Brendan Johnston (Giant) and Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) both sailed through the Nannup finish line at the SEVEN gravel race to add to their win tally at the Western Australian UCI Gravel World Series event.
In the elite men's race Johnston, also the winner in 2024, crossed the line after 3:55:56 with a seven-second gap to 2025 winner Mark O'Brien (Trappist), who made the most of his climbing strength during the race but was distanced on the run to the line. Harrison Bebbington (Maxxis Flanders Racing), who had been part of the leading trio which formed in the second half of the race, took third at the event which gave riders a taste of the terrain on offer for the Gravel World Championships there on October 10-11.
"In the long climbs, Marko was really strong and even distanced all of us, but we kept coming back and then I knew the finish would suit me, so it was extra special to come back and win again," said Johnston, who has also won the Australian UCI World Series races of Gravelista and Devils Cardigan.
In the elite women's race it was two editions in a row for Cromwell, and three all up, after she got out front early with Maria Laurie and Matilda Raynolds before finally going solo to quickly carve out a solid gap to her rivals. The Australian gravel champion crossed the line after 4:28:52 with an advantage of two-and-a-half minutes to second-placed Laurie while Raynolds was just a second further back in third.
"Although we had a small field it was a very strong field and I always just kind of sit back and analyse everyone to start with, because I only knew probably half of the girls," Cromwell told race organisers after claiming the win.
"I just kind of like played it calm and I was like, 'I’m not sure I'm going to be able to get rid of these girls', but step by step, one would drop, one would drop and then I started feeling stronger, tried to put little subtle moves on the flats without proper attacks, but just trying to like make it hurt."
The 125km SEVEN course started and finished in Nannup, running through the Blackwood Valley and packing in more than 3,000m of vertical ascent along the way on the course which is more than 80% gravel.
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Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) takes her second victory in a row at SEVEN (Image credit: Patrick Boeré / SEVEN Gravel Race)
How it unfolded
The race started out from Nannup in the early morning light, with dense fog settled in the valleys and temperatures sitting at around 8°C. The men's elite riders set off first at 7am local time, with men's age group riders behind and then the elite women were off at 7:35am.
As the men moved off the opening paved section and gone on through to the early major climb of Brockman, defending champion O'Brien had already began the process of wearing down his rivals. Under the pressure a lead group formed with Australian champion O'Brien, Johnston, 2023 winner Tasman Nankervis, Mark Chong (Pedal Mafia), Robert Power and Bebbington.
In the women's elite the early lead group was New Zealand's Laurie, who was second at the ProVelo Super League's Grafton to Inverell on the road earlier this year, defending champion Cromwell and Raynolds, with 2025 and 2024 runner-up Cassia Boglio (Megamo Gravel Racing) just behind.
A leading trio also emerged in the men's race after O'Brien kept on the pressure, attempting to making a move on the Ellis Creek ascent about half way through and rarely letting up when the road was heading up. The 2024 winner Johnston and Bebbington clambered to stay on the wheel and the three kept the distance from the rest of the field so it soon became clear they would deciding the podium between them.
As the charge to the finish line unfolded, and with the climbing behind, the advantage turned to Johnston who reclaimed the top spot as he was too powerful for O'Brien to hold his wheel in the final stretch. O'Brien had Johnston in sight but out of reach as he crossed the line seven seconds back while Bebbington was a further 22 seconds behind.
In the meantime in the women's elite race Cromwell had broken away, having carved out a gap of around 40 seconds to the pursuing duo of Raynolds and Laurie by around the 14km to go mark. The chasing duo couldn't close the gap so Cromwell got to celebrate her third win at the event across the past four years.
The big question, however, remains. Can she take yet another victory on the course in October at the World Championships?
"It would be nice, but, you know, I'm also really not going to count my eggs before they have hatched. I know we're going to have a super strong field line up," said Cromwell.
"It's still a challenging course for me on those type of climbs – it's not necessarily my strong point – but I'll work super hard, so I can try to take it to them and try to fight for that rainbow jersey."
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
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