There are more and more gravel races. There are more racers who try to make a living in the discipline. There are more fans. And new brands discover the space. So I figured it would make sense to give some orientation and start to have kind of a classification system for gravel races.
And so, I created a tiered system and, just yesterday, published my “Monuments of Gravel” picks over on my newsletter.
The Monuments, as the name suggests, are the most iconic gravel races. I’d currently consider those the gravel-equivalents of the Monuments on the road. And of course there can only be five of them.
Here’s the full definition I gave:
As I stated in my piece, I consider the list a living framework that is almost certainly going to change in the future. After all, gravel is developing rapidly.
Some selections were no-brainers, others can (and should) be argued about. Thus, I’ll share my honorable mentions and picks here, in hoping that the knowledge and opinions of this esteemed community will help me to improve the next iteration.
(I’ll spare you all the details of my reasoning here; if you’re interested, you find the link to my piece at the end of this post.)
So, here we go:
Honorable Mentions
Those races deserved consideration but did not quite make it to the Monuments tier (yes, I also have lower tiers 😅)
SBT GRVL
Badlands
Mid South
Big Sugar
The Gralloch
The Gravel Monuments
And here come the Monuments, which I have subdivided in three categories based on how clearly they are on the list.
The Obvious Choices
Unbound
The Traka
Still an Easy Pick
Lauf Gravel Worlds
The Close(r) Calls
The Rift
BWR California
There you have it. Let me know what I got right and what I messed up
Until this year and the revised format, I absolutely would have include SBT GRVL. Unfortunatley, I worry the new format will mean the demise of the race…it has certainly lost some of its appeal.
As much as I love The Rift, I don’t think it is a “monument” since many of the sports biggest names don’t race it.
I think Mid-South deserves to be there simply due to its established history. And the Gralloch seems like a logical choice as a big Euro race.
Fully agree on SBT. I actually still had it in there until very last minute (I think I took the process of making this list a bit too seriously ) The decisive point for picking BWR Cali over SBT was history and legacy.
Though BWR can’t rest on it. As I wrote in the piece as well, is seems like the top 3 series are growing at their expense.
When it comes to The Rift, I had Paul Voss on the pod to discuss the preliminary version of the list which didn’t yet have it on. He made a very good case for it. But like you, in my mind it didn’t attract a strong enough pro field.
So I went back and checked the results of the last editions and it was just loaded enough with (mostly European) hitters that it made the cut in my book. But it’s in the “Close(r) Calls” category for a reason.
I think the US-centricity is a result of the sports origin and history. (I’m German so if anything, I’d be biased towards European races).
As I explain in the original piece, The Gralloch doesn’t meet the 5-years minimum age requirement. Of all the UCI races, it currently has the best chance to make it, though, as the race really has its own identity and “vibe”.
Wrt Aussie races, I had a chat with an Australian reader a few days ago. I’d like to shine a bit more light on the scene there in the future. But tbh, I don’t see that an Australian race currently has Monument status. I don’t think any of them is up there in terms of depth-of-field.
But I’m definitely happy to consider it, if you bring me a well-argued case
Not sure if a stage race would ever be considered a ‘monument’, but keep your eyes peeled for Gravel Burn this October. It’s being run by Kevin Vermaak and his team, the same who created the Cape Epic. If his/their track record is anything to go by, it’ll be the same as what he did for MTB stage racing.
As I’m the guardian of the definition, which doesn’t state that only one-day races can get Monument of Gravel status, I can safely say: Gravel Burn will be closely monitored
I recently had Lukas Baum on the podcast, he’s somewhat involved with Gravel Burn, and super excited for it.
But it will have to develop some patina before it makes the age-cut.
Coverage of gravel events in Oz is really poor…..it looks like there are some amazing races but those of us in the northern hemisphere never hear about them.
It’s a much, much smaller race than everything listed here but Grand Old Dukes in Scotland has ambitions to be the toughest one day gravel race in the UK. On paper it’s 180km/3000m (but closer to 3.8k in reality). It’s only in it’s 3rd year so it’s still young but hopefully the competition grows and grows as it’s a difficult day out.
Btw the Aussie race that this year really made a great impression on me, in particular thanks to their post-race YouTube video that didn’t have your typical “UCI gravel race vibe”, was Devil’s Cardigan.
Just to throw in another one to watch.
@wade_wallace: would be fantastic if you’d share your thoughts on Gravel Burn
Dirty Warrny is definitely an epic event, monument distance and one for any Aussie’s bucket list … but SeVeN is still without doubt the premier Aussie event. I think more challenging due to the climbing and surface, perhaps more stunning views (very subjective of course), longer history, significantly bigger field, much more local community connection and just great vibes all round (could also be a bit biased )
The only one I would throw out is Paris 2 Ancaster, which is one of Canada’s longest standing gravel races, UCI qualifier and has been around since the 90s. Don’t know if it really counts as monument but its been featured in GCN videos, hugely popular and one of the closests races to Toronto
Having had a good friend recently get killed in a race (Kowtown gravel) I think the new format of SBT GRVL is probably the future of gravel racing. If you are racing, a closed circuit is just a much better idea. So I would include it because of the new format.
And I would absolutely include the Rift - I feel it is the essence of the adventure gravel style in a way that Unbound and Trakka are not.
I’m really sorry to hear about your friend. Best wishes to you and their family.
I love The Rift….did it in 2021 and would love to do it again someday. But it seems like, from a US perspective at least, it seems to have subsided a bit in terms of those wanting to do it.
) The decisive point for picking BWR Cali over SBT was history and legacy.
)