The men’s race of Little Sugar MTB 2026 starts on Sunday, October 11, at 8:00 a.m. Central in Bella Vista, Arkansas. It is the fifth of six races in the Life Time Grand Prix, and series leader Keegan Swenson is at the Gravel World Championships in Australia. Behind him, three riders stand within two points of each other in a series that pays its winner $50,000.
When does the men’s race start, and can you watch it?
The elite men start at 8:00 a.m. Central from OZ Trails Bike Park in Bella Vista and finish at The Momentary in Bentonville, where the elite awards are at 3:30 p.m. There is no live stream: Life Time broadcasts four of its six Grand Prix races live this year, and Little Sugar is not one of them. Results come in live on the timing page, which lists 73 elite men, and the Life Time Grand Prix channel on YouTube puts out an episode on the race a few days later. The series final, Big Sugar Gravel on October 17, is shown live.
How much prize money is there at Little Sugar?
The race pays $30,000: $5,000, $4,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 to the first five men and the same to the first five women, whether they ride the series or not. The series pays far more. Its purse this year is $350,000, split equally between men and women: $50,000 for each winner, $33,000 for second, $21,000 for third and $16,000 for fourth, down to $7,000 for tenth. Last year’s series winners received $20,000. In all Life Time puts up $590,000 over the season, 55 percent more than in 2025.
Why Brendan Johnston stayed in Arkansas
A rider’s best five results out of six count for the series, so Swenson can leave this race out. Brendan Johnston could have gone to Australia as well: he is Australian and won the test event on the world championship course. He chose Little Sugar and explained it on Instagram, as quoted by Cyclingnews: “There’s been plenty said about me ‘chasing the money’ by making this decision. For me, that misses the point.” “I’ve never been in this position in the LTGP before, and I owe it to myself, my team and everyone who has supported this journey to give the overall everything I have.”
After four races, with each rider’s lowest score left out, Swenson has 84 points, Johnston and Bradyn Lange 76 each and Matthew Wilson 74. Second, third and fourth place in the series are worth $33,000, $21,000 and $16,000, so $17,000 separates three riders who are two points apart.
Swenson’s four results add up to 110 points once this race is the one he leaves out. By our count from Life Time’s rules, a win on Sunday brings Johnston or Lange to 106 and Wilson to 104. Johnston did not finish here last year after a mishap with a rock, and three weeks ago he was second at Chequamegon.
Matthew Wilson won Chequamegon and nearly won Leadville
The two mountain bike races of the series so far went to Swenson and Wilson. At Leadville in August Wilson, who is from New Zealand, finished second in the same time as Swenson. At Chequamegon in September he won by 58 seconds from Johnston, his first win in the series. “It feels so good after being so close to winning at Leadville; I was pretty determined to get a win,” he told Cyclingnews. “The only way to prove yourself after coming second is to win.” Little Sugar went badly for him a year ago: two flat tires and a cracked rim cost him more than an hour.
Cameron Jones defends his 2025 win
Cameron Jones dropped Matt Beers and Lange about a third of the way into last year’s race and won alone, 2:37 ahead of Lange and 6:01 ahead of Andrew L’Esperance. Swenson punctured early and finished 10th. Jones went on to win the 2025 series and is eighth in this one, with 57 points. Lange won the opening race at Sea Otter in April in the same time as Swenson and was third at Leadville, 23 seconds back. His page on the series site says he “still identifies as a mountain biker.”
Little Sugar was first held in 2023, when Swenson won in the same time as Beers, and Christopher Blevins won a sprint of three in 2024. Blevins is not on the entry list and Beers is in Australia. Riley Amos, third at Big Sugar last year, is entered from outside the series and can take the race’s prize money without counting for the standings.
The 100K course has a new start at OZ Trails Bike Park
The 100K is listed at 103 kilometers, or 64 miles, with about 5,800 feet of climbing. Last year it started at Coler Mountain Bike Preserve and finished in downtown Bentonville. The route uses the Little Sugar, Back 40 and Slaughter Pen trails, past bluff lines, caves and waterfalls and over a section the organizer calls “the iconic Ledges.” Drop handlebars are banned, and elite riders can meet their crews twice, at mile 26 and mile 47. The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny Sunday with a high near 88 degrees Fahrenheit.