2026 UCI Gravel World Championships

Important Gravel World Championships news:

• 'They are going to be hard to beat for sure' – Marianne Vos toes the line against a field packed with discipline specialists at the UCI Gravel World Championships
• 'I'm here to just go all-out and race without any regret' – Florian Vermeersch prepared for Gravel Worlds title defence
• Gravel grid anomalies, national teams in name only and self funding – Explaining the workings of a UCI Gravel World Championships
• 'I don’t think it’s my responsibility to finance that' – Gravel pros forced to buy their own kit and fund travel to Australia for World Championships

The 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships are upon us, with much of the gravel world descending on Nannup, Western Australia for the first Championships outside of Europe.

We have our Australian Editor and resident gravel expert Simone Giuliani on the ground in Nannup to bring you all the essential race coverage, including pre-race interviews, course analysis and race reactions.

Over the weekend, we'll be providing live coverage of the two elite races, as well as comprehensive race reports and news.

In the run-up to the event, we've published a whole host of countdown features, exploring everything from the course itself and the logistics of making these Worlds happen, to analysis of the possible tactics and why riders have had to choose between here and the Life Time Grand Prix.

Want to know who might win? Here's our analysis of the rainbow jersey contenders. Interested in a deeper look at the course? Read all about the 'gravelliest' World Championships yet.

• Clash of the calendars – Systems collide with riders forced to choose between Life Time Grand Prix and UCI Gravel World Championships
• It's naive to think that trade team loyalties will disappear at the Gravel World Championships, I expect some of the season's strangest tactics yet
• 'It's more a personal battle' - Sofia Gomez Villafañe locked in all year for significant climbing and 'wide open gravel' at UCI Gravel World Championships
• Is Nannup delivering the first 'real' UCI Gravel World Championships?

UCI Gravel World Championships 2026 overview

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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

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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.

The women will take on a 125.6km course for the elite women's race on October 10, with the elite men tackling a 144km route on October 11.

They're both highly undulating courses 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 (3,713m) and elite women (3,179m).

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