It's difficult to define the time and place where dirt roads gave birth to gravel racing as a distinct mode for riding and then racing. In 2025, what was easy to see was that the off-road, long-distance discipline had moved from being 'alternative' to a business.
The debate may never end about how to keep the 'spirit of gravel' at the heart of the sport, especially at the front of the pro races. Let's face it, enthusiasm still thrives at the grassroots level but professional athletes are serious about earning a living on gravel.
From outsider to ruler
It wasn't far into Unbound Gravel 200, on Divide Road with 152 more miles to go, when Cameron Jones (Scott-Shimano) and Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro Cycling) pulled away from the leading group. It seemed like a move that was, if not destined to fail, at least unlikely to succeed. There was still so much of the tough 202.4-mile (320km) course in the Flint Hills of Kansas to be traversed, and every reason for the pursuers behind to be highly motivated.
But the pair worked together seamlessly – Pellaud even helping his break companion by pulling the chain lube out of his pocket and squirting it on his chain while riding along. Such was the strength of their effort that as the finish line loomed, they still had a gap of around five minutes on the nearest chasers, and it looked like the winner would be decided in a sprint.
Jones, however, decided to apply the pressure early. Pellaud had no response. The big New Zealander had gone from the Frenchman, who had his Life Time Grand Prix entry secured, and was fighting for his own wildcard entry into the series. In a space of 8 hours, 37 minutes and 9 seconds, Jones shot straight to the pinnacle of the gravel world with the Unbound win, and his wildcard berth.
The significance of an Unbound 200 win alone made it an unforgettable moment from the 2025 season of gravel racing but it was the beginning, not the end, of the seismic shift Jones' appearance on the scene would reap. In October, the Kiwi also claimed the overall title in the men's Life Time Grand Prix Series. (SG)
Finding Frain's forte
While we are on the subject of riders from afar who have launched into their first gravel season we should perhaps turn our attention to Nicole Frain (Ridley Racing Team). The Australian jumped to prominence when she trumped a chase that had been led by Grace Brown to claim the national road race title. It was a big win and eased her path into road racing in Europe through from mid-2022 through to the end of the 2024 season.
Frain then started working gravel into the schedule, which yielded a number of runner-up spots. That proved her off-road potential so it wasn't a great surprise when it was announced that in 2025 she would grasp the chance to focus on the discipline with Ridley.
The strong results continued but another win was alluding her on the gravel just as it had on the road, that was until Houffa Gravel in August this year. Frain reeled in the attack of Picnic PostNL rider Esmée Peperkamp on the climb of Saint-Roch and then quickly launched alone to carve out an emphatic gap of more than 10 minutes by the time she crossed the line to claim her first UCI Gravel World Series win.
The breakthrough Frain had been so painstakingly close to so many times had materialised and even though it was already clear that in gravel the 33-year-old had found her fit this was the final piece of the puzzle. One win soon became two, with Sea Otter Europe added to the list and then the icing on the cake, and Frain secured top points in the UCI Gravel World Series. After taking the leap to the top step multiple times at the end of the 2025 there will be no shortage of eyes on Frain in 2026. (SG)
Dutch encounters of the weird kind
The fourth edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships held in the Netherlands was a showcase of talent for the home women's team, as they retained the title with Lorena Wiebes crossing the line just ahead of 2024 winner Marianne Vos.
Of the 103 women racing for one rainbow jersey in the elite division, 22 of them were Dutch, almost one quarter of the entire field, and the next largest team came from Germany at half the size. Strength in numbers, yes, but in the final 15km of the 131km race, the picture of one united team working for national pride took on an alien script and went askew.
Dutch rider Shirin van Anrooij grabbed a 20-second solo lead after the decisive Bronsdalweg climb and looked set for victory. In the final 2km, compatriot Yara Kastelijn closed down the chase, which allowed Vos and Wiebes to sail by and battle for the victory, leaving Van Anrooij dazed and confused, and in fifth place.
"It's a gravel race, so tactics look strange, but at the end, it's also more or less individual [racing]," Laurens ten Dam, the Dutch women's head coach, told Cyclingnews at the finish.
What these UCI championships demonstrated were indeed that individuals, not teams, raced for a gold medal. Unlike other UCI World competitions, nations do not have limited allocations for athletes. Instead it is up to the athletes to earn qualification by finishing in the top 25% of global events in the UCI Gravel World Series, as well as federation wildcards. The formula works for engaging thousands of amateurs across age divisions, but is still quirky for pro races. (JT)
'Genuinely fun'
I'm pretty sure that anyone who has more than a cursory interest in gravel knows there's something about Unbound Gravel XL that is just a little different. As serious as the racing can get there is an element of the much poked fun at 'spirit of gravel' that seems to keep a foothold, even when it comes to one of the biggest races on the calendar. It is a factor that seems to be amplified by distance, as was certainly the case in the 359-mile event in Emporia, Kansas, which started on May 30 and ended on the 31st.
