UCI Gravel World Series: Matthew Holmes and Lucia Gonzalez Blanco win 114 Gravel

Race Results
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Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz and Annabel Fisher take runner-up spots in 123km race starting in Portugal and finishing in Spain

Picture by Thomas MaheuxSWpixcom 07102023 Cycling 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships Provincia di Treviso Veneto Italy Elite Men Bunch
Racing at the UCI Gravel World Championships, which the UCI Gravel World Series events act as qualifiers for (Image credit: Thomas Maheux/SWpix.com)
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The March racing in the 2025 UCI Gravel World Series ended with the cross-border 114 Gravel, with Matthew Holmes (OGT Factor Racing) and Lucía González Blanco (Nesta-MMR Cycling) claiming victory in the 123km race which started in Portugal and concluded in Spain. 

The new inclusion in the global series, but fifth edition of the event, delivered a sprint finish at the end of the men's elite race between former road professional Holmes and Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz, with the British Factor Racing rider claiming the top spot after 3 hours and 13 minutes. It was then more than eight-and-a-half minutes back to Enrique Morcillo Vergara who beat Daan Grosemans in the sprint for third.

In the women's elite race Spain's Gonzalez Blanco (Nesta - MMR) carved out a small gap to runner-up Annabel Fisher, with the British rider just having returned to the bike after a season of ski racing. It was then more than two minutes back to third-placed Varvara Fasoi.

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The race – which started in the medieval town of Elvas in Portugal and finished over the border in Badajoz, Spain – took in farmland and sandy trails along the Guadiana River which acts as a natural border between Portugal and Spain. It was the sixth qualifying round for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships, which currently has its location and date up in the air after it was announced in February that Nice would no longer host the event.

The next event in the UCI Gravel World Series is Austria's Wörthersee Gravel Race which takes place on April 6. The organisers of this event are among those who have put their hand up to take on the yet to be officially relocated World Championships this year. 

Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite men top 5
Pos.RiderTime
1Matthew Holmes (OGT Factor Racing) 03:13:25
2Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz (Scott-Calabandida)00:00:01
3Enrique Morcillo Vergara (Scott-Calabandida)00:08:41
4Daan Grosemans (Classified Rose)00:08:42
5Carolos Cobos Marquez (Abarca Sport)00:12:18
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women top 5
Pos.RiderTime
1Lucía González Blanco (Nesta-MMR Cycling)03:36:14
2Annabel Fisher (Bixas Far Out Cycling)00:00:21
3Varvara Fason (Panathinaikos)00:02:15
4Natalia Serrano Garcia (Kapelmuur Cycling)00:28:16
5Tamara Sanchez Cardoso (GR-100)00:50:01
Simone Giuliani
Simone Giuliani
Australia Editor

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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