UCI Gravel World Series 2024: All dates at a glance
- 01 October 2023: Bolero 2023 European Gravel Championships, Oud-Heverlee/ Belgium*
- 28 October 2023: Gravelista, Beechworth/ Australia*
- 07 April 2024: Wörthersee Gravel, Velden/Austria
- 20 April 2024: La Indomable, Berja/ Spain
- 25 April 2024: Giro Sardegna Gravel, Orosei/ Italy
- 27 April 2024: Swartberg 100, Prince Albert, South Africa
- 27 April 2024: Highlands Gravel Classic, Fayetteville/ USA
- 28 April 2024: Gravel Fondo Limburg, Valkenburg/ Netherlands
- 11 May 2024: Seven, Nannup/ Australia
- 12 May 2024: 3RIDES Gravel Race, Aachen/Germany
- 18 May 2024: The Gralloch, Gatehouse of Fleet/ Great Britain
- 01 June 2024: Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk, Blaavands/Denmark
- 15 June 2024: Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo, Thornbury/ Canada
- 16 June 2024: Safari Gravel Race, Naivasha/ Kenya
- 16 June 2024: Wish One Millau Grands Causses, Millau/ France
- 30 June 2024: Hegau Gravel Festival, Singen/Germany
- 06 July 2024: Gravel Suisse, Villars/ Switzerland
- 06 July 2024: Brwydr y Graean, Ruthin/ Great Britain
- 13 July 2024: Gravel One Fifty, Roden/ Netherlands
- 20 July 2024: Gravel Adventure, Swieradow Zdroj/ Poland
- 17 August 2024: Gravel Grit 'n Grind, Halmstad/Sweden
- 24 August 2024: Houffa Gravel, Houffalize/ Belgium
- 31 August 2024: La Monsterrato, Fubine/ Italy
- 21 September 2024: Sea Otter Europe Girona, Girona/ Spain
- 5 to 6 October 2024: 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships, Halle-Leuven, Belgium
*The European Gravel Championships and the Gravelista in Australia were already held in 2023, but count towards qualifying for the 2024 World Championships.
Seven new gravel events
The third edition of the UCI Gravel World Series will take place in 2024. The 25 races in the new year will kick off with the Wörthersee Gravel in Velden, Austria, on 7 April, which is part of the race series for the first time. A total of seven new events will be added:
- 07 April 2024: Wörthersee Gravel, Velden/Austria
- 25 April 2024: Giro Sardegna Gravel, Orosei/ Italy
- 16 June 2024: Safari Gravel Race, Naivasha/ Kenya
- 30 June 2024: Hegau Gravel Festival, Singen/Germany
- 06 July 2024: Gravel Suisse, Villars/ Switzerland
- 06 July 2024: Brwydr y Graean, Ruthin/ Great Britain
- 21 September 2024: Sea Otter Europe Girona, Girona/ Spain
The third race of 2024 will take place on 25 April with the Giro Sardegna Gravel on the Italian island of Sardinia. In the middle of June, the Safari Gravel Race a race in Kenya for the first time. In addition to the Aachen 3RIDES Gravel Race on 12 May, Germany now also has a race in the south: the Hegau Gravel Festivalwhich takes place on 30 June, will be held in Singen near the Swiss border. On 6 July, the two races Gravel Suisse and Brwydr y Graean in Switzerland and Wales. The last race before the Gravel World Championships will be the Sea Otter Europe Girona in the north of Spain.
Gravel World Championship 2024 to be held in Belgium
The 2024 Gravel World Championships will be held on the weekend of 5 and 6 October. The race starts in the Belgian town of Halle, which is located south of the capital Brussels, and finishes in the university city of Leuven. The course takes the riders through the forests of Brabant, which were recently declared a national park. The route consists of a mix of forest and agricultural roads, cobblestones and tarmac. All types of non-motorised bikes are permitted, i.e. racing bikes, cyclocross bikes, gravel bikes and mountain bikes. The world champion of each race receives the UCI rainbow jersey.
In 2023, the Slovenian was crowned Matej Mohoric in the Veneto region of Italy, who also impressed on the road. He has already won three Tour de France stages as well as the 2022 Milan-San Remo decided in her favour. Katarzyna Niewiadoma from Poland won the elite women's gravel world championship.
UCI Gravel World Series: The regulations
In each of the 25 races, the fastest 25 per cent of the respective age group secure a starting right for the 2024 Gravel World Championships in Belgium. This means that the World Series races are priority events to qualify for the highlight of the season.
Race for elite & amateurs
There are not only elite races for men and women, amateurs of different age groups can also take part in the events. There are separate races for both genders for 19 to 34-year-olds, while older participants are divided into 5-year categories: 35 to 39-year-olds, 40 to 44-year-olds, etc. start separately.
The course
The length of the races must be between 50 and 175 kilometres, with between 80 and 130 kilometres recommended. There are different types of courses. There can be several laps of a circuit, one large lap with the same start and finish point or a route with different start and finish points. The races take place on existing tracks. The off-road proportion of the courses must be at least 60 per cent - cobblestones count as an off-road element.
The starting order
In the elite races, a maximum of 25 riders start from priority starting boxes. The starting order is determined by the respective organiser. Either the two elite races start first and then the amateurs, or the men's races are completed first before the women's races follow.
At the UCI Gravel World Championships, the starting order of the riders in the elite categories is decided according to a points system consisting of three categories. The points of the following categories are added together:
- Points won during the UCI Gravel World Series events in the overall men's/women's standings per race
- Points won in the elite category at last year's UCI Gravel World Championships
- 50 per cent of the points in the UCI rankings for road, mountain bike cross country, mountain bike marathon and cyclocross
