The talents and backgrounds {of professional} gravel racers are simply as various because the occasions themselves. This dynamic self-discipline now boasts a variety of races, from the quick, mixed-terrain Belgian Waffle Experience California to gruelling 200-mile epics like Unbound Gravel in Kansas. These occasions appeal to athletes from each nook of biking: mountain bikers, roadies, gravel specialists, and hybrids of all types.
Street biking has well-established classes of riders. Sepp Kuss is a climber. Felippo Ganna is a time trialist. Jasper Philipsen is a sprinter. Gravel racing isn’t as neatly outlined, however comparable archetypes exist, albeit with extra crossover.
Take Keegan Swenson for instance. Typically lauded as the most effective off-road rider within the nation, Swenson began his racing profession as an XCO mountain biker earlier than discovering a expertise for the longer-distance disciplines of marathon racing and gravel. He has the technical prowess you’d anticipate from his mountain biking roots, mixed with an engine that seems nearly unbeatable. He can climb, excelling in programs like Crusher within the Tushar and the Leadville 100, which each function lengthy, steep climbs at excessive altitudes. He has additionally gained the 200-mile Unbound, which he did in a bunch dash. For these causes, we would label him an all-rounder. Meet the archetypes of the gravel peloton.
The all-rounders
(Picture credit score: Life Time Grand Prix)
Like Swenson, the all-rounders are deadly on almost any course profile. It’s this range of ability and talent that makes them well-suited to gravel, be it fast-paced off-road races with pack dynamics to tough singletrack terrain the place most would like a mountain bike.
Lachlan Morton will also be thought-about an all-rounder. When he was a roadie, the Aussie-turned-American was thought-about extra of a climber, however the EF rider can do greater than go up hills together with his featherlight body. His largest victory so far got here at this yr’s Unbound, the place he outmatched Chad Haga in a tactical finale.
I’d additionally place a rider like Sarah Sturm on this class. Sturm’s background ranges from mountain biking to cyclocross, and the American has discovered success in races just like the Gravel Earth Collection’ Migration Stage race in Kenya and the Life Time Grand Prix circuit. With two general victories within the Life Time Grand Prix, Sofia Gomez Villafaňe has additionally confirmed herself to be a formidable all-rounder and a podium risk irrespective of the course.
The climbers
(Picture credit score: Life Time Grand Prix)
Some riders use their power-to-weight ratio to their benefit. This doesn’t imply they will’t win in different situations, however they actually shine when the filth street factors skyward. Pete Stetina made probably the most of his reported 63kg body to internet a second-place end on the vertiginous Crusher within the Tushar, and his WorldTour background offers him the facility and group racing expertise to be deadly.
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Cole Paton and Howard Grotts are additionally examples of light-weight males who can climb like mountain goats. Each are mountain bikers at coronary heart, giving them excellent technical expertise along with their climbing expertise.
Within the ladies’s peloton, Haley Smith‘s one other instance of a mountain biker who can climb. She showcased her distinctive climbing potential in successful the 2023 version of Crushar within the Tushar on her option to clinching the general title of the Life Time Grand Prix that yr. Leadville winner Melisa Rollins earns a spot within the climbers membership as nicely after her race-winning transfer on the Columbine climb. Former soccer participant Iz King burst onto the biking scene after claiming Strava QOMS throughout Southern California and is one to be careful for on the climbs as nicely.
The Gravel Specialists
(Picture credit score: Life Time Grand Prix)
From Lauren Stephens to Lauren De Crescenzo and Paige Onweller, some racers are most at house on rolling gravel roads. Stephens raced a combined calendar of street and gravel this yr, which led to a improbable summer time within the filth successful the U.S. Nationwide Gravel Championships, the unofficial Gravel Worlds and SBT GRVL. De Crescenzo additionally has a street background however has discovered her area of interest on gravel roads, successful Unbound in 2021 and racking up marquee gravel wins yearly since.
Onweller has discovered a distinct segment in successful races like Massive Sugar, the place she gained in 2022 as an unknown title to many.
One other rider who may match into this class of specialists is Alexey Vermeulen, who got here to gravel after a brief U23 stint on the WorldTour. Vermeulen was among the many first to succeed as a gravel privateer, discovering extra pleasure and a greater revenue on this new avenue than he did in conventional biking.
The Massive Guys
(Picture credit score: Pinarello)
Names like Matt Beers, Brennan Wertz and John Borstelmann is perhaps thought-about the rouleurs of the gravel peloton. These bigger riders can nonetheless go uphill at a fast tempo, however they discover probably the most success on rolling or flat terrain the place they will actually lay down the facility. Beers has been recognized to take some huge pulls, whereas Wertz gained the U.S. Nationwide Championships in Nebraska this yr. Borstelmann is a multi-time (unofficial) Gravel Worlds winner which additionally takes place within the rolling terrain of the American Midwest.
The domestiques
Tobin Ortenblad retains Keegan Swenson protected as Leadville 100 will get underway
(Picture credit score: Life Time Grand Prix)
Domestiques and staff ways in gravel are a gray space that may spur many opinions, however there’s no denying that alliances (each official and unofficial) exist within the gravel peloton.
At Unbound in 2023, Howard Grotts gave Russel Finsterwald his wheel after his then-Specialised teammate punctured. At this yr’s event, the Pas Regular staff was out in full power, with riders fiercely attacking early within the race to permit Chad Haga to finish up within the race-defining break and end in second place.
After which there’s Santa Cruz rider Tobin Ortenblad, who typically works for his teammate Swenson. Their partnership was most notable at Leadville 2023 the place Ortenbad set a blistering tempo early on to assist Swenson break the course file. We wouldn’t say that anybody rider has made being a domestique their sole identification as a gravel racer but, but it surely’s one thing to keep watch over.
The Euros
2023 gravel world champion Kasia Niewiadoma
(Picture credit score: Canyon-SRAM)
As gravel racing develops, variations in terrain and race types between the U.S. and European scenes turn out to be more and more obvious. The U.S. thinks of itself as a insurgent, with a wide range of completely different races and little enter from sanctioning our bodies.
In Europe, races are extra road-like, with WorldTour ways and UCI-sanctioned races. The final two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships have seen winners in Matej Mohoric, Kasia Niewiadoma, Marianne Vos and Mathieu van der Poel. These riders put on the gravel rainbow jersey, however are they actually gravel riders? Many would take into account them roadies who occurred to win a gravel race, influenced by programs and race dynamics that suited their street backgrounds.
After all, there are many European gravel specialists, too. And there’s a rising presence of them at American races like Laurens ten Dam and his so-called Dutch mafia.
Nonetheless, gravel is anybody’s recreation
(Picture credit score: Life Time)
Because the above examples illustrate, gravel attracts riders from all backgrounds, and the classes have appreciable overlap. The purpose isn’t to place labels on riders for the sake of placing a label on, however somewhat to level out their expertise and what forms of races they sometimes succeed at. Gravel has blurred the traces of biking disciplines. Likewise, this dynamic self-discipline continues to be defining its archetypes. Is Lauren de Crescenzo truly a climber? Ought to there be a mountain biker class? What concerning the ultra-endurance racers and bikepackers who trip gravel like Lael Wilcox and Lachlan Morton? Maybe it’s this lack of arduous definitions that makes gravel so enjoyable to comply with – anybody can win.