First ever UCI Gravel World Championship

We are, as probably many of you, really looking forward to the first ever UCI Gravel World Championship taking place on 8 and 9 October 2022 in Veneto Region, Italy. 

The inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships will see separate races for women and men where professional athletes will compete with the best amateur cyclists who qualified during the preceding stages of the UCI Gravel World Series, a series of UCI-sanctioned races held all over the world. Quite similar as the UCI Gran Fondo World Series qualifier events for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships (where professional are not allowed).

The Women Elite will start on Saturday 8 Oct. at 12:00 and will race 140 km, the Men Elite will race on Sunday 9 Oct. at 11:00 for a 194 km route. Both races will be broadcasted live on (among others) Discovery+, GCN+, Eurosport, Sporza, ...

There is no doubt that gravel is popular these days with the number of gravel events, eagerly promoted by the bike industry, still growing fast (discover +1.000 gravel events on Battistrada). 

Gravel also seems popular among professional cyclist as three times World Road Champion Peter Sagan, along with Daniel Oss, showed up earlier this year in the Unbound Gravel (with the UCI Gravel World Championship in mind?). 

The upcoming UCI Gravel World Championships fill feature a lot of big cycling names in the Women Elite as well as the Men Elite race. French Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, already World Champion Road Cycling, Cyclo-Cross and MTB, can win her fourth 2022 rainbow jersey and will compete Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini amongst others.

Even more big names on the start list of the Men Elite race with earlier mentioned Peter Sagan and Daniel Oss, Mathieu Vander Poel (looking for revenge for the the Wollongong debacle), former World Champion Cyclo-Cross Zdenek Stybar, former Olympic Road Champion Greg Van Avermaet, former World Champion MTB Marathon Alban Lakata, Alexey Lutsenko (8th Tour de France 2022), Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (4th in Vuelta a España 2022), ... and 51 year old and former La Flèche Wallonne, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Amstel Gold Race winner Davide Rebellin.

If you plan to participate in the next UCI Gravel World Series, simply sign up (it's free) and add the upcoming editions to « my Calendar ». Are some events on your wish list and would you like to participate one day? Add the upcoming editions to « my Bucket List » and Battistrada will inform you whenever a future edition is announced by adding the next edition date on « my Bucket List » and by notifying you by email (according to your preferences)