The exact location of the UCI Gravel World Championships in its inaugural year of 2022 may have been a mystery even as the early rounds of the qualifying World Series events unfolded, but that certainly won’t be the case in coming years. A calendar outlining the events right through to 2027 was announced during the Road World Championships in Wollongong, with the locations also including a return of the battle for the rainbow stripes to Australia.
The UCI Gravel World Championships, which is set to unfold in Italy for the next two years, will then be held in Flemish Brabant, Belgium in 2024, moving on to Nice, France in 2025 and then Nannup in Australia in 2026 before becoming part of the combined Cycling World Championships in the Haute-Savoie region of France in 2027.
The Western Australian event in 2026 will not only be the first UCI Gravel World Championships outside Europe, but will also take world-class cycling to a new corner of Australia, with the recent Road World Championships in Wollongong well over three thousand kilometres away.
‘All the team at SEVEN are excited and proud to have the announcement of the 2026 World Gravel Championships in Nannup, Western Australia,” the race director of SEVEN in Nannup – which this year was one of two Australian UCI World Series Gravel rounds – Stephen Gallagher told Cyclingnews.
“This is the culmination of six years of work to bring the incredible Blackwood region and it’s challenging and beautiful terrain onto the world stage, the prospect of the best male and female riders in the world taking on our epic course is a mouth watering prospect.”
The race is a long running event that in 2022 stepped into the opening year of World Series as the second round and was one of the largest of the 11 events around the globe. As part of the announcement that it would become a World Championship destination in 2026 its place in the World Series in the run up was also confirmed. The organisers said they expects in excess of 1,500 riders in 2023 and announcement of Nannup growing to more than 4000 in 2026.
“The announcement of the World Championships has elevated the gravel scene here in Australia and we hope to be part of the growth of this incredible discipline within Australia and see our sport grow in different regions,” said Gallagher. “Being part of the gravel ‘family’ here in Australia is very important for us.”
“We can’t wait to showcase new and innovative courses and projects in the lead-up to 2026 with a festival of all things cycling planned as we head to the World Championships.”
In 2022 the men’s elite race over the 125km climb heavy course came down to a battle between domestically based multi-discipline rider Adam Blazevic and Nathan Haas in the men's race, with Blazevic coming out on top. In the women’s race Maria Madigan took what may have been her first World Series victory, but it was her third victory at the race as she once again delivered a dominant performance.
The first UCI Gravel World Championships is set to take place in the Veneto region of Italy on October 8 and 9 with the all the women’s categories competing on Saturday on a 140km course starting in Vicenza with 700m of ascent, while the elite men will race on Sunday over a 190km course with 800m of ascent. The route passes through Padova before arriving in the municipality of Citadel with about three-quarters made up of Italian white gravel sections and cobbled sections.
UCI Gravel World Championships locations
- 2022 - Veneto (Italy)
- 2023 - Veneto (Italy)
- 2024 - Flemish Brabant (Belgium)
- 2025 - Nice (France)
- 2026 - Nannup (Australia)
- 2027 - Haute-Savoie (France)
