NANNUP — Brendan Johnston will miss a home UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup, Western Australia to contest Little Sugar MTB on 11 October, as a direct calendar clash forces riders to choose between the rainbow jersey and the Life Time Grand Prix Series. The Giant rider, who won the test event on the Nannup course and looked Australia's best chance in the men's elite race, is tied for second overall in the six-round Life Time series.
Johnston told Cyclingnews at the start of September he still had not decided where he would be that weekend. "It's been on my mind since the start of the year," he said. "It would be a feel-good decision, I think, to be able to represent there [at the World Championships]," though not necessarily a good financial or professional decision. With no support available through the national federation, no prize money on offer at Worlds and the cost of taking his own support crew to Nannup, he would race in national colours rather than those of his sponsors. Announcing his decision on Instagram, he said: "I really wish these two races weren't on the same day," and added: "There's been plenty said about me 'chasing the money' by making this decision. For me, that misses the point. This is about my career and the goals I set when I embarked on this professional gravel racing journey several years ago. 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."
He is not alone. None of the Life Time Grand Prix riders from Australia will be on the start line in Nannup, with fellow Australian Courtney Sherwell also on the Little Sugar start list, along with New Zealand's Samara Sheppard, Unbound winner Cameron Jones and Matthew Wilson, who is currently sitting fourth on the Life Time leaderboard, just two points behind the tied Johnston and Bradyn Lange. The Life Time series provides Johnston's livelihood and was the reason he could finally turn professional.
Others have chosen the stripes. In the six-round series one result can be dropped, as long as it is not a compulsory round like season-ender Big Sugar, and a group of Specialized Off-Road teammates have opted to travel. Series leaders Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe, who have three overall Life Time victories each, will both race in Nannup. "I've been really committed to the Life Time Grand Prix," Villafañe told Cyclingnews. "Knowing the past two years the [Worlds] courses really didn't suit me, we thought the courses in Australia might." Matt Beers will also head to Nannup, though after already missing Chequamegon he will be out of the series. Race director Stephen Gallagher said: "There is a clash in those timings but again, we still have seen people travelling here," adding: "I think the World Championship stripes still hold a worth, even for those riders that come from the Lifetime Grand Prix, who have a very very real chance of winning it, and then will potentially take that World Championship jersey to America."
The course in Nannup is heavy on gravel and elevation gain and light on the usual flood of WorldTour riders who gain strong grid positions from road points, an opportunity that has drawn gravel specialists who have skipped Worlds in recent years. Johnston acknowledged the competing systems, saying: "I understand that they don't care about the UCI and I guess it kind of hurts some of the riders a bit, but at the end of the day they're building their own thing." The lack of coordination cuts both ways — Johnston also missed Unbound this year when the Australian Championships were scheduled on the same weekend. The result is that Worlds will be without key host-nation contenders while the penultimate Life Time round will be without both overall leaders. Villafañe is among those still targeting the rainbow jersey, as Sofia Gomez Villafañe targets the rainbow jersey at Nannup Worlds.