Sea Otter Europe among six new races on Gravel World Series 2024 schedule
Bulk of off-road events loaded across April to September on four continents
A calendar of 22 races were confirmed for the 2024 Trek UCI Gravel World Series, expanded next year with one new entry in Africa and five new stops across Europe.
Now in its third year, the series is a global grouping of qualifier races for the UCI Gravel World Championships, hosted jointly by Belgium cities Halle and Leuven from October 5-6, 2024. At each round of the World Series, the fastest 25% of men and women across varying age groups and an elite field qualify for the season-ending competition for rainbow stripes.
Qualifications begin on October 28 of this year at Gravelista in Western Australia, and then the calendar resumes in April with three events. Gravelista will return in late October in 2024, and results will count toward qualification for the 2025 UCI Worlds.
Wörthersee Gravel in Austria is a new addition to the field of events, leading off the spring calendar on April 7. Other new races across Europe include Hegau Gravel Festival in Germany on June 29-30, Brwydr Y Graean (Battle on the Gravel) in Wales on July 6-7, Natur Land Race in Andorra on September 8 as well as an event at Sea Otter Europe in Spain on September 21.
Sea Otter Europe will be held in Girona for an eighth time in 2024 and has included a Canyon Girona Gravel Ride in past years. That event in the heart of the Gavarres offers routes of 125km and 79km, and is expected to be the race for the World Series.
The continent of Africa adds a second race to the calendar to the existing Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo in April with The Safari Gravel Event in Naivasha, Kenya on June 16.
Across the calendar, Australia and North America also host a pair of returning events, with SEVEN returning to Nannup on May 11 after the kick-off event at Gravelista. In June across Canada and the USA, Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo in Ontario takes place the weekend prior to Highlands Gravel Classic in Arkansas.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
In 2022 the UCI officially-sanctioned the global gravel series, and World Championships, which added the 10th discipline to the international federation's events. Gravel joins road, mountain bike, track, cyclo-cross, BMX, BMX freestyle, trials, indoor cycling, and e-sport on the list of sanctioned disciplines. The series. is managed by Belgian sports marketing agency Golazo.
UCI Gravel World Series 2024 calendar
- April 7 - Wörthersee Gravel, Velden am Wörthersse, Austria
- April 20 - La Indomable, Berja, Spain
- April 27 - Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo, Prince Albert, South Africa
- April 28 - Gravel Fondo Limburg, Valkenburg, Netherlands
- May 11 - SEVEN, Nannup, Australia
- May 12 - 3RIDES Gravel Race, Aachen, Germany
- May 18 - The Gralloch, Gatehouse of Fleet, Scotland, UK
- June 15 - Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo, Thornbury, Ontario, Canada
- June 16 - Wish One Millau Grands Causses, Millau, France
- June 16 - The Safari Gravel Event, Naivasha, Kenya
- June 22 - Highlands Gravel Classic, Fayetteville, Arkansas
- June 29-30 - Hegau Gravel Festival, Singen, Germany
- July 6-7 - Brwydr Y Graean, Ruthin, Wales, UK
- July 13 - Gravel One Fifty, Roden, Netherlands
- July 20 - Gravel Adventure 2024, Świeradów-Zdrój, Poland
- August 17 - Gravel Grit N Grind, Halmstad, Sweden
- August 24 - Houffa Gravel, Houffalize, Belgium
- August 31 - La Monsterrato Gravel Race, Quattordio, Italy
- September 8 - Natur Land Race Andorra, Sant Juliá de Loria, Andorra
- September 21 - Sea Otter Europe, Girona, Spain
- October 25-27 - Gravelista, Beechworth, Australia
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).