Welcome to 2025, and be a part of us as we discover what is perhaps new and thrilling on this planet of gravel biking this yr.
However right here’s the twist: we’re not enjoying it secure. We’re not being coy or holding again—no, this yr, we’re being daring, loud, and we’ll most likely be unsuitable a couple of factor or two.
However that’s the enjoyable of it. Predictions ought to be about daring guesses, not secure bets. So, with out additional delay, listed below are six more and more daring predictions for gravel biking in 2025.
Keegan Swenson will take his fourth crown on the Life Time Grand Prix
(Picture credit score: USA Biking)
Alright, we’ll admit it—this primary one’s a fairly secure wager however maintain off on the eye-rolls. This “secure” decide is the proper stepping stone for getting bolder as we dive deeper into the checklist.
That mentioned, Keegan Swenson profitable the Life Time Grand Prix in 2025 will not be as sure as you would possibly suppose —and that’s extra to do with the sequence than Swenson himself.
New in 2025, the sequence will sport just a few adjustments that may rely in opposition to Swenson. Firstly, there will likely be much less racing at altitude. With Rad Dust Fest and Crusher within the Tushar nixed from the sequence line-up, Swenson has two fewer alternatives to showcase his dominance within the mountains. Leadville stays as the one high-altitude race.
Secondly, there’s extra worldwide expertise. The sequence has added a number of former WorldTour execs to the lineup in an effort to make the sequence extra worldly, which undoubtedly raises the potential energy within the males’s area.
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Nonetheless, the brand new faces aren’t identified mountain bikers, and three of the sequence occasions will likely be fought on the gnarly stuff the place Swenson’s background serves him properly.
Whereas there are different implausible mountain bike athletes within the line-up, few appear to have the measure of each disciplines to the extent Swenson continues to carry. What’s extra, if we are able to be taught something from Swenson over time, it’s that when a problem arises, few are higher at tackling it with the identical degree of consideration and innovation as the person from Utah.
The perfect gravel race tyres are mountain bike tyres
(Picture credit score: Snowy Mountain Pictures)
There will likely be extra on this subject on this website quickly, however it’s an open secret that the definition of what a gravel tyre is has already modified. The 38-42mm tyres which have reigned supreme in years previous are actually gone from the entrance of races. Inside a yr, tyres have ballooned to 50mm and past. Given the success and the vocal evangelising of some prime names, that pattern is right here to remain, a minimum of for the season forward.
Whereas some drop bar bikes can now accommodate a 2.25-inch tyre, these are nonetheless the exception. Nonetheless, 2.25-inch tyre choices have gotten extra extensively accessible, and this yr, it appears the reply to the “finest gravel tyre” query is solely: the largest one you possibly can run.
Unbiased races will acquire reputation
(Picture credit score: 241Photography)
Gravel racing has constructed itself on title manufacturers. Organisations like Life Time, BWR and SBT GRVL have constructed dependable manufacturers with repeatable codecs, and now placed on a number of occasions all year long and across the globe. These occasions have been essential to the progress of the game and its recognition overseas.
Does that imply that the large sequence will diminish? That’s much less clear. Life Time has, undoubtedly, a number of gravel occasions backed with the recognition to maintain them round for some time. But the destiny of much less common occasions like Crusher within the Tushar and the Rad Dust Fest are much less clear, particularly now that they have been booted off the Life Time Grand Prix calendar.
SBT GRVL persists, however yearly, the race faces stronger headwinds in its native Routt County. And its Finnish and Australian offshoots have but to cement themselves on the worldwide calendar the way in which the unique occasion has.
But, past the large names, there are many implausible races which are run by native organisations and are beginning to earn a loyal following. Races just like the Oregon Path Gravel Grinder, Gravel Worlds, FoCo Fondo, and Mid South proceed to construct momentum and add new points to their allure.
As of us verify off the large challenges and proceed to spend money on the game, these unbiased races will proceed to see their reputation tick up.
