Cuckoo Iceland replaces The Rift for revamped 2026 Gravel Earth Series

Several changes are in the works for the 2026 Gravel Earth Series, as organisers revealed on Friday the number of global events would be reduced from 23 to 13 in the fourth edition. The Traka, with two race distances, and Migration Gravel return as anchor events for a fourth consecutive year, with the series including new races in Iceland and Belgium.

Klassmark, an event company based in Girona, Spain that emphasises minimal environmental impacts, organises the series and now owns half of the races featured on the calendar, including Cuckoo Iceland by the Traka, scheduled in Flúðir, Iceland, on June 28 and The River by The Traka in Bouillon, Belgium, on September 6, serving as the finale in the series.

Iceland's The Rift gravel race had been on the GES calendar the past two seasons. That event is scheduled for July 18 2026 in Hvolsvöllur, but will be replaced by the series stop at Cuckoo Iceland, based approximately 50km further inland in an area that features abundant hot springs and geysers.

In addition to The Traka, which offers separate days of racing again for the 360km and 200km races, there are three additional Spanish events. Santa Vall opens the series on February 14-15 with a two-day stage race in Girona. Gravel Desert, which was named Monegros Desert Festival last year, moves from late July to April 11. Ranxo Gravel, which was the late-season finale the last two years, moves to June 7 with the same start in Ponts.

North America will host three returning races in the USA - Lost & Found in California June 13, Oregon Trail Gravel in Oregon July 8-12 and Core 4 in Iowa in mid-August. Italy, Kenya and Lithuania round out the total of seven countries with events.

The collection of gravel races will introduce age category competitions for the first time, the series website noting that seven of the individual races included categories for men and women across age groups for under-23s to 70-plus.

A new scoring system will also be used in 2026, Klassmark not disclosing the full details but saying that it was more straightforward and easier to understand. Last year the series created a three-tiered scoring system, with some races providing either 10% or 20% bonus points on top of 'base points'. The Traka was the only stop on the series which offered two distances and separate points, The Traka 200 with 10%-plus scoring and The Traka 360 with 20%-plus.

Next year's schedule shows that The Traka 360 and The Traka 200 will again be scored separately, taking place on back-to-back dates of May 1-2, but it was not known yet if one race was weighted higher than the other. Registration for The Traka 200 was sold out, with a waiting list available, while entries were still available for The Traka 360.

Rosa Klöser (Canyon Factory Racing) won four events and the elite women's overall title in the 2025 Gravel Earth Series. Magnus Bak Klaris (PAS Racing) earned the elite men's title with three victories and second at Ranxo Gravel.

Klöser dominated the series with six podiums, winning The Rift, CORE4, Gravel Worlds and the finale at Ranxo Gravel. PAS Racing duo Karolina Migoń, who won The Traka 360, and Morgan Aguirre, who won The Hills, completed the women's overall rankings in second and third, respectively, with Geerike Schreurs (SD Worx-Protime) in fourth.

Piotr Havik (Classified x Rose Factory Team) was second overall on the men's side with Traka 360 winner Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing) in third. Petr Vakoč (Canyon) was fourth.

Migon and Simen Nordahl Svendsen won the 2024 series, with Sarah Sturm and Aguirre tied for second in the women's standings and Griffin Easter edged Peter Stetina for the second step in the men's competition.

Annabel Fisher and Mattia De Marchi won the inaugural GES titles. Amity Rockwell went second and Maddy Nutt third in the women's overall while Lukas Baum and Diederik Deelen when second and third, respectively, in the men's overall.