UCI Gravel World Series – Brendan Johnston and Talia Appleton claim the Devils Cardigan

It was another Australian UCI Gravel World Series round victory for Brendan Johnston (Giant) and Talia Appleton (Praties) with the Gravelista winners striking again at Devils Cardigan Tasmania to claim the sack of potatoes and handmade wooly cardigan winners trophy to keep them warm at the celebrations at the pub in Derby on Saturday evening.

Johnston finished the 106km men's race in three hours and 24 minutes to snag the winner's trophy – a sack of potatoes and handmade wooly cardigan winners to keep the celebrating riders warm at the pub in Derby on Saturday evening. The defending champion crossed the line a little more than three minutes ahead of 2022 winner Tasman Nankervis with Scott Bowden (Giant x Shimano) just a further minute back in third while new Australian gravel champion Mark O'Brien was just behind in fourth.

Appleton won the women's race in four hours and three minutes, holding off the charge of the nation's new gravel champion Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto). Cromwell finished around four minutes back, having been out front with Appleton but then had a puncture around half way through.

"Big congrats to Talia Appleton on the win. Strong ride and was pushing me a lot when we were together," said Cromwell in a post on social media. "In the end she was too strong for me to be able to catch back after my flat and took a well deserved win."

The 2022 Australian gravel champion Holly Harris, was third in the women's race, crossing the line 25 minutes after Appleton.

The race, which hosted the Australian Gravel Championships the past two years and in 2025 joined the UCI Gravel World Series, played out in sunny conditions although it was still a cool and misty start for the event in the southernmost state of Australia.

The course in the north east of the wilderness heavy state has just 13% paved roads and 2300m of elevation gain with three key climbs, Mutual Valley, 8.3km with an average of 4.2%, then Ralph Falls, 10.7km at 5% and with a maximum gradient of 16%, and the "un-named climb of hell". That climb is 3.5km at 8.1% but has a descent early in the climb so actually runs at 9% through most of the climb and has a maximum gradient of 15%. There is also another small but, with around 100km of racing in the legs, challenging kicker within the final 10km.

The Devils Cardigan is now one of three UCI Gravel World Series races in Australia. Gravelista, which played out in October but is still among the qualifying rounds for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships, was also won by Johnston and Appleton. Next weekend the racing moved onto SEVEN in Nannup Western Australia, which was the first of the Australian events to join the world series and in 2026 will host the UCI Gravel World Championships.