Words: Tom Southam
Photography: Chris Auld and Rapha

When we initially floated the idea of the alternative race program amongst our EF Pro Cycling riders, in late 2018, there was very little interest. Most road pros are so laser focused on their goals, and have worked towards targets for so many years, that any other sort of event was seen in the same light as doing a meet and greet or a sponsor ride: part of the job but not top of the list of ambitions for the season.

In their eyes, gravel racing may have existed but it was not much more interesting than doing a beach race in Holland, in December. They were niche events and taking part in them would only detract from their ambitions as serious cyclists.

Fast forward twelve months and, after Lachlan Morton, Taylor Phinney and Alex Howes enjoyed a year of mixed programs in 2019 and opened up the eyes of many of the European riders to the scale and scope of the top U.S. gravel events – such as Unbound Gravel and the Belgian Waffle ride – the riders’ attitudes have completely changed. Ink wouldn’t be drying on contracts before riders started to ask about being able to perhaps ‘do some of the gravel stuff’ as well.

As we are all too well aware, Covid put paid to both events and travel that following season but, in that time, gravel racing has taken root as a goal amongst even the most staunchly traditional riders.

Alex Howes, who is currently in his tenth season in the World Tour, was one of the early adopters of racing gravel alongside his road calendar in Europe, in our team, and he believes that it has breathed a new lease of life into his career.

“I think, honestly, one of the greatest appeals for me personally is that a lot of it is in America and I am an American, but there is also the adventure appeal, no cars, and then the community feel around the whole thing. I think gravel has done a really good job of being more inclusive and having more of a festival attitude instead of being a cold, hard, old school, competitive road racing style.”

While some, such as Howes and Peter Stetina (who then raced for Trek–Segafredo), have been fortunate enough to be in teams which allow the freedom to do these events, that isn’t the case everywhere. But, gravel racing’s easy hands-on marketability means that riders who have had enough of the rigours of the World Tour, and the strict structure of professional teams, are switching to the privateer lifestyle as full time gravel pros.

From a cynical point of view it would be easy to look at the choice to race only gravel as a softer, secondary option for U.S. pros who can’t hack it anymore, but Howes believes that it is much more than that.

“Racing the World Tour can get pretty stagnant. I mean, it’s hard at the highest level and it stays that way. You have to go all in, every year for every race and if you aren’t ready you are going to die a thousand deaths. I think that level of pain and suffering can get you in a rut, but I think these guys still want competition and to enjoy racing.

“Is it a viable career path? I think yes, in a lot of ways. I guess it is different for everybody: this is a better option than that classic, ‘I’ll go back and ride for Prime Alliance’ (a US-based professional team – ed) because that doesn’t exist. It’s still competing and it’s still bikes, but (for these guys) it’s a new chapter.”

Back in my world, working inside a professional team, it’s been impossible to miss the increased incorporation of gravel in road races, with events such as the Giro, G.P. Ouest France and Paris Tours adding sectors to spice up their races. But these are still very much professional road races, and are tackled as such.

In October of this year, however, recently retired Italian pro, Filippo Pozzatto, organised the first entirely professional gravel race; the Serenissima Gravel, in Veneto. At only 132km and run on a mild autumn day around a short circuit, it was a far cry from the original U.S. gravel races. The original events often saw unsupported riders face mammoth distances in harsh conditions, which ensured the ethos was as much about personal challenges as it was out and out racing.

The Italian race did seem, however, like a huge step towards the traditional professional cycling world adopting a more amiable stance towards standalone gravel events. One could argue that Pozzatto has seemingly missed a large part of the point by restricting his race to riders with a UCI professional license. Serenissima Gravel was won by Alexey Lutsenko, the strongest rider in the late-season Italian races, which could effectively make the race seem quite a lot like just another race; something that the challenge and diversity of open gravel events tend to avoid.

Shortly before the Serenissima took place, in September 2021, the UCI announced that it would be attempting to put its stamp on the discipline. UCI President, David Lappartient, announced that the UCI would now organise both a gravel World Series and a World Championships, effectively absorbing the discipline as part of its international calendar of events.