There's no denying that the gravel world is constantly expanding. While the road calendar has now launched with simultaneous events on three continents, the gravel one is still waiting for its start and for this to happen we will have to wait until spring: April 23rd with The Indomitable in Berja, Spain, will in fact begin the World Series, the main circuit of the specialty, which shows profound changes compared to last year.
The UCI-backed circuit significantly increases its number of events. In 2022, there were 11, this year there will be 17, with the penultimate one, on September 2nd, taking place in Italy. The Monsterrato of Quattordio in Piedmont, which It will effectively close the qualification period for the world championships of the specialty which, as happened last year, will be held in Veneto, for the highly appreciated direction of Pippo Pozzato, before passing the hand to Flanders Classics in 2024.
7 new features are planned
The calendar that the highest international body wanted this year has a center of gravity more shifted towards old Europe. The Philippine race that had inaugurated the circuit has been removed while one of the Australian races, the Gravelist It has been placed after the World Championships and will serve as a qualifying event for 2024.
Of the 17 races, only 5 are outside the Old Continent, namely the two Australian races (the other is the Seven of May 13th), the Swartberg 100 of April 29 in South Africa, the Blue Mountains Gravel Fund of June 11 in Canada and the reconfirmed Highlands Gravel Classic in the USA, in Fayetteville, which has become a temple of cyclocross, scheduled for June 24th.
The problem of concomitances
Going from the end of April to the beginning of October, with 17 races, there is no shortage of coincidences. A choice that may make purists turn up their noses a bit, but it reflects exactly the goals that the UCI has envisaged, that of allowing, through each test, to get a ticket to the Veneto World Championships.The rules are clear on this: to qualify, you need to finish in the top 25 percent of your category. There's no overall ranking like, for example, in the cyclocross World Cup; each event is a separate event, perhaps pending a ranking for gravel as well.
The calendar
| 23th April | The Indomitable | ESP |
| 29th April | Swartberg 100 | RSA |
| 30th April | Gravel Fund Limburg | NED |
| 6st May | Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk | THE |
| 13st May | 3RIDES Gravel Race | GER |
| 13st May | Seven | AUS |
| 20st May | The Gralloch | GBR |
| 4nd June | Hutchinson Ranxo Gravel | ESP |
| 11nd June | Blue Mountains Gravel Fund | CAN |
| 18nd June | Wish One Millau Grands Causses | From |
| 24nd June | Highlands Gravel Classic | USA |
| 15th July | Gravel One Fifty | NED |
| 22th July | Gravel Adventure | POL |
| August 19th | Gravel Grit 'n Grind | SWE |
| August 26th | Houffa Gravel | BEL |
| September 2th | The Monsterrato | ITA |
| 15 October | Gravelist | AUS |
A circuit for specialists?
Analyzing the results of last year's races, some interesting considerations emerge. First, it should be noted that what we saw over the course of the year is profoundly different from the results from the World Championships: only one true specialist (or rather, one who truly divides his time between road and gravel) appeared in the top 10, Dane Andreas Stockbro winner of the Gravel One Fifty in Holland and finished 10th in Veneto. Not even one of the women and this means that the specialty has yet to take on its own connotation, for now it is a land of conquest for those who come mainly from the road (especially with the world championship placed at the end of the season) and from mountain biking.
It's also true, however, that there are specialists who interpret these World Series in a very professional manner. An example is Adam Blazevic, winner of the two Australian races, his home races, but who has collected many top 10 finishes around the world over the course of the year. But when road racers such as Dutchman Niki entered the fray, Terpstra to the Wish One Gravel Race in France or the Iberian of Movistar Carlos Verona to the Ranch in Spain, there was none for anyone.
We start from Andalusia
It is no coincidence that the UCI has decided to start the new season with a flurry of new featuresIt starts on April 23rd with La Indomable, in southern Andalusia. Six days after the South African appointment with the Swartberg100, the route is announced by the organizers to be very technical, with alternating sections of cobblestones with others on typical gravel dirt roads, and the final steep climb 20 kilometers from the finish. However, those who want to avoid the long journey can head towards Valkenburg, with the Gravel Fund Limburg which will even start from the legendary Cauberg and climb the Keutenberg before arriving in the city centre.
On May 6th we go to Denmark, on the west coast with the Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk drawn mainly through small seaside villages with many stretches of beach. A week later we go to Aachen for the 3RIDES Gravel Race which is combined with a large cycling expo. Then during the season other new features are planned such as The Gralloch, the first gravel challenge in Great Britain, in Scotland to be precise, and the Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo in Canada.
Here comes a certain Tom Boonen…
Furthermore, there is another aspect that emerges from these weeks of slow restart of the cycling season (cyclocross aside): the ever-increasing interest that gravel is attracting among current and past championsMany have already added the world championship event in October to their agendas, as the final bell of a very long season, a sort of icing on the cake by changing bikes.
But there are also those who are thinking of going back to cycling, for example a certain Tom Boonen, one of the greatest classics hunters, has announced his intention to try his hand at some of the events on the international calendar. Those where there are no current professionals, barring any surprises...
