UCI Gravel World Series Graean Cymru – Noemie Thomson and Jenson Young win in Wales

Noemie Thomson (Das Hutchinson) and Jenson Young (Ribble Outliers) rode to victory at Graean Cymru, both carving out a gap of around a minute to their nearest rivals to claim the top spot on the elite podiums at the UCI Gravel World Series round in Wales.

On Saturday Thomson, 22, took off with 30km of the 111km race to go. The former triathlete, who is only in her first full cycling season, extended her impressive shift into road racing through to the gravel as she crossed the line ahead of Picnic Post NL's Abi Smith in second. Taking third, behind the two British riders, it was gravel professional Morgan Aguirre (PAS Racing) from the United States.

On Sunday the arrival of wet weather left the elite men covered in mud, though the cyclocross savvy Young revelled in the conditions, flying across the finish line solo and adding to the prologue victory he claimed last month at Gravel weekend. Young held Thomas Armstrong (Wheelbase-Cabtech-Castelli) and Ollie Boarer at bay by 56 seconds with Armstrong beating Boarer to second place in a sprint to the line.

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The race started and finished at the Brenig Reservoir in Llyn Brenig, with the action playing out over two laps of a 57.67km course that runs through the Clocaenog Forest, to the west of the town of Ruthin. There was over 2,000m of elevation gain accumulated by the final line.

An early 1.2km climb at an average gradient of 4% was placed early in the circuit, on the north side of the reservoir, which provided a key early opportunity to break up the field, but there were also a number of others. At 14km in there was a 1.3km ascent with an average gradient of 6.2% and in between also a short but sharp 100 metre section with an average gradient of 28%.

The UCI Gravel World Series round at Graean Cymru is one of the later events in the 2025 season, making the qualifier among a dwindling number of opportunities to chase a spot in the UCI Gravel World Championships on October 11 and 12.

The remaining rounds include Mammoth TUFF in the United States and 66 Degrés Sud - Pyrénées Catalanes Gravel Tour in France next weekend, then the following weekend Sea Otter Europe and the UCI Gravel European Championships deliver the final opportunities.