“The road ends here”, the organisers of the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships proudly declare. Taking place this weekend (10-11 October) in Nannup, a small town in Western Australia some 300 kilometres south of Perth, the adventure is really only just beginning, for “the world's most undiscovered gravel awaits”.
Riders from all walks of life are set to contest this fifth edition of the event, the first to be held outside Europe. In Australia, competitors will race through a region that has been home to the Seven Gravel Race since 2018, a regular fixture on the UCI Gravel World Series calendar.
Several rainbow jerseys are up for grabs in Nannup, where the Elite successors to the Netherlands' Lorena Wiebes and Belgium's Florian Vermeersch, both crowned last year in southern Limburg, the Netherlands, will be determined. The Women Elite race will take place on Saturday, the day before the Men Elite. Amateur riders, competing across age categories ranging from 19 to over 75, will also be riding across both days.
Gravel and gradients
Riders will discover the Blackwood Valley on rolling, picturesque forest courses along gravel roads, where the demanding terrain sets the scene for racing that is both hard-fought and welcoming in spirit.
As with most gravel events, courses vary by category. The Men Elite and Men aged 19 to 49 will tackle a 144 km course that features 3,713 metres of elevation gain on a route that is 85% gravel. The Women Elite, as well as the Men aged 50 to 64 and Women aged 19 to 49 will cover 125.6 km with 3,179 metres of elevation gain on a route that is 84% gravel. The short course, reserved for Men aged 65 and over and Women aged 50 and over, features 2,047 metres of elevation gain over 90 km on a course that is 76% gravel.
All courses start and finish in Nannup. The roads alternate between dirt, red gravel, compacted clay, quartz, mica and fine gravel. Threading through pine plantations, forests and farmland, a series of short climbs should string out the peloton before an intense finale where the new UCI Gravel World Champions will be crowned.
Wiebes, Van Aert, Cromwell… versatile stars on the hunt
The highlight of the gravel season, the event will bring together 310 qualified riders for the Women Elite race and 510 qualified riders for the Men Elite, with several hundred more amateur athletes competing across the various age categories. To qualify, the primary route was to finish in the top quarter of one's age category at a UCI Gravel World Series event.
The road to Nannup began in October 2025 with the Flanders Legacy Gravel in Belgium. The final qualifying spots were awarded in late September at the Pyrénées Catalanes Gravel Tour in Font-Romeu, France. Starting positions are then determined based on performances across the season.
In the Women Elite race, Dutch rider Wendy Oosterwoud won the Flanders Legacy Gravel before going on to claim victory at the Gravel Adventure in Poland. She will face strong competition from compatriots Marianne Vos, UCI World Champion in the discipline in 2024, and Lorena Wiebes, who took the title in 2025. On home soil, the Australians will be looking to challenge Dutch dominance: Nicole Frain has won four UCI Gravel World Series events this season, while Tiffany Cromwell has claimed the Nannup Seven Gravel Race for the third time (2023, 2025 and 2026).
In the Men Elite race, Florian Vermeersch will be sure to try and defend his title. He qualified by finishing fourth at the Marly Grav Race, won by compatriot Wout van Aert, the triple UCI Cyclo-cross World Champion (2016 to 2018), who finished eighth last year on his debut at the UCI Gravel World Championships. Fellow Belgian Lukas Malezsewski will also be on the start line, as will Czech rider Petr Vakoč.
This weekend, the UCI Gravel World Championships will settle the final standings of the 2026 season.