Last year, I was part of a group of elite women who had a series of video conference calls with the Life Time Grand Prix organizers to discuss improving fairness for the elite women during competitions. We kicked around ideas like increased staggered start times and, yes, anti-drafting rules. The idea was to reduce the interference from the men’s fields (both elite and amateur) and create something closer to an actual women's race.
Life Time held off implementing anti-drafting rules last year in order to better define regulations and address implementation, as it would be a giant lift across multiple events, courses, and rider categories. But they did increase the start time gaps: at last year’s Unbound Gravel 200, the elite women started 15 minutes after the elite men, and 20 minutes before the amateurs. That may not sound like much, but it was a solid tweak, which delivered the first-ever women’s sprint finish at Unbound 200 among nine elite riders at the race.
