UCI Gravel World Series – One-two for Connor and Ben Swift at Graean Cymru

It was a win for Joscelin Lowden (UNO-X Mobility) and recently crowned British gravel champion Connor Swift at the Graean Cymru UCI Gravel World Series race on Sunday, with the Ineos Grenadiers racer breaking away with his cousin and teammate Ben Swift.

The WorldTour pairing carved out a substantial gap on the rest of the field during the elite men's race in Wales with the mud-covered duo crossing the line together to take the top two spots after 3:20:51. Ben Thomas, who came first on stage 2 of Raiders Gravel, was third as he crossed the line 4:20 back from the Swifts.

It was a solo victory for Lowden in the women's elite race, with the one-time holder of the UCI Hour Record crossing the line 1:14 ahead of Amelia Mitchell while in third it was Lizi Brooke (Pro-Noctis-200° Coffee-Hargreaves Contracting), just ten seconds further back.

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The race started and finished at the Brenig Reservoir in Llyn Brenig, running through a 57.67km course twice to deliver a 110.8km event. The route delivered over 2,000m of elevation gain as it tackled the undulating forest roads.

Graean Cymru, or Gravel Wales, was one of the final qualifiers for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships, with the top 25 per cent of riders per category securing a place in the race for the rainbow jersey. 

The championships are being held in Belgium this year on October 5-6. Connor Swift claimed bronze at last year's second edition in Italy, coming over the line behind Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) and Florian Vermeersch (Belgium).