Life Time Grand Prix: Tobias Kongstad surges from nine-rider sprint to win elite men's gravel race at Big Sugar Classic

Tobias Mørch Kongstad (PAS Racing) led out a nine-rider sprint and won the Life Time 2026 Big Sugar Classic gravel race on Saturday in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The third-placed finisher at this year's Unbound Gravel 200 was part of an early breakaway and then chased back to the lead pack to take the win in 4:36:03. He finished ahead of a pair of Life Time Grand Prix contenders, Mārtiņš Blūms (Velo Express) taking second and Cole Paton (Giant-RCC) in third.

Cole Davis (SpeedStudio-Basso), like Kongstad not looking for Grand Prix points, was one second back in fourth. The next four spots were filled by Grand Prix contenders, Matt Wilson (Scott Sports USA) going fifth, Drew Dillman sixth, Brendan Johnston (Giant) seventh and Andreas Seewald (Singer KTM Racing) eighth. Gliding across the line at the back of the bunch in ninth was former collegiate racer Henry Nelson (Lunchbox Racing).

The race was the sixth and final event in the Life Time Grand Prix. Overall leader Keegan Swenson (Specialized Off-road) had an early mechanical that hindered his catch of front groups and he finished 3:41 off the pace, 24th overall. His 13th place finish in the Grand Prix was expected to provide enough points for him to retain the overall title in the series.

"I just tried my best in the sprint, and sometimes your best is enough. And yeah, it was good," Kongstad told organisers at the finish, not thinking about the series at all.

He escaped early and led much of the first half of the 101.4-mile race with Hayden Christian (Trek Driftless-MAAP), as the two lost a third partner, John Borstelmann (Ventum), to a mechanical.

"I'm just lucky that my competitors still allow me to go into breakaway. I got caught at the bottom of a super steep climb out there, and that was not the best. But I tried to manage my effort before I got caught, so I was not fully cooked.

"So from there on, I think I played a technical game, saying to guys, "Hey guys, I've been in breakaway all day. I cannot pull'. Luckily, I convinced them. Sometimes you just need to play your cards right."

Blūms admitted he went off course early in the race and rode with Simon Pellaud (Cervelo-Assos-Maxxis) to get back to a big group. He was the top finisher in the Grand Prix at the race.

"I was with Pellaud way back behind the big bunch because he got a flat. I took the wrong turn. I had to turn back, and we didn't see the front group, so I had no clue what's happening in the front at all. We catched the front just before the first aid station. So we burned matches quite a lot to get there," he told Life Time livestream cameras.

"I was just trying to recover. I was struggling a lot at some point, but yeah, somehow I got in the rhythm. I tried to attack a couple times before the finish, and there were still some guys interested to chase me down.

"I just tried to stay more in the front because we were quite a big bunch there. At the finish last corners, I was still in the front there, so I just went on a couple of wheels and made my way through the bunch to second."

From breakaway to chaser to winner

The first shakeout of the day came from Brendan Johnston (Giant) and Matthew Wilson (Scott Sports USA), who moved away from the peloton in the first dozen miles but it was all back together with 80 miles to go as the first moderate climb led riders across the Arkansas state line into Missouri.

With 62 miles to go, a group of three riders had driven away and carved out a one minute gap - Kongstad, Borstelmann and Christian. Pellaud was back in the pack of chasers, having had to deal with a mechanical in the first 30km. He rode with Cole Paton, Bradyn Lange, Brendan Johnston, Matt Wilson, Alexey Vermeulen, Andreas Seewald and Cobe Freeburn, among the favourites.

Borstelmann then had a mechanical and had to stop on the side of the road, leaving Christian and Kongstad to set the pace. The duo held a 1:13 lead passing the checkpoint with under 50 miles to go. Chasing were 39 riders in a large pack, led by Cameron Jones (Scott Sports USA-RCC), last year's Grand Prix overall winner who was looking to get back into the top 10 at this final race.

Meanwhile, current overall Grand Prix leader Swenson was in 46th position, three-and-a-half minutes back, having suffered a mechanical early on and stopping for a wheel swap in an aid station.

The most northern part of the course completed, the two leaders carried only 40 seconds as they moved southward toward the second and final checkpoint near Washburn, Missouri at Rockford Grange, riding one of the rougher roads on the route.

Kongstad's lead was precarious, as with less than 27 miles to go Christian joined forces with seven others and began to close down the gap. Swenson was 2:40 back, making up some time.

One of the steepest climbs of the day, with 24% gradients, followed with 23 miles to go across the top and soon Kongstad was no longer alone. He drove on with 20 miles to go in a group with a pack that included Christian along with Seewald, Drew Dillman, Blums, Daxton Mock and Pellaud. Behind the new configuration of leaders by 50 seconds loomed Johnston with Cole Davis, Ryker Brand, Henry Nelson, Nathan Spratt and Wilson. More favourites were just another 20 back of that group, including Paton, Freeburn, and Jones.

Now back in Arkansas on some fast descents, six riders remained together at the front - Dillman, Blums, Mock, Seewald, Kongstad and Pellaud. Six others trailed by 32 seconds, kicking up the dusty doubletrack with 15 miles to go, and across the next few miles the two groups merged.

With 8 miles to go, Nelson gave it a go with a solo attack, now mixing with the 50-mile rider traffic. He carried his momentum onto the pavement and uphill section back to downtown Bentonville, the chasers not panicked as the former University of Arkansas rider was not in the Grand Prix.

With 2 miles to go and going past the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art entrance, Nelson looked back and could sense the big favourites getting close. In the final mile he relented and was part of the final drag race, won by Kongstad.

Results - elite men's top 25