The men's race came down to a battle between Lachlan Morton (EF Education-EasyPost) and Rob Britton (Factor Bikes) with the Australian winner of the 2024 Unbound 200 looking like he had the upper hand as he rode into the darkness of the night solo. However, the tracking dot of Britton showed the Canadian was pulling back ground as the race worked beyond 17 hours. With under 10 miles to the line, Britton made the catch, virtually a sprint given the distance, and victory was his. It was clear that this achievement was more than a win.
As Britton told the Cyclingnews' North American gravel specialist, Jackie Tyson, after the dust had settled on the event: "Bike racing, especially now, is so cutthroat and so serious. That's fine. I've done that part of it for years. I'm just not really in search of that now. So what was it like for me [at Unbound XL]? It genuinely was fun. And obviously, at the end, winning is fun."
Watching from afar was fun too. (SG)
Live, camera, and action that worked
As the fields grow in depth of talent for off-road races, so has the appetite grown from a global audience to consume the action. Unlike most broadcast-friendly WorldTour road races, or the condensed geography for disciplines like cyclocross and mountain bike disciplines that make streaming convenient for organisers, the gravel side of racing has faced major challenges beyond social media mentions because of vastly-secluded terrain.
And when live streaming was attempted in the past, like the UCI Gravel World Championships in 2022, only the elite men's race was broadcast and not the elite women's battle, and then neither race was broadcast the following year.
In 2025, Life Time relaunched select broadcasts for three of their events in the six-event Life Time Grand Prix, using multiple cameras on and off the course as well as race commentary for both elite fields. The Traka 360 and Ranxo Gravel offered similar servings of live streaming from Spain, while Lauf Gravel Worlds had a robust broadcast from Nebraska. Then the UCI Gravel World Championships had full coverage for the elite women and elite men from the Netherlands.
Live start-to-finish coverage for the Life Time races – Unbound Gravel 200, Leadville Trail 100 MTB and the finale at Big Sugar Classic – were major wins for spectators, but also the athletes.
"Live coverage allows fans to feel like they’re in on the action in real time, by not just following dots on a screen. It also helps people understand that this is a real sport with real tactics, training and emotion," former Unbound Gravel 200 winner Lauren De Crescenzo told Cyclingnews.
"It’s amazing to see helicopters and drones following races like Unbound and Big Sugar. It’s something I never imagined in gravel just five years ago." (JT)
Schreurs short circuited but cover reveals strength
With the way Geerike Schreurs had launched into the world of gravel in 2024, a runner-up spot at both The Traka 360 and Unbound Gravel 200, there was no doubt that she was among one of the most closely-watched riders heading into those two key events.
Though the SD Worx-Protime rider looked ideally placed as the early stages of The Traka unfolded and she sat tucked in among a small lead group, there was one moment soon to come that would prove pivotal for both events. All of a sudden, she hit the deck hard. It was a fall that left her momentarily reeling but remounting with her right arm on the handlebars as she stretched out her left, feeling out what were the consequences of the fall.
The power remained in her legs and she rejoined the group but as the race progressed the pain she was enduring after she continued on through the kilometres was clear. After 10 hours and 274 kilometres of racing, around half of that post-crash, she opted for a change of path, no longer heading to the finish line but to the hospital instead. There she discovered the elbow was fractured, making it an injury that would hobble the Unbound preparation as well, although she still made it to the race and finished seventh.
The outcome wasn't what she had been looking and if it may have been easy to look at the performance at those key races of the season purely from a results point of view, as placing a question mark over her place as one of the key favourites.
Gravel and women's cycling are two realms where you can't exactly count on extensive live coverage of races but with live streaming at The Traka and Unbound 200 we got to appreciate just what grit and determination the Dutch rider possessed to get as far as she did on the rough terrain. We also saw her potential to rule at both events should the run be less fraught. (SG)
Growing pains at feed zones
Each year a few new guidelines find their way into the free-wheeling domain of gravel and off-road races, which was born more than a decade ago as a way to ditch UCI race standards and enjoy an 'alternative calendar' of dirt adventures. Comfort bars were among the first equipment rules enforced, and then many elite races addressed separate starts for elite women and elite men, as well as drafting policies related to race divisions.
What is next? It could be more specific restrictions at feed zones, or what used to be 'rest stops'.
The 'action' in the feed zone was most evident at April's Sea Otter Classic Gravel, the opening round of the Life Time Grand Prix. Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Red Bull), third overall in the 2024 Grand Prix, bobbled his hydration bottle handoff while attempting to ride through the feed area and crashed, resulting in hip fracture that sidelined him for several months.
At Leadville 100 there are a list of rules about the feed zones, and where support crews can hand off resupplies of nutrition and hydration. US gravel national champion Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation) would have posted a podium finish for a signature mountain bike finish, but was disqualified for accepting a bottle at an aid station which was not permitted for the pro riders.
Veteran Peter Stetina said another control for gravel racing is just part of the evolution of the young discipline.
"The old gravel vibes was generally we stopped – just be quick about it, roll in and take the things you need and roll out. Stops were close to a minute. It was not an F1 pit stop like it is now," Stetina told Cyclingnews after Unbound Gravel.
"It's been a natural evolution. It's so competitive now and careers are made on it [success in gravel]. Every year it's something new, a growing pain, and the aid stations are the easiest spots to play with that rule." (JT)
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