UCI Gravel World Series: Winning return for Brendan Johnston at Gravelista while Talia Appleton breaks through

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Tasman Nankervis and Courtney Sherwell runners up in Seymour, Australia at second World Championship qualifiers for 2025

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Talia Appleton (Team Bridgelane) claiming the win at Gravelista, part of the UCI Gravel World Series
Talia Appleton (Bridgelane) takes a breakthrough win(Image credit: Lee Omond and GRAVELISTA)

Brendan Johnston has quickly made his mark in Australia on return from the United States, where he came fourth overall in the Life Time Grand Prix, winning the elite men's category at the Gravelista round of the UCI Gravel World Series held in Seymour on Sunday.

It was, on the other hand, a breakthrough gravel win for Talia Appleton with the 19-year-old Team Bridgelane rider having delivered a healthy dose of top 10 results on the road in her first year out of the junior ranks at national level races but after her gravel top step it looks like there will be more races on the agenda in that discipline as well.

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Appleton got away in a handy move in the race which ended up being mixed in with the masters men on the road, leaving her rivals behind while Australian gravel champion and also 2023 winner Courtney Sherwell ended a long season when she came over the line more than ten minutes later to take second. Cassia Boglio was third.

Johnston took his second UCI Gravel World Series victory after going clear early with RADL GRVL winner Tasman Nankervis (Merida/BMC Shimano) and Luke Burns (Bridgelane) who won the mountains classification at the Tour Down Under at the start of this year. Johnston got the gap on Nankervis, who came second with Burns taking third.

The 135km Gravelista in the regional Victorian location of Seymour is the second qualifying round for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships in France, with the European Gravel Championships at the start of October being the first.

There is also another round of the series in Australia on May 17, SEVEN in Nannup. The Western Australian race will also host the UCI Gravel World Championships in 2026. 

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Elite men top 10
Pos.RiderTime
1Brendan Johnston03:37:49
2Tasman Nankervis+00:00:44
3Luke Burns+00:04:48
4Tom Chester+00:05:14
5Joel Green+00:05:15
6Mark O'Brien+00:05:19
7Brent Rees+00:06:47
8Brendon Davids+00:10:27
9Declan Irvine+00:10:28
10Keelan Hale+00:12:38
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women top 10
Pos.RiderTime
1Talia Appleton04:05:50
2Courtney Sherwell+00:10:44
3Cassia Boglio+00:12:54
4Emma Viotto+00:14:10
5Gina Ricardo+00:17:29
6Tara Neyland+00:19:15
7Brianna Samuhel+00:26:23
8Angie Gates+00:26:46
9Sophie Byrne+00:34:53
10Gemma Mollenhauer+00:58:13
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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