Nannup and the dirt roads of Western Australia hosted the battles for the titles of 2026 UCI Gravel World Champions on 10 and 11 October. In the first edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships to be held outside of Europe, the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos won the women’s race before Denmark’s Magnus Bak Klaris dominated Sunday’s men’s event.
Already crowned UCI World Champion in 2024 and second to her compatriot Lorena Wiebes in 2025, Vos became the first rider to claim multiple Elite titles at the UCI Gravel Worlds as she got the better of Germany’s Rosa Klöser and another Dutch rider, Larissa Hartog.
In the men’s event, Belgium’s Florian Vermeersch was also in the mix to repeat his 2025 victory but he eventually finished second (like he did in 2023 and 2024) with Great Britain’s Connor Swift rounding out the men’s top three.
Hundreds of amateurs also stormed Western Australia with rainbow jerseys at stake in age groups ranging from 19-34 to 80-84 years old for men, and up to 70-74 for women.
Vos is the GOAT
Already a rainbow icon with her many triumphs in cyclo-cross (eight UCI world titles), on the road (three), on the track (two) and a previous gravel victory in Leuven (Belgium), Marianne Vos added a 15th UCI World Champion title to her stellar record with a solo victory in Nannup. Among the 50 starters, Rosa Klöser was the last rival to resist until the Dutch legend launched a decisive attack with 4km to go.
Earlier on the 125.6km course (3,175m of elevation gain, 84% gravel), Australia’s Tiffany Cromwell delighted home fans as she made the most of local knowledge of the terrain to ride aggressively and take the lead. The three-time winner of Nannup’s Seven Gravel race was finally caught when the leaders entered the final 23km local circuit around the Western Australian town.
It was then Klöser’s turn to shake up the field, having fought back to the front after an early puncture, demonstrating her impressive climbing skills on uphill gravel sections, but the German couldn’t distance Vos. Vos counter-attacked after the duo crested the final climb of the race. Klöser was quick to react, but she lost control in a corner and eventually finished 27 seconds behind Vos. In their wake, it was also a Dutch-German duo battling for the bronze medal, with Larissa Hartog getting the better of Nele Laing, 2’15’’ behind the winner.
“This victory really means a lot to me,” Vos said. “It was a fantastic course here in Australia. I’m really happy to have been able to secure the rainbow jersey here.
“There was more mud than I expected,” she continued. “As a result, there were also some slippery sections on the course, so we had to be careful at times. Rosa was incredibly strong, especially on the climbs, where I really had to dig deep to stay with her.”
Bak Klaris’s “unreal” crowning
Versatile riders were also in the mix in the Men Elite race, but they had to surrender to gravel expert Magnus Bak Klaris. The two-time Danish National Champion (2023, 2025) in the discipline arrived in Nannup in spectacular shape having won Sweden’s Gravel Grit ’n Grind at the end of September, the final qualifying event of the 2026 GravelKing UCI Gravel World Series season. A couple of weeks later, the rainbow jersey further shone a spotlight on his immense talent and dedication.
Bak Klaris and 79 other riders started the 144km course. A three-man breakaway was rapidly established with Jenson Young (GBR), Lukas Pöstlberger (AUT) and Peter Schulting (NED) leading the way. Behind them, the bunch exploded due to the technical and physical challenges brought by the succession of dirt roads (making for 85% of the course) and uphill sections (3,713m of elevation gain in total).
The battle for the podium was in full swing when a handful of riders got back to the early attackers ahead of the final 20km. Connor Swift, along with Bak Klaris and his Danish compatriot Mads Würtz Schmidt, were intent on dropping defending UCI World Champion Vermeersch, but the Belgian hung on until the final four-man sprint and finished second, between Bak Klaris and Swift.
“I usually don’t have a really good sprint, so I just tried to find a wheel, and I think I was pretty lucky with how Connor Swift raced the final kilometre,” the Danish winner said. “I can’t believe it right now. It feels unreal.
“My wife is here, and some good friends, so we will celebrate and I will take some off-season here in Australia,” Bak Klaris added as his victory began to sink in.
Age-group UCI World Champions
Twenty more rainbow jerseys were awarded in the age-group races, with the host nation claiming seven of them. On Saturday, women aged 19-49 and men aged 50-64 raced the same 125.6km course as the Women Elite, while women aged 50 and over and men aged 65 and over tackled a shorter 90km route. On Sunday, men aged 19-49 took on the 144km Men Elite course.
Men
19-34: Laurens Boons (BEL)
35-39: Thomas Sprengers (BEL)
40-44: Johnny Hoogerland (NED)
45-49: Akihiro Takaoka (JPN)
50-54: Glen Chadwick (NZL)
55-59: Manuel Beltrán Martínez (ESP)
60-64: Tim Jamieson (AUS)
65-69: Paul Miller (AUS)
70-74: Roger Cull (AUS)
75-79: Albert Raven (NED)
80-84: Myles Higgins (AUS)
Women
19-34: Roxanne Takken (NED)
35-39: Sinead Tracey (CAN)
40-44: Kim Knaeps (BEL)
45-49: Michelle George (RSA)
50-54: Toni Deutzmann (AUS)
55-59: Sabine Bildstein (USA)
60-64: Deborah Latouf (AUS)
65-69: Sharon Heap (AUS)
70-74: Karin Budding (USA)