2026 Gravel World Championships Elite Men's Preview | Florian Vermeersch vs the dominant Specialized trio

Due to the ever-increasing popularity of gravel racing, the UCI decided in 2022 to jump on the bandwagon by hosting a World Championship. In Citadella, Italy, Van der Poel shook off his disappointment from the World Championships in Australia with a third-place finish, behind teammate Gianni Vermeersch.

A year later, Veneto once again hosted the World Championships, this time with Wout van Aert on the starting line. The Belgian, however, ran into some bad luck and ultimately saw Matej Mohoric win well ahead of him.

In 2024, Van der Poel claimed his title in Leuven, Belgium, by breaking away from Florian Vermeersch and then riding solo to the finish. Last season, however, it was the Belgian who took the title in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

2025 Florian Vermeersch
2024 Mathieu van der Poel
2023 Matej Mohorič
2022 Gianni Vermeersch

This year we’re not in Leuven or Maastricht, but in Nannup. Nannup—where? Nannup, located in Western Australia. The route there is based on the well-known SEVEN Gravel Race route and is quite different in character from previous World Championships in Europe.

On Saturday, the women will cover 144 kilometers, during which they’ll have to climb a total of 3,713 meters. Eighty-four percent of the course consists of gravel paths, forest roads, and sections through eucalyptus forests and across private property.

Those 3,100 meters of elevation gain aren’t so much the result of a single grueling climb, but rather a series of short climbs ranging from 1 to 4 kilometers in length, with gradients between 5 and 8 percent. These climbs follow one another in rapid succession.

Each race begins with a paved approach of about 9 kilometers, after which the race will quickly pick up speed in the rolling countryside around Nannup. The final stretch includes a local loop around the town, with steep climbs just before the finish line.

Weather report
For now, it looks like we’ll have great weather in Nannup this weekend. The temperature will hover around 15 degrees Celsius, and it won’t be very windy, but there’s still a slight chance of rain.

Important times
Start: 10:10 a.m local time (3:10 a.m Dutch GMT
Finish: 2:10 p.m. (7:10 a.m GMT)

Many big names are choosing not to compete in the 2026 Gravel World Championships due to the distance. Defending champion Florian Vermeersch, however, will be there; his team, UAE Emirates-XRG, has given him the freedom—at his own expense—to compete in Nannup, near Perth.

Stan Dewulf ( Decathlon CMA CGM) and Connor Swift (Netcompany INEOS) are also competing, which means we have “only” three WorldTour pros on the start list.

We’ll see plenty of gravel racers on Sunday. The Dutch riders Martijn Braspenning, Jake Griffin, Jordan Habets, Piotr Havik, Adne Koster, Matthijs Loman, Ruud Junior Nagengast, Rick Nobel, national champion Rick Ottema, Peter Schulting, and Thijs Wemmers will be making the trip.

The same goes for the Belgians Aaron Van der Beken, national champion Daan Soete, Jo Pirotte, and Lawrence Naesen. Although for many of the riders from the Low Countries, the course in Western Australia seems to be right on the edge.

Any other well-known names? Matthew Beers (South Africa), Henrique Avancini(Brazil), Andreas Stokbro, and European champion and Unbound winner Mads Würtz Schmidt (Denmark), Freddy Ovett (Australia), Felix Stehli (Switzerland), Lukas Pöstlberger (Austria), Keegan Swenson (U.S.), Petr Vakoc ( Czech Republic), and Paul Voss of Germany.

Another factor is that many riders are competing here for their country, but may end up prioritising their team’s interests. For example, Swenson, Beers, and Würtz Schmidt all ride for Specialized and can thus improve their chances. The latter two helped each other out this year at Unbound, where the Dane ultimately won. It’s possible that Vermeersch and Dewulf, along with the other Belgians, could form an alliance to counter them.