Seven new races have been added to the Trek UCI Gravel World Collection for 2023, bringing the variety of qualifier occasions to 17 worldwide for the UCI Gravel World Championships. Sixteen of the occasions shall be held between April and September, whereas an October occasion in Australia will rely for World Championships qualification the following calendar yr because it takes place following the 2023 competitors for rainbow stripes.
It’s the second yr for each the Gravel World Collection and the Gravel World Championships, which return to the Veneto area of Italy, October 7-8, 2023. Organisers have promised the second version of the World Championships will supply “more difficult programs”, because the inaugural route was a city-based circuit with out an abundance of climbing.
Belgium will host its first UCI Gravel World Championships in 2024, with organisers saying the occasion shall be held in Flanders, the beginning in Halle and work its means by means of to a Leuven finale.
Final October, Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) soloed to victory to say the primary elite males’s title whereas Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France) captured a dash victory for the elite ladies’s title.
Nearly all of first-time World Collection contests will happen within the spring, led by La Indomable, a 105km race in southern Andalucia area of Spain, on April 23.
The next weekend are a pair of occasions, April 29 in South Africa adopted by an occasion within the Netherlands on April 30. The Swartberg100 in Prince Albert, South Africa, affords a mixture of lengthy gravel and paved sections of street with a climb of the Swarthberg move. The subsequent day Gravel Fondo Limburg affords a 125km course with circuits throughout the Keutenberg for a end within the Cauberg.
Two of the 4 races in Might are new to the lineup, starting with Gravel Problem Blaavands Huk in Denmark on Might 6, with a flat 150km course and sections on the seashore of the Danish west coast. On Might 13 is 3RIDES Gravel Race in Aachen, Germany. This new qualifier affords a number of circuits that embody the Chio equestrian advanced close to the town centre.
A second qualifier is obtainable on the identical day as 3RIDES Gravel, a return for Seven in Nannup, Australia. On Might 20 the Gralloch in southern Scotland is the primary race of the sequence in Nice Britain. Held in Dumfries and Galloway, it includes 90% gravel over 110km with 2,000 metres of elevation achieve.
Ranxo returns for racing in Spain on June 4, in addition to Want One Gravel Race in Millau, France on June 18. The 2 different occasions that month highlight North American gravel, led by blue Mountains Gravel Fondo on June 11. This 125km course from Thornbury, Ontario is a first-time Canadian occasion on the Gravel World Collection calendar. Two weeks afterward June 24, Highlands Gravel Traditional in Fayetteville, Arkansas returns for a second yr.
The steadiness of the schedule for 2023 qualifiers are returning occasions: Gravel One Fifty within the Netherlands on July 15, Gravel Journey in Poland on July 22, Gravel Grit n Grind in Sweden on August 19, Houffa Gravel in Belgium on August 26, La Monsterrato in Italy on September 2.
The highest 25% of every age group qualifies for the UCI Gravel World Championships, which is identical course of because the inaugural season.
UCI Gravel World Collection 2023 schedule
- April 23 – La indomable in Berja, Spain
- April 29 – Swartberg100 in Prince Albert, South Africa
- April 30 – Gravel Fondo Limburg in Valkenburg, Netherlands
- Might 6 – Gravel Problem Blaavands Huk in Blavands, Denmark
- Might 13 – 3RIDES Gravel Race in Aachen, Germany
- Might 13 – Seven in Nannup, Western Australia, Australia
- Might 20 – The Gralloch in Dumfries and Galloway, Nice Britain
- June 4 – Ranxo in Ponts, Spain
- Jun 11 – Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo in Thornbury, Ontario, Canada
- June 18 – Want One Gravel Race in Millau, France
- June 24 – Highlands Gravel Traditional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
- July 15 – Gravel One Fifty in Veenhuizen, Netherlands
- July 22 – Gravel Journey in Świeradów-Zdrój, Poland
- August 19 – Gravel Grit n Grind in Halmstad, Sweden
- August 26 – Houffa Gravel in Houffalize, Belgium
- September 2 – La Monsterrato in Quattordio, Italy
- October 28 – Gravelista in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia (serves as qualifier for 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships)