Unorthodox gear will proceed to push the restrict of fashion and performance within the pursuit of good points
Keegan Swenson used drop bars on his mountain bike on the 2024 Leadville 100 race
(Picture credit score: Life Time)
One of many enduring debates of gravel biking within the years previous has been aerobars. Fortunately, for the security of many and the sanctity of drop bar bikes, that debate has principally been settled. They’ve made their approach out of most mass-start gravel races. But tech debates and what belongs or what doesn’t in gravel races won’t go away.
Drop bars on mountain bikes, suspension on gravel bikes, helmets, fairings, water containers, tall socks, and deep dish wheels are all a part of the fray as folks type by methods to get quicker within the greatest gravel races.
Nothing is more likely to be as controversial as aero bar extensions, however ludicrous aesthetics do get the folks fired up (taking a look at you, Giro time trial helmet).
We can not wait to see what model guidelines will likely be damaged within the pursuit of pace in 2025. And we’re sure we’ll have tons to speak about. Gravel is, in any case, biking’s Wild West.
Stay protection will take a leap in gravel race protection
(Picture credit score: Getty Photos)
When Gravel Worlds —the annual race in Nebraska, not the UCI occasion— introduced it might have wall-to-wall reside protection of its race, many of us had been sceptical. Who’s going to need to watch a 150-mile gravel race by the farm fields of Nebraska? On paper, that proposition sounded, properly, boring. However in actuality, it’s fascinating and refreshing.
Whereas I didn’t watch the race in its entirety in 2024, it was sensible to drop into the stream all through the day to comply with the motion. I noticed how the race performed out in each huge and small moments. I used to be delighted to see how completely different riders caught my eye and to expertise the trivialities of the endurance take a look at of gravel racing — one thing you aren’t getting within the snippets of race recaps and Instagram tales.
Now, Nebraska is blessed with just a few necessary issues. At the beginning, the state presents wonderful cell and web protection, which makes reside streaming potential—one thing different locations can’t at all times replicate. Nonetheless, Gravel Worlds proved that reside protection of gravel racing can deliver followers into the motion in a significant approach, and that’s one thing with plain potential.
Unbound’s race ways will reshape gravel racing – for higher or for worse
The ladies’s race at Unbound Gravel in 2024 got here all the way down to an exciting seven-person dash.
(Picture credit score: Snowy Mountain Pictures)
Eventually yr’s Unbound occasion, seven ladies got here to the road collectively. Every rider had her personal sponsors and her personal goals and had set out 200 miles earlier looking for her personal glory. Or a minimum of, that’s how it might have been if the race had adopted the script of gravel racing up till that day.
But, within the ending straight, one thing else occurred. American Sarah Sturm seemed to be conducting a leadout for Dutchwoman Geerike Schreurs, a rider who’s a part of the Specialised household however on a special group.
In highway racing, leadouts are commonplace however in gravel racing, and Unbound particularly, the racing has traditionally by no means performed out that approach. Group dynamics aren’t actually a factor – yet- however odds are they are going to be in some crucial circumstances. With discuss of sponsors providing race bonuses and prize purses rising in gravel races, we’re more likely to see extra quasi-team ways and dynamics.
We are saying “quasi” as a result of gravel racing isn’t fitted to group ways as we all know it. For one, there aren’t the sources (but) to help domestiques. Within the privateering panorama of gravel, it is nonetheless very a lot each rider for themselves. Second, the technicality of the programs and the sheer attrition of the races do not permit for a similar numerical benefits as highway racing does.
Unbound, nevertheless, seems to be the exception. The status, sponsor incentives, and publicity are large enough that riders are keen to kind allegiances, even when it means lacking out on the win themselves. What’s extra, the depth of expertise at this race has gotten to the purpose the place group racing has turn into the norm and having an ally (even should you’re not sporting the identical package) on the finish of the race is a extra dependable chance.
Unbound continues to be the testing floor for improvements – in tech and ways alike. If one thing is profitable right here, it units the precedent for races to return. So maintain your eyes peeled at Unbound as we’re more likely to see new developments in race ways this yr. After which, watch as these evolutions start to creep in elsewhere within the calendar. If that’s the case, huge adjustments –and large existential, ‘spirit of gravel’-kind debates – will doubtless comply with.