Take6 days ago
Johnston will race Little Sugar MTB, not Gravel Worlds
Brendan Johnston is racing Little Sugar MTB instead of the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships, which fall on the same day. He was tied for second in the Life Time Grand Prix standings and had already won the test event on the Worlds course, but he's never been in this position in the LTGP before. «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 said, pushing back on suggestions he was «chasing the money.»
The two systems offer Johnston almost opposite rewards. The Gravel World Championships carry no prize money, only the honour of wearing national colours, and his federation offered no support to get him to Australia. The Life Time Grand Prix, by contrast, is the series that let him turn professional at 30 and has provided his livelihood. That's the trade he weighed: a national title he could wear racing in America, against an LTGP overall position he's never been in before. «I really wish these two races weren't on the same day,» he said, and the calendar clash had been on his mind since the start of 2026.
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