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UCI launches new Gravel World Series

A Midwest-inspired name for a new mixed-surface calendar

Photo by: Unbound

The 2022 race season is already well underway, on the road and in the dirt, but the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has one more surprise in store. Today, it announced the 2022 Gravel World Series.

Like the Gran Fondo World Series, it takes existing and new mass-start events and gathers them together into a series of sorts. Also like the Gran Fondo series, it’s unclear if the UCI is targeting pro riders that have turned away from the World Tour or a more amateur crowd. For now, the Gravel World Series is analogue, though UCI is clearly leaving the possibility of ebikes open.

UNBOUND Gravel 200 near Emporia, Kansas, USA on June 05, 2021. Photo: Craig Huffman / Craig Huffman Photography
2022 Gravel World Series

The 12-stop series starts in the Philippians on April 3 and traverses North America, Europe and Australia on its way towards the first-ever UCI gravel world championships. More news is expected soon on that event, but the World Series stops will be involved in qualifying, somehow.

RELATED: BCBR Gravel Explorer sets sights on year two after successful Okanagan debut

Two events in North America, both in the United States. None of the classic U.S. events are included, nor are any of the Life Time Grand Prix events. Instead, on June 25, Fayetteville hosts the Highlands Gravel Classic, continuing Arkansas’ streak of prominent UCI events. In August, Iowa will host the Jingle GX Gravel Race in Amana, Iowa which borrows its name from the cyclocross World Cup hosted in the state for years.

“I am thrilled that we now have an exciting and rich calendar of gravel events for riders with an adventurous spirit who enjoy cycling on unsealed roads and paths,” UCI President David Lappartient declared in the Gravel World Series announcement. “The best among them will earn the right to compete in the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships, the details of which will be released soon. The UCI Gran Fondo World Series is incredibly popular, and I am convinced that this concept will be equally successful for the gravel format.”

If you’re interested in contesting this new World Series, or 2022 gravel world championships, check out the dedicate series website now.

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Press Release: UCI Gravel World Series

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and its partner Golazo are pleased to announce the 2022 calendar of the new mass-participation UCI Gravel World Series. The Trek UCI Gravel World Series will give participants a chance to qualify for the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships to be held in the European autumn. The date and venue of the first UCI Gravel World Championships will be announced shortly.

Originating in the U.S. Midwest some 15 years ago, gravel has grown in popularity and is now booming worldwide. Popular with riders seeking new challenges, it combines elements of road and mountain bike, and takes place mainly on unsealed roads (gravel, forest tracks, farm roads, cobbles, etc).

American bicycle brand Trek Bikes is the title sponsor of the series for 2022 until 2024, associating its name with this new initiative that responds to the ever-growing popularity of gravel.

The concept of the new gravel series is based on that of the existing and very successful UCI Gran Fondo World Series where riders can also earn their spot for an annual UCI World Championships. At each round of the new UCI Gravel World Series, the fastest 25% of men and women from each age group will qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships which will crown the UCI World Champions for each age group. The only difference with the concept for Gran Fondo is that professional riders may also take part in events of the series and qualify for the discipline’s UCI World Championships.

The 2022 UCI Gravel World Series calendar will kick off on 3 April with an 85-km event in the Philippines. The 12-event series will continue with two races each in the U.S. and Australia and one event in France, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

The UCI has chosen not to make the regulations too strict in the first years, allowing participants to compete on any type of bike without electrical assistance (gravel, cyclocross, road, mountain bike, …). This will be evaluated in the upcoming years.

BCBR Gravel Explorer
2021 BCBR Gravel Explorer. Photo: Chris Sternberg

2022 Trek UCI Gravel World Series calendar

April 3, 2022: UCI Gravel Philippines, Bongabon, Nueva Ecija (PHI)
May 15, 2022: Seven, Nannup (AUS)
June 5, 2022: Wish One Gravel Race, Millau (FRA)
June 18, 2022: Gravel Adventure, Swieradow-Zdroj (POL)
June 25, 2022: Highlands Gravel Classic, Fayetteville (USA)
Aug. 6, 2022: Jingle GX Gravel Race, Amana (USA)
Aug. 20, 2022: Gravel Grit n Grind, Halmstad (SWE)
Aug. 27, 2022: Houffa Gravel, Houffalize (BEL)
Sept. 3, 2022: La Monsterrato-Strade Bianche Monferrato, Quattordio (ITA)
Sept. 4, 2022: Gravelista, Beechworth (AUS)
Sept. 17, 2022: Gravel One Fifty, Veenhuizen (NED)
Sept. 18, 2022: Ranxo, Ponts (ESP)