The Gravel Earth Series to make a global debut in 2023
Girona-based promoter Klassmark will oversee the series, which will unify 6-8 international gravel races under one umbrella.
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Like to travel? Enjoy riding gravel? Need an ambitious goal for the summer riding season?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then read on.
In 2023, Girona-based event promotor Klassmark is organizing Gravel Earth, a new concept with global reach. Gravel Earth will unify 6-8 gravel events around the world and culminate with the ‘Earth Final’ championship-style race at the end of the season.
Currently, the series begins in late April with the Traka, Klassmark’s own endurance gravel event in Spain, and will end with the Earth Final, an event that Klassmark will also organize in October or November. The events in between are organized by different promoters across the globe.
According to Klassmark co-owner Cristina Freixes, the impetus for Gravel Earth was a combination of watching various organizers — like Life Time and the UCI — organize off-road series in 2022, as well as a desire to expose people to some of the more off-the-beaten track events across the globe.
“What we wanted is to choose different kinds of styles of races but all in amazing places,” she said. “To provide more an experience than a competition.”
Nevertheless, there is a competitive structure baked into the series.
Points will be awarded to the top male, female, and non-binary finishers at each event. Each event will be weighted differently, depending on its “difficulty and prestige.”
The overall series rankings will be determined by totaling a rider’s top two scores, as well as the results of the Earth Final, which will be weighted more heavily than the other series events.
According to Freixes, the Klassmark team consulted with athletes like Lachlan Morton and Nathan Haas to come up with the points system (more on the structure here). By weighting each event uniquely, the objective was to give riders a chance to race to their strengths, and hedge their bets by choosing the most appropriate events.
Good at stage racing? Winning the Migration Gravel Race in Kenya will get you 12,000 points. Live in the Nordics? Earn 9,000 at both The Rift and the Nordic Gravel Series event in Sweden.
“This classification format rewards the most regular and versatile bikers of the year,” Freixes said.
The Gravel Earth Series prioritizes events with a firm commitment to their local community, as well as sustainability.
2023 Gravel Earth Series qualifying events
The Traka – Spain
When: April 29-30
Format: three single stage options
Distance/Elevation: 100k/1,000m, 200k/2,000m, 360k/4,500m
Migration Gravel Race – Kenya
When: June 20-23
Format: stage race (4)
Distance/Elevation: 650k/8,000m
Nature is Bike – France
When: June 26
Format: single stage
Distance/Elevation: 300k/2,640m
Octopus Gravel – Switzerland
When: July 1
Format: timed segments
Distance/Elevation: 155k/4,450m
The Rift – Iceland
When: July 23
Format: single stage
Distance/Elevation: 200k/2,165m; 100k/1,050m
Nordic Gravel Series: Bergslagen – Sweden
When: August 12
Format: single stage
Distance/Elevation: 180k; 116k (elevation TBD)