Live streaming of the inaugural Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda ended abruptly at the halfway point of the six-race off-road series. Life Time, which owns and operates the $250,000-to-win invitation-only series, said it made the decision in conjunction with broadcast partner FloSports.

FloSports was chosen as the broadcast partner for the series, which kicked off with a live broadcast from the opening round, the Fuego XC 80k Sea Otter Classic. All six events were streamed on the FloBikes channel worldwide, including on-demand content.

"FloSports and Life Time have mutually agreed to discontinue broadcast production of the Life Time Grand Prix and the remaining events will not be streamed on FloBikes," Life Time said in a statement this weekend. [Life Time and FloSports aimed to provide high quality broadcasts of the most exciting gravel and mountain bike racing in the world. This was a bold undertaking and one that has never been done before. The environmental challenges faced by athletes on these courses quickly proved equally difficult for the production team. Ultimately, the technical limitations, course conditions, and remote locations proved insurmountable. This made it impossible to broadcast these races in the quality that fans and athletes deserve"

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The organizers selected 30 women and 30 men from the December entries to compete in six events in two categories, with prize money distributed equally among the top 10 women and men in the rankings. Along with the lure of high prize money, the event promised international media coverage for the first time in most events. Several athletes posted on social media their surprise at the elimination of live streams.

The announcement came a week before the series' next stop, the Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Colorado. Top competitors competing include three-time Leadville Trail 100 MTB champion Rose Grant, Grand Prix women's leader Sofia Gomez Villafane, 2021 men's champion and Grand Prix men's leader Keegan Swenson, fifth overall in the GP and Leadville-SBT GRVL doubleheader defending champion Peter Stetina, among others.

Replays of the Fuego XC 80K and Unbound Gravel 200 are still available on the FloBikes website. The third race, Crusher in the Tushar, was not broadcast live in its entirety "due to technical limitations" and was limited to interviews during the race, local footage, and post-race highlights.

Organizers noted that updates on the race would be disseminated through social channels for each of the final three events, as "Life Time and FloSports remain open to future collaboration."

After the Leadville Trail 100 MTB on August 13, the series will conclude with the Chequamegon MTB Festival in Wisconsin on September 17 and the Big Sugar Gravel in Arkansas on October 22.