2026 UCI Gravel World Championships

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UCI Gravel World Championships 2026 overview

The fifth edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships will be held in Australia, in the remote location of Nannup in the south of Western Australia on October 10 and 11, 2026.

Riders earn qualification to compete for rainbow jerseys by finishing in the top 25% of respective categories from among a global calendar of stand-alone events in the UCI Gravel World Series races. Elite racers can also gain spots if nominated by their national federations.

As well as the rainbow jerseys that are on offer in the elite divisions there will be competition across age categories. All the women's categories, including elites, will compete on Saturday, as well as the men's 50+ categories.

The elite men and 19-49 men's age groups will then take to the course on Sunday, at the event which will take the race out of Europe for the first time and, by a long way, provide the most gravel heavy course yet seen in a World Championships. The course is set to take riders through pine plantations, state forests and farmland on a challenging hilly course with barely a patch of paved road to be seen.

The UCI introduced the Gravel World Series and World Championships in 2022, with the first two editions in Italy, the third in Belgium and the fourth in the Netherlands. An unofficial Gravel Worlds race was born in Nebraska as part of an informal approach in 2010 and is a distinct event.

While popular US gravel races, like Gravel Worlds and Unbound Gravel, are typically 200km or longer for both men and women, races in Europe and Australia typically offer shorter courses, which have so far enticed road professionals to add gravel events to their WorldTour seasons and in turn compete at the UCI Gravel Worlds.

Through the first four editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships, current and former WorldTour pros have secured the titles, with Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) and Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) winning last year.

Other women's winners include Marianne Vos (Netherlands) in 2024, Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) in 2023 and multi-discipline women's talent Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (France) in 2022. On the men's side, Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) won in 2024, Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) won in 2023 and Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) took the first title in 2022.

Organisers have announced a climbing and gravel heavy course, which will loop out from Nannup. For full details see the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships route page

UCI Gravel World Championships 2026 Route

Organisers have announced a climbing and gravel heavy course, which will loop out from Nannup and is extremely similar to the route which hosted the SEVEN UCI Gravel World Series race in May.

It is an undulating course with a minimum of 80% gravel and relatively short but sharp climbs which will deliver more than 3,000m of vertical gain for both the elite men and elite women.

For full details see the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships route page