Discussion and debate over the way things work, or don't work, after a gravel race is no rarity, but following the 2026 edition of The Traka, the noise following the race seems to have gone up several levels.
Whether it's the increased profile of the event itself – which now sits alongside Unbound as one of the premier gravel events in the world – the growing professionalism of the sport or the increasing flow of riders from other more heavily controlled disciplines, there was a flow of concerns being discussed publicly on social media.
There were issues surrounding start snaffles with Joe Laverick reporting in a Substack post that the age-group men were unintentionally let go ahead of the women's pro riders at the 360 – the difficulties navigating the course – "15 wrong turns… happened to everyone. Is this the 'spirit of gravel?" asked Lauren De Crescenzo in an Instagram post. In addition, there were concerns about competitor behaviour around course deviations and not drafting riders outside your own category that have, in years gone by, relied more on rider integrity rather than rules to enforce.
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The biggest issue, however, was safety for the large fields of riders, which are increasingly drawing riders from across other disciplines, and also riders that are not just taking on the races for their own sense of achievement but making the discipline their complete focus as a profession, with sponsors to answer to and teams to perform for.
"I think gravel needs to find its own rules because it is getting more and more competitive and the way it works right now, it's not good enough for the safety of the riders and everything," said Romain Bardet, who raced The Traka 360, in an interview with Fantasy Cycling. "You've got to have team tactics, and an open road and stuff …. It's not good enough."
Retired road professional Bardet may be coming from the lens of a rider who has emerged from a highly-regulated discipline, but his concerns about safety weren't isolated. The Traka 200 winner Sofia Gomez Villafañe, who has long been one of the top performers on the US scene, was active in trying to mitigate some of the risks.
"Pretty early on, I spoke to the moto that was with us, and I asked them to please start honking anytime we were coming up on other cyclists, people using the trails, like whatever was happening, and sometimes I had to like make signs to have them start honking and keep honking," Villafañe told Cyclingnews.
"So yeah, is this race perfect? No. Is there any gravel race that's perfect? No, but we had a good day out there."
Growing pains – Spirit or structure?
Part of the appeal of gravel through its early days was its far more relaxed, community-driven approach. It was a discipline built on the much vaunted 'spirit of gravel' but the growth in popularity and what is at stake has consequences both for individual events and the sport as a whole.
"The Traka is an awesome event, for gravel, for the community, brand exposure, athlete performance and everything in between. But it needs to be understood that the organisation made this event one of the biggest in the schedule, it created the problem of this many participants, it accepts all these entry fees and sponsorship money, and therefore it has a responsibility to adhere to a standard in its delivery," said Oceania champion Nicole Frain on her website. "What is the standard, though? That is for sure a bit of the question."
The Traka is part of the Gravel Earth Series and just like Unbound Gravel and the Life Time Grand Prix series races in the US, it is outside the UCI-regulated Gravel World Series introduced in 2022, which, among other things, specifies either rolling road closures or closed roads in its rules for event organisers.
"Don’t get me wrong, they come with some of their own issues as well, but they are at least free of dangers like public cars on the course and they have a way in which it is possible to express concerns for action," wrote Frain. "Is gravel getting big enough and professional enough that it needs a governing body? Does it need a riders' union so that we can deliver first-hand our concerns without fear of repercussions for speaking up?
"And I know that ‘that’s not how gravel started…’ but it is what it has become. Riders make salaries, livings and embrace a fully professional life for the sport. For this reason, I would also like to see doping control at and around events now that the sport is expanding professionally."
There is no question that the axis of the gravel world is shifting and the rise of The Traka from an event with 100 riders in 2019 to one with 4,500 participants in 2026, and a swathe of brands clamouring to be showcased, is but one example of this.
"This is not the gravel of old and to be honest, I don’t mind," said Lachlan Morton in an Instagram post. "To have multiple world champions, grand tour stage winners and literally hundreds of amazing bike riders, from all disciplines, doing battle in back lanes, single tracks and bike paths is something very special.
"Hectic, chaotic and yes sometimes dangerous, but I can’t help but find it very pure and simply cool."
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