel riders have also emerged from two mountain heartlands, with Utah and Colorado boasting strong groups. Finn Gulickson, Matt Pike, Jack Odron, Andy Lydic and Alex Hohn have all had strong seasons from Colorado, while Zach Calton, Nathan and Marc Spratt, Cater Anderson and Truman Glasgow have been flying the flag high for Utah.

Then there are the trio of cross racers – Kerry Werner, Lance Haidet and Eric Brunner – who will all be capable of a result. Lastly, Cole Paton, local man Taylor Lideen, Howard Grotts and Bradyn Lange can use their mountain bike skills to spring a surprise.

How to follow the races

Unlike European racing, these events are not streamed live. The logistics are a challenge that makes them impossible to manage at the moment. Nevertheless, on race day there will be a hefty dose of updates through the LifeTime Grand Prix and Big Sugar Instagram channels with one broadcasting the men’s race through follow vehicles and the other broadcasting for the women.

Here on the GCN website, we'll have in-depth reports from the event, covering both the men's and women's races, along with reaction and interviews.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma

• Team CANYON//SRAM Racing
• Nationality Poland
• Age 29
• UCI Wins 20
• Height 1.69m