Norwegian champion Torbjørn Røed (Trek Driftless) and Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-road) won this year's Lauf Gravel Worlds held in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday, with the event delivering a fast day of gravel racing after overnight storms in the area caused some route changes.
Røed won from a group of three with a time of 6:05:22 in the elite men's race, beating Keegan Swenson (Specialized Off-road), who took second, while Julien Gagné (Lunchbox Racing) took the final podium place. Schreurs was awarded the elite women's race win with a time of 7:19:37 after the tightest of photo-finish victories against Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM), while New Zealand's Charlotte Clarke took third nearly four minutes back.
Both the elite times beat previous records but the course had sections of tricky and, after the storms, boggy minimum maintenance roads (MMR) removed. That meant the number of technical sections were reduced and what was initially a 151 mile route was cut to 148 miles.
What didn't change was that Lauf Gravel Worlds in Lincoln, Nebraska, once again delivered one of the largest prize purses for cycling, $150,000 split evenly among the top 10 in the elite fields.
In the event with a traditional start-finish at the Sandhills Global Event Center on the northeast side of Lincoln, riders completed a counter-clockwise loop to the east, then turned north at Nebraska City and back west to Lincoln.
The elite men's field set off bright and early at 6:25 a.m. to tackle the modified course and while a lead group of five, including Gagné, cleared the main field early on the group reconnected.
The reformed lead bunch, however, didn't remain together, with the attacks flying and by the time there was under 20 miles remaining the crucial move had gone, with Røed getting a gap, Swenson joining and Gagné – who was in the early move – also bridging.
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The chase group was lined out in pursuit but the gap was not looking at risk of being shut down, particularly not with Swenson's Specialized Off-road teammate Matt Beers patrolling the front. The trio had a clear and comfortable gap as they set up to sprint for the victory in Lincoln.
"Julien kind of got stuck on the front and Keegan didn't want to go through, and I was pretty happy with that. I think third wheel was great," said Røed in the post race interview on the race livestream. "And once Keegan went on that last little stretch into the last corner I thought 'yeh this is playing out pretty well for me'.
"I was pretty sure I had the best kick out of everyone there, especially after such a long race, and I stuck to the wheel. Keegan left a tiny gap on the left side into the finish which was very nice, and it was just enough to pass him. I'm one of the bigger guys and on the flat I should be good, and I was good," he said with a chuckle.
After Røed, Swenson and Gagné swept up the podium spots it was exactly two minutes later that Tobias Mørch sprinted to fourth from the chase.
Geerike Schreurs (Specialized Off-road) emerges victorious at Lauf Gravel Worlds after tightest of sprints with Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM) (Image credit: Kevin Mackinnon)
In the elite women's race, it was so tight that no one was initially sure who had won. Schreurs, however, was ultimately awarded the photo-finish victory after she outsprinted last year's winner Klöser in Lincoln, while Charlotte Clarke took third place nearly four minutes back.
The field rolled out 10 minutes after the elite men's race got underway. Canadian Gabby Traxler was out front with a strong early effort but a wrong turn ended her time out front and then it was Hannah Shell at the head of the field and later it was Emily Newsom, who was also caught.
Behind, as the race was well past the half-way point, Klöser came down in a corner and with a bloodied arm and ripped up jersey. The defending champion fought her way back to the chase group, which had pulled back all the attacks and was at the head of the race by the time a crucial technical section arrived.
A remaining MMR, hadn't been cut from the course, came at around 20 miles to go and while it may have been relatively dry the deep ruts still caused chaos and crashes. The lead women's group was split and riders were scrambling to try and rejoin the front group of six.
Then Schruers went from that group and Klöser was quick to join, so the battle for the top two spots was set as a rematch of 2025.
"At one point I said to her, 'here we are again'," said Schruers in the interview on the race livestream. "But this time it's mine."
Despite crashes and a brief wrong turn, Clarke managed to hold her gap to the pursuit behind to claim third, just under four minutes behind the winner and 11 seconds in front of a fast closing Sofia Gomez Villafañe. The Specialized Off-road rider may have come fourth, and finally had to wave goodbye to her impressive gravel race winning streak, but she still had a victory to celebrate given her teammate won.
Kirsten Frattini has been the Editor of Cyclingnews since December 2025, overseeing editorial operations and output across the brand and delivering quality, engaging content.
She manages global budgets, racing & events, production scheduling, and contributor commissions, collaborating across content sections and teams in the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia to ensure audience and subscription growth across the brand.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
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