In a surprise development on Tuesday, the UCI announced the 2025 Gravel World Championships would no longer be held in Nice, France on October 18-19.
A search for a new host venue, and possibly a new calendar date, will begin immediately, with the Championships just eight months away. Mathieu van der Poel won the men's gravel world title in 2024, with Marianne Vos winning the women's race.
"The UCI and the City of Nice acknowledged the difficulties of organising the event in the capital of the French Riviera on that date, and in view of various constraints, technical and regarding the calendar, it was mutually agreed not to organize the 4th edition of the UCI worlds for gravel in Nice," a statement from the UCI read.
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The UCI indicated in the short statement that "various options" were already available and they were studying these options for both a new venue and new organiser.
The first two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships were hosted in Veneto, Italy and last year in Leuven, Belgium.
The next four editions were set to take place across three continents - Nice in 2025; Nannup, Western Australia in 2026; Haute-Savoie, France in 2027; and Alula, Saudi Arabia in 2028.
Unique to the gravel discipline are the thousands of amateur riders across multiple age groups who can compete for rainbow stripes and world title designations, riding the same course as the elite women and men. Last year there were 23 total world titles decided, with 21 other winners across age groups from 19 to 80 in addition to the elite victories by Van der Poel and Vos.
A qualification process using results in the UCI Gravel World Series has been used since 2022, with the top 25% of individual event finishers in each age category earning entries into the World Championships. For this year's Worlds, a pair of qualifiers were held in late 2024, and 20 more events were on the calendar prior to mid-October.
This winter has been a challenging time for the UCI, as shadows of doubt have crept into the ability for Kigali, Rwanda to safely host the Road World Championships, scheduled for September 21-28. It marks the first time a world championships for cycling would be hosted by an African nation.
Civil unrest in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been reported by news outlets, with the M23 rebel group taking over the eastern city of Goma. The BBC noted in early February that the DRC's government "says the Rwanda-backed rebels are seeking to exploit the region's vast mineral wealth".
In a recent interview with Cyclingnews, UCI President David Lappartient said that Rwanda was well organised and safe as a country, and he had confidence that sport should remain neutral from any political situation. Lappartient noted the significance of Kigali being "incredibly special" for a "strong message that these championships are in Africa, but also for Africa". He also said "there was no plan B".
The UCI 2.1 Tour of Rwanda is currently underway in the African nation, concluding in Kigali after seven days of racing on March 2.
