How big is gravel racing in 2025? It's fair to say an avalanche of events emerging on the global landscape, for amateurs and pros alike, proves the off-road discipline is still rising in popularity.
Collections of races now form several regional and multi-national series, the UCI Trek Gravel World Series the largest with 33 events in 21 countries, having grown from just 10 events in 2022. The appeal of the events is not an overall prize or payout, but opportunities to qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships, the top 25% of finishers in pro and age categories earning invitations to compete for rainbow stripes in the fall.
Another growing global series that does offer an overall classification and a share in a $37,500 prize purse is the Gravel Earth Series, which now boasts 25 races in 15 countries. The first year of the series began in 2023 with seven races. Five of the original competitions continue to be part of GES, with the signature events at The Traka in Girona, Spain the most popular.
In the US, considered the home of gravel racing, the Life Time Grand Prix has a spotlight for their invitation-only field of 50 elite riders who compete across six off-road events for a share in a $200,000 series prize purse. In 2025, Life Time introduced $30,000 cash prizes in the pro categories at the six events, including Unbound Gravel 200. Three of the events are distinctly gravel this year, the other three are mountain bike competitions.
Four races in the Belgian Waffle Ride series comprise a new Tripel-Quadrupel Series in the US and there is a Grasshopper Adventure Series in California, and smaller collections of racers are springing up in the southeast as well. A Nordic Gravel Series offers events across Finland and Sweden this year.
The number of national championships in gravel are also on the rise, last year around 14 countries awarded prizes for at national competitions, as well as Nordic and European regional titles.
There seems to be plenty of room for individual races, with the Lauf Gravel Worlds in Nebraska amping up their notoriety with a $100,000 prize purse in 2020. Gravel stage races are also more prevalent, with GES including six multi-day races on their schedule, Migration Gravel Race in Kenya and Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder in Oregon, both in June, providing bonus scoring in the standings.
Cyclingnews has assembled a list of nearly 100 leading gravel competitions for the 2025 calendar year. We'll provide race reports and news on most of the action this season, so follow along to keep track of the action, as well as tips later on how to register for top gravel events if you are an amateur or a pro.
Jen Tavé (SpeedBlock p/b Terun) used two wins in the the five-race Grasshopper Adventure Series to take the women's overall title. She closed with 216 points to give her a 28-point advantage on her nearest rival, Kelly Brennan.
Taj Krieger (Rio Grande) finished third in the final event at King Ridge to secure the men's overall with 185 points, which gave him a 10-point margin to Ben Frederick.
Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports) and Russell Finsterwald (Trek Driftless) won the elite series titles at the 2025 Belgian Waffle Ride Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel, a best three-out-of-four series in the US.
Parks was second at BWR California and third at both the Utah and Montana stops to secure her top spot. Finsterwald pair of top 10 finishes at Arizona and California then won a two-rider sprint at Montana to claim the men's overall.
The 2025 Gravel Earth Series culminated on September 28 at Ranxo Gravel in Spain, where Rosa Klöser (Canyon Factory Racing) and Magnus Bak Klaris (PAS Racing) won the elite titles.
A total of 23 events were held between February and September in the global race series, with USA's Morgan Aguirre (PAS Racing) and Dutch rider Piotr Havik (Classified x Rose) leading the standings through two-thirds of the calendar.
Klöser finished on the podium of all six of the GES events in which she took part, with victories at The Rift, CORE4, Gravel Worlds and then Ranxo Gravel. The winner at Traka 360 winner and Lost & Found, Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) finished second overall and her teammate Aguirre finished third overall.
Klaris won the first round at Santa Vall, then The Rift and Megre, going second at Ranxo Gravel to secure the top spot for men in the GES standings. Havik finished second overall and Traka 360 winner Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing) was third.
With just two of six races yet to be contested in the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix off-road series, with 2024 champions atop the standings - Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz).
Villafañe held just a two-point lead over Cecily Decker (PAS Racing) and Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective) another eight points back in third.
The men's standings were tighter, Swenson holding a one-point margin over Simon Pellaud (Tudor Pro) and two points ahead of Torbjørn Røed (Trek Driftless).
The final two events will be held on back-to-back weekends in Arkansas, the mountain bike race at Little Sugar on October 11 and then Big Sugar Gravel on October 18. Riders in the invitation-only field must start five of six events in order to be eligible for the overall prizes.
UCI Gravel World Series and World Championships 2025
Three-time champion Lauren De Crescenzo shares scary scenario from recent non-race experience in Oklahoma, while Ted King and Chase Wark complete Mega Mid South to raise funds
