This is the third UCI Gravel World Championships for Australia's Nicole Frain, and she has been steadily working her way up the ranks, while also plotting out such a solid path in the discipline that it's easy to forget it's only her second season focused completely on gravel.
Back in 2024, when she first lined up at the rainbow jersey race, Frain had been racing on the road for Hess, though the team collapsed late in the season. However, she'd already been racing gravel at times in 2024, with strong results that included a run of seconds in RADL GRVL and the UCI Gravel World Series races of The Gralloch and Houffa and then her first World Championships in Belgium, where Marianne Vos won.
"I think the first year I definitely went in with no expectations, and then I surprised myself getting into a really good position. I had stomach issues, but at least for the race, I did put myself into a really good position if it all came together," said Frain who came over the line in 33rd.
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Then in 2025 gravel became the main focus for the former Australian road champion, joining the Ridley team, throwing herself into the UCI Gravel World Series and honing her skills. Impressively she also took the overall victory at the series, which meant a start at the front of the field both packed with and dominated by Dutch riders.
"Last year, I learnt about the dynamic," Frain told Cyclingnews in the weeks leading into the race. "In the Netherlands, it was not raced in your national federations. You looked around and you just saw all orange, and you realised all the helmets were also SD Worx, and it was very road rider dominated the last two years."
That second year she came 26th, but it's hard not to think that 2026 promises far more. On Saturday Frain will once again line up in the front section of the field, after taking second overall in the UCI Gravel World Series this year, but many other elements have changed.
For a start the race dynamics are expected to be wholly different his time. For a start, the shift for the first time outside Europe means there is no easy turnaround, and riders from other disciplines can't just drop in for a day, so there is less of a flood of European road professionals than in previous years. On top of that the nature of the course is completely different, heavy on climbing and gravel with more than 84% on the unpaved surfaces. This combination has made it a year where more and more key gravel specialists are turning up, raising the prospect that just maybe this year the road professional podium domination could come to an end.
"I would love to see an actual gravel rider winning the rainbow jersey, just because I think for the sport, seeing that at races will be really valuable," said Frain. "But yeah, of course, the best rider will win."
The dream
Just as the race situation has altered, so has Frain herself. Now into her second year as a full time gravel racer, having swapped over to Factor this year, and with an impressive list of wins right from claiming the Oceania Championships at RADL GRVL right at the start of the year to four UCI Gravel World Series race wins and also victory at the Unbound European qualifier of Heathland Gravel.
She has proven that she is a force to be reckoned with on gravel, so hopes are high that Frain could just be a rider who can show off the green and gold colours of the nation's jersey near the front at its home World Championships.
"It's definitely been one of my main targets," said Frain. "I've been putting a lot of the effort around that and prioritising everything into this period, so then it's always a little bit more personal pressure, I guess, because you know you put in a bit more effort here, and so you want to see a good outcome that you feel proud of as well."
There was some interruption to the preparation, with a bout of influenza stopping her in her tracks a couple of months ago, but having worked back from that it's now almost time to see what the results of that work and targeted focus will be.
"Generally it can suit me, if I'm having a good day," said Frain of the 125km course with 3,179m of elevation gain. "It does get more towards that heavy end of climbing for me, but then it's hard for everyone. So yeah, if I'm having a good day, and anybody that is smart about it can come away with a good result there, I think."
Though, no matter what you do in preparation gravel remains unpredictable and sometimes that's a blessing and other times its a curse.
"It's still gravel, and anything can happen. Puncture risk is higher and things like that," said Frain. "So you just try not to put too much emphasis on the race because you just want to be happy with whatever you put in.
"But at the same time, yes, it's super important and it is a good opportunity for me to get a nice result and that would ,of course, be the dream."
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