The SEVEN gravel race in Nannup isn’t any stranger to making an attempt one thing new, it was in spite of everything one of many early gravel occasions on the Australian scene when it began in 2018 and now the race is reaping the rewards of one other leap into the unknown.
Final yr when near 1000 riders lined as much as style the gravel gold of the small Western Australian city within the midst of an unlimited forest and a labyrinth of unpaved roads, few knew what the introduction of a UCI Gravel World Sequence would imply – though judging by how fast the Western Australian occasion was to get on board they clearly had an inkling.
Now in 2023 the race is heading towards its greatest discipline ever, with the energy of the Could 13 occasion being bolstered by the introduction of excessive profile individuals resembling Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) and Nicolas Roche. It could possibly additionally boast a returning defending champion, Adam Blazevic, who’s now an everyday among the many high rows of the outcomes tables at Gravel World Sequence races.
The sequence itself has additionally bought larger, with seven new occasions, and as an alternative of being the second spherical because it was in 2022, Nannup is now the fifth of 16 races that can act as qualifiers for the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships, and there’s additionally one other spherical late in October, which can open up the checklist of 2024 qualifiers.
The fields additionally appear to be rising throughout the sequence and the variety of devoted gravel groups are on the rise, with the Alejandro Valverde lead Movistar a key instance.
“That is going to proceed to develop … and we really feel like we have been a part of that journey proper from the beginning,” SEVEN race director Stephen Gallagher instructed Cyclingnews. “Being a part of that new foray into gravel with the UCI sequence I hope that our development continues together with the expansion of the sequence.”
They appear to be heading in the right direction to just do that, as not solely has the occasion secured its place within the sequence for the approaching years, however the information additionally got here late final yr that it’s also locked in as the placement of the UCI Gravel World Championships in 2026. That in itself is anticipated to attract increasingly riders because the rainbow jersey will get shut, however already the worldwide highlight is constructing depth, with riders from throughout the globe set to line up in Nannup on Saturday and already 4 instances as many worldwide individuals on the beginning checklist.
Readying for a gravel gold rush
Even properly earlier than race day, the gravel roads round Nannup have been teaming with lots of of cyclists on the weekend, some coaching for SEVEN – or maybe the shorter FIVE and THREE – and different’s simply having fun with exploring the myriad of gravel selections on supply.
“The profit that we’ve is that Nannup and Western Australia is so remoted and we’ve so many 1000’s of kilometres of pure gravel,” mentioned Gallagher.
“We have not even touched on you understand a fifth of what we might do. There’s so many choices on the market, it’s simply thoughts boggling so I feel there is a lure of that for the journey bike owner or journey vacationer.”
And naturally, the gravel racer. With SEVEN having readily available a large pallet it’s no shock that there have been just a few tweaks to the route this yr. There additionally could possibly be extra within the editions forward because the course is refined, for the good thing about spectators and riders alike, earlier than the World Championships in 2026.
“The ethos and the overall location of the course continues to be the identical, together with the long-lasting climbs, however we do have fairly refined modifications coming into the end line,” mentioned Gallagher of the 2023 route.
”We’ve got bought two climbs from about 15 kilometres to 10 kilometres to go so I feel they will play an enormous half within the finale for the frontrunners.”
The route that emanates from and returns to Nannup, about 250km south of Perth, consists of solely the smallest whiff of paved highway, only a handful of kilometres in a 125km race with 3,200m of vertical ascent.
Riders will largely encounter well-formed roads with a mixture of grime, gravel, hard-packed clay, quartz grit and mica because the race winds by the seven sectors that gave it its identify.
These sectors embody 12 categorised climbs. The ascents vary in size from 1.2km to 4.5km lengthy and gradients incessantly contact, and even exceed, 20%. In addition to the 2 climbs from ten to 15kms from the road, there’s a more difficult ultimate run in to Nannup – a reputation that stemmed from a phrase within the Noongar folks’s language that means stopping place.
“There’s a little little bit of uphill coming in to the end, in by a wee little bit of gravel, in order that final 300/400m is certainly more durable than final yr,” mentioned Gallagher.
The contenders
The riders that would properly be battling for supremacy on that end line this yr embody Tiffany Cromwell, with the WorldTour rider who isn’t any stranger to a gravel diversion making Nannup her opening Gravel World Sequence race of the season. Cromwell completed sixth within the UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto, Italy final yr and shall be powerful to beat, significantly with the winner of the final three editions, Maria Madigan, not on the beginning line.
Within the males’s class it’s laborious to go previous defending champion Adam Blazevic because the favorite, significantly given he has by no means performed something however stand on the highest step at an Australian spherical of a Gravel World Sequence race as he additionally swept to victory in Beechworth final yr. It is the opening gravel race of the season for Blazevic, however this yr he will definitely be a marked rider not simply allowed the leeway he was given in 2022.
Tasman Nankervis, who has signed up for Lifetime Grand Prix sequence this yr, is one Australian rider who will seemingly be eager to problem and set out on his very gravel focussed season with a UCI win underneath the belt, whereas final yr’s third positioned finisher Matthew Chicken can be anticipated to be on the beginning line and chasing the rostrum once more.
Former Irish skilled Nicolas Roche can even be heading out along with his NR Gravel workforce and is certain to be carefully watched regardless of the place he’s within the discipline, although if the jetlag and fast turnaround from the Blaavand Gravel World Sequence Race in Denmark the week earlier than do not weigh too closely, that is more likely to be proper up on the pointy finish of the race.
