Underdog No More Cameron Jones and the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix

Everyone loves an underdog story, sporting fans especially, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one in the cycling realm this season than that of New Zealand’s Cameron Jones (although we tip our hat to Canadian, Magdelaine Valeraise, and her Road World Championships win). After two seasons of competing in Life Time Grand Prix events as an unselected athlete, he was a hopeful to secure one of the 25 available spots allotted for the 2025 season, and qualify for the overall prize purse that comes with it. That did not happen. He did, however, have the opportunity to earn a “Wildcard” spot in the series, by performing well at the first two events. That did happen - and in storybook fashion.

At Unbound Gravel 200, the 24-year-old unleashed a career defining ride that not only saw him cross the finish line solo for an empathic win, in record-setting time, but secure his spot in the series and catapult himself up the overall standings. From there the meteoric rise continued, with consistently strong results at the following races and a second win, at Little Sugar MTB. Going into the final event of the series, Big Sugar Gravel, Cam was one of four riders in the points standings capable of taking the overall series win - with everything riding on their finishing position. At the end of a rain-soaked and tactical outing, he was able to apply his powerful kick to best his rivals in the bunch sprint for 5th on the day, but most importantly, securing the overall title. The first rider in four years not named Keegan Swenson, current XCM World Champion, to claim the Life Time Grand Prix series, and with it a significant pay day!

For those unfamiliar with the Life Time Grand Prix series, it’s a professional off-road cycling series, organized by Life Time, that features six gravel and mountain bike races across the U.S. Athletes compete for individual event titles and a cumulative prize purse of $380,000. The series featured a 50-person field, composed of 25 men and 25 women, with a mix of invited and wildcard athletes. In its fourth year, the 2025 season included a “best five out of six” competition format, where a rider’s top five results counted towards their final standings. The “best five of six” format gives athletes flexibility, but the final race, Big Sugar Gravel, is mandatory for all and acts as a tiebreaker. The six events for the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix series were the Sea Otter Classic Gravel, Unbound Gravel 200, Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival, Little Sugar MTB, and Big Sugar Gravel. This consisted of three gravel races and three mountain bike races, ensuring the overall winners were truly versatile in all things off-road.

We caught up with Cam as he enjoys some off-season downtime, to get a bit more insight on his breakthrough season, as he’s had a bit of time to reflect on it. Give it a read to see what our favourite Kiwi had to say.

From not making the original 2025 LTGP roster, to securing a Wildcard spot (with a big win at Unbound Gravel 200), winning Little Sugar, and now the overall title, it’s been an upward trajectory throughout the season. How has the increased recognition in the field and by the cycling world felt this year?

It has certainly been a rapid rise to the top! Towards the end of 2023, I was prepared to get a real job and just do the odd racing trip. I decided to give it one last crack in 2024, earning just enough support to go full-time riding this year. Not making the original Life Time roster added much fuel to the fire to prove them wrong, and it feels amazing to do just that. I had some anonymity at the start of the season, which played a part in my huge Unbound Gravel 200 result. I certainly felt more marked within the peloton after that. Fortunately, the next 3 events were on the MTB where riders have to focus on their own efforts more than others’. I have enjoyed the increased fandom from the cycling world, but have focused on remaining myself and the same personality that people seem to enjoy.

Now that you’re well established on the scene, and an automatic berth for the LTGP series in 2026 - do you expect this off-season to be significantly different than years past, in terms of training, where you’ll be located, and the approach to the next year?

With a title to defend and the prize money for the win leaping up from 20-50k, I will certainly have to find ways to up my game. Initial thoughts are getting more scientific around nutrition (maintaining elements of bro-science still!) and making a plan for year round strength training. There is room to up the cycling volume a bit, but quality of those hours will be the main focus. My 4iiii power meter will play a big part here. My dual-sided PRECISION 3+ PRO has identified some power imbalances sneaking in towards the end of the season, so I will get some physio advice to address those.

I will be home in NZ December through February, then come back to the US in March to do it all again. I will have home base with my girlfriend in Blacksburg, Virginia but spend a lot of time on the road between races. I have put 20,000 miles on the minivan this season with 3 x full cross-country drives so I might try to reduce that with a few plane trips.

Of all the races you contested this season on the LTGP, which one presented the biggest challenges and which one are you looking forward to tackling again next year?

I thought that Leadville would be the most challenging, with long, steep climbs not being my strength and being pretty inexperienced at altitude, but it actually went surprisingly well. Looking forward to another go next year, so I can apply the learnings and improve my time. I love the training required for that race - big high-country adventures!

Big Sugar had its distance cut in half from 100 to 50 miles shortly before the start, due to the heavy rain, how did that affect the race or strategy for you on the day?

When the notification came through, I was actually quite excited! I had a good strategy for the original course, but knew the shorter one would suit me better than others. I had a nutrition strategy planned for the new distance and was prepared to go on the offensive early, as there was less need to save matches for later - which seemed to work.

As there were four of you within contention for the overall title, was it your plan to try and have it come down to a sprint at the end / were you marking the other three guys to keep it together - or did it just kind of organically play out that way?

My focus was purely on the overall. I could have finished down in 8th among the Grand Prix riders on the day, and still won the overall as long as the others were behind me. I was confident enough in my sprint to take it to the line, so I felt no pressure to split it up early. My friend Matt Wilson was up the road in the break, so I sat up where possible, but took every opportunity to make it hard for those around me. I positioned near the front on descents, strung it out and attacked the climbs. It became apparent the group was too big and strong to make a split that would stay away, but I knew my attempts were still wearing down my rivals and weakening their sprint.

You had some clear daylight behind you in the final sprint for the line, can you give us a bit of a description of the mindset, positioning and execution of that effort - that ultimately sealed the deal for the overall title?

There was no planning for that finale, purely instinct. I made sure to be positioned in the top 10 going into the final 300m drag to the line. When I saw Keegan open up his sprint, I dived onto his wheel briefly and saw some clear road ahead of me. Once you start sprinting, there is no room for further tactics. It was a sprint, just under 30 seconds. Knowing there was $10k on the line (5th place on the day plus difference between 1-4th in overall) I gave it absolutely everything I had. A bit of pressure seems to bring out the best in me, and I hit some all time best power - 1100w for 28s.

How has it been having one or both parents at a lot of the events this year, working feedzones and just general moral support?

Having my parents there for my Unbound, Little Sugar and Overall wins was super special! We also had a full house of fellow Kiwi racers there in Bentonville. Feeling a bit more at home with the accents, slang, and laidback attitudes definitely helped me to relax between a busy race week schedule.

A huge congratulations from all of 4iiii to Cam on a truly epic season! It might have been a surprise to most, but we weren’t overly shocked to see him deliver what we all knew he was capable of, having worked with him for the past few seasons. Can’t wait to see what he’ll do next year and beyond.

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Give Cam a follow so you can keep up with his entertaining off-season and 2026 exploits! @camjonesnz

Check out the training and racing tools Cam relied on this season here: power meter