Seven new races have been added to the Trek UCI Gravel World Series for 2023, bringing the number of qualifying events to 17 worldwide. UCI Gravel World Championships. Sixteen events will take place between April and September, while the October event in Australia will be counted towards qualifying for the World Championships in the following calendar year as it will take place after the 2023 Rainbow Stripes competition.
It’s the second year for both the Gravel World Series and the Gravel World Championships, which return to the Veneto region of Italy, from October 7-8, 2023. The organizers have promised that the second edition of the World Championships will offer “more challenging courses,” as it was The opening route is a city-based circuit without an abundance of climbing.
Belgium will host its first UCI Gravel World Championships in 2024, with organizers announcing that the event will be held in Flanders, starting in Halle and working its way up to the final in Leuven.
late october, Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) soloed to win their first Elite Men’s title Pauline Ferrand Prévot (France) achieved a quick victory for the Elite Women’s title.
The majority of world championship competition will be held for the first time in the spring, led by La Indomable, a 105km race in Spain’s southern region of Andalusia, on April 23.
The next weekend is two events, April 29th in South Africa followed by an event in the Netherlands on April 30th. The Swartberg100 in Prince Albert, South Africa, offers a mixture of long cobbled and paved sections with the climb of the Swartberg Pass. The next day, Gravel Fondo Limburg offers a 125km track with circuits through Keutenberg to finish in the Cauberg.
Two of the four races in May are new races in the lineup, starting with the Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk in Denmark on May 6, with a 150km flat course and beach sections on the Danish west coast. On May 13, the 3RIDES Gravel Race will take place in Aachen, Germany. This new qualifier offers multiple circuits including the Chio Equestrian Complex near the city centre.
A second qualifier is offered on the same day with 3RIDES Gravel, a return for Seven in Nannup, Australia. On May 20, Gralloch in the south of Scotland was the first race of the series in Great Britain. Consisting of 90% gravel, it is held in Dumfries and Galloway, over a distance of 110km with an elevation gain of 2000m.
Ranxo returns to race in Spain on June 4th, as well as the Wish One Gravel Race in Millau, France on June 18th. The other two events that month highlight North American gravel, led by the Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo on June 11th. Thornbury, Ontario is a Canadian event debuting on the Gravel World Series calendar. Two weeks later on June 24, the Highlands Gravel Classic returned in Fayetteville, Arkansas for the second year.
The tally of the 2023 Qualifying Events schedule returns: Gravel One Fifty in the Netherlands on July 15, Gravel Adventure 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 top 25% of each age group qualifies for the UCI Gravel World Championships, which is the same process as in the inaugural season.
UCI Gravel World Series 2023 schedule
- April 23 – Indomitable in Parga, Spain
- April 29 – Swartberg100 in Prince Albert, South Africa
- April 30 – Gravel Fondo Limburg in Valkenburg, Netherlands
- May 6 – Blaavands Huk gravel challenge in Blavands, Denmark
- MAY 13 – 3RIDES Gravel Race in Aachen, Germany
- May 13 – Seven in Nanup, Western Australia, Australia
- May 20 – The Gralloch in Dumfries and Galloway, Great Britain
- June 4 – A farm in Ponce, Spain
- June 11th – Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo in Thornbury, Ontario, Canada
- June 18th – Wish One Gravel Race in Millau, France
- June 24 – Highlands Gravel Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
- July 15th – Gravel One Fifty in Venhuizen, Netherlands
- July 22 – Gravel adventure in Świeradów-Zdrój, Poland
- August 19 – Gravel Grit n Grind in Halmstad, Sweden
- Aug. 26 – Houffa Pebbles in Houffalize, Belgium
- September 2 – Monsterato in Quattordio, Italy
- Oct. 28 – Gravelista in Beechworth, Victoria, Australia (serves as a qualifier for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championship)