UCI Gravel World Championships down under: Your guide to Nannup

For the first time, the UCI Gravel World Championships are heading outside Europe, with Australia set to host the world’s best gravel riders in Nannup, Western Australia this weekend.

The South West town has spent months preparing for a big weekend of racing, with the world’s best riders set to take on a challenging course of gravel roads, climbs and fast, rolling sections through the region’s forests.

From the course and racing to where to watch and what to expect on the ground, here’s your guide to the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup, WA.

The course

The elite men will race 144km with 3,713m of climbing, while the women’s course covers 125.6km and 3,179m. More than 80 per cent of both courses is gravel, taking riders through the forests, plantations and farmland of Western Australia’s Blackwood Valley.

This isn’t a course with one monster climb where everyone waits for the big showdown.

Instead, it serves up climb after climb, with most around 1–3km long and generally sitting between 5 and 8 per cent. In other words, there are plenty of chances to hurt, but not many chances to switch off.

Race director Stephen Gallagher says that’s exactly what makes the course interesting.

“At most races, the biggest challenges come early. Not here,” he said.

“The climbing is relentless from start to finish, with the hardest kilometres saved for last, including a final summit just 3.5 kilometres from the finish.”

Gallagher says the climbs aren’t particularly long or brutally steep, but their frequency is the real challenge.

“The climbing is unique in the sense that it’s not massively long, but it is continuous, one-to-three-kilometre climbs,” he said. “Here it’s basically the whole way through the race.”

And while the gradients are mostly manageable, the cumulative effect should be anything but. “The majority of the climbs are a consistent gradient as well,” Gallagher said.

The issue is that riders keep getting hit with another climb before they’ve had much chance to recover.

That should make the closing kilometres pretty interesting. The final summit comes just 3.5km from the finish, so anyone still feeling fresh at that point will have a useful advantage.

For everyone else, it could be a fairly long 3.5km.

With plenty of gravel, constant climbing and more than 3,700m of elevation in the men’s race, the course should reward riders who can pace themselves and keep something in the tank for the final run into Nannup.

The riders to watch

The international fields are packed with riders who have plenty of experience on both road and gravel, making this a difficult race to predict.

In the women’s race, defending champion Lorena Wiebes will be looking to add another rainbow jersey, while 2024 world champion Marianne Vos brings a wealth of road and off-road experience.

Both are capable of handling the climbing and technical demands, although the Western Australian course will present a very different challenge to European gravel races.

Sofia Gomez Villafañe is another major contender. The Argentine-American has become one of the established names in international gravel, while Italy’s Erica Magnaldi and former road star Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio add further firepower to the field.

The men’s race is similarly stacked. Defending champion Florian Vermeersch returns to defend his title, while South African Matt Beers and American Keegan Swenson are among the strongest gravel specialists in the field.

Mads Würtz Schmidt brings a strong road background and the ability to handle a long, climbing-heavy race, while Brazil’s Henrique Avancini is another experienced off-road racer to watch.

The Australian hopefuls

The home team has some serious local knowledge.

Tiffany Cromwell is the obvious headline act in the women’s race. She has won SEVEN three times, including this year’s edition, and as a result knows the Nannup roads extremely well.

There is also a bigger story attached to her appearance: this will be Cromwell’s final race before retirement. A strong performance on home roads would be a fitting way to finish her professional career.

Nicole Frain is another major Australian hope. She has won four UCI Gravel World Series races in 2026 and claimed the inaugural Oceania gravel title. She also finished second at the final World Series round in France in September, arriving in Nannup with strong recent form.

Holly Harris, the 2022 Australian gravel champion, is another rider to watch after winning the Devil’s Cardigan World Series event earlier this year.

On the men’s side, Mark O’Brien leads the Australian challenge after finishing second to Brendan Johnston at SEVEN in May. O’Brien is also the reigning Australian gravel champion.

Unfortunately Johnston announced this week he is out the World Championships this year. After winning SEVEN, he would have been one of the obvious home contenders, but he will not compete because of a clash with the Little Sugar MTB event in the US.

Connor Sens brings plenty of experience, with the former Australian champion making his fourth World Championship appearance. Tasman Nankervis is another interesting prospect, having won SEVEN in 2023.

The Australian men’s team also includes Freddy Ovett, Harry Bebbington, Mark Chong, Oliver Johnston, Brent Rees, Oliver Stenning and Joel Green.

With Cromwell and Frain in the women’s field and O’Brien, Sens and Nankervis on the men’s side, it’s fair to say Australia has plenty of riders with both international experience and knowledge of the local roads.

Where to watch

Australian viewers can watch the UCI Gravel World Championships live and free on SBS On Demand.

The elite women’s race is on Saturday, October 10, followed by the elite men’s race on Sunday, October 11. Both races will also be available live and on demand via Stan Sport.

Watch the UCI Gravel World Championships on SBS On Demand