Will the real Gravel Worlds please stand up?

It's a sight to behold – hundreds of small lights dancing their way up and over the first of many small hills along the 150 miles that make up the official unofficial Gravel Worlds. Dawn has yet to hit the rolling hills of Nebraska, but the race for the off-beat rainbow jersey and metal sword that awaits the winners of one of America’s oldest gravel races is well on its way. 

While the UCI has muddled the waters recently with the creation of its own sanctioned Gravel World Championship as the genre of cycling has grown, Gravel Worlds in Nebraska has been going strong for well over a decade, bringing the mid-western spirit and a special brand of suffering to the gravel roads and punchy climbs around Lincoln. (Home also to the USA Cycling National Gravel Championships.)

It might no longer be the most known gravel world championship anymore, but the event has doubled down with its name, going as far as trademarking the name before the UCI could swoop in and adopt it. In the nicest way possible, Gravel Worlds’ defiance to change its branding asks a big question: who is the UCI to say what the real Gravel Worlds is?

 What are the American Gravel Worlds? 

Gravel Worlds began in 2008 as the Goodlife Gravel Adventure by Corey Godfrey before it turned into Gravel Worlds in 2010 as gravel began to gain traction in the American Midwest. From there, the race grew in proportion with the rest of the sport of gravel cycling. Gravel Worlds, Midsouth Gravel (formerly Land Run 100), Barry Roubaix, and Unbound (formerly Dirty Kanza) formed the backbone of gravel racing in the heartland, while events like BWR California, Vermont Overland, and Lost and Found gravel helped spark excitement for the sport along the coasts.

And then gravel cycling exploded. 

Races grew big, and new events popped up all around the country. The little niche of cycling that Gravel Worlds had light-heartedly poked fun at with its tongue-in-cheek name suddenly had the legacy and competition to be something more. It was an opportunity to become a more serious version of its previous less-than-serious self.

Now, with the notoriety of the UCI Gravel World Championship encroaching upon Gravel Worlds' standing, the latter is upping its game with more prize money, a big charity initiative, a new venue, and live coverage from start to finish. 

One of the biggest examples of how Gravel Worlds has evolved in 2024 is in the pro races. Gravel Worlds has reconfigured its pro fields into two separate starts for the men and women. The pros will still have their pre-sunrise 5:55 a.m. start, but now the men will set off first before the women begin ten minutes later. The two fields will be racing for $15,000 in prize money split amongst the top five of the pro races. 

Moreover, the Gravel Worlds organization is matching the prize purse, pledging a $200 charitable donation for each of the pro racers who attends to a U.S.-based 501 c3 nonprofit of the rider's choosing. The rider will also have the name of the charity on their number plate. 

Pro field treatment aside, the race is still very much about the thousands of riders who will make the trek to the corn fields of eastern Nebraska and the proverbial “gravel seas” that head in every direction in rolling hills that look like waves heading out over the horizon. 

 The course 

After over a decade of staging from the northwest corner of Lincoln, Gravel Worlds has outgrown its old stomping grounds and is moving to the northeast end of Lincoln to the Sandhill Global Event Center for a bigger home. 

But no matter which corner the race starts from, gravel racing around Lincoln will always include one thing: hills. 

Instead of the mountains of Colorado, Gravel Worlds is a 'death by 1,000 cuts' as roller after dusty roller awaits the peloton throughout the courses. The Long Voyage, the weekend's 300-mile ultra option, does make its way to flatter ground, but the other distances all stay well within the hill zone of the Lincoln area. While rollers don’t seem much, in years past the climbing at Gravel World's 150-mile race has surpassed the 13,000 feet of elevation gained mark, meaning it has more climbing than Unbound’s 200-miles or SBT GRVL’s 140-mile course of previous years. 

This year, the stats are down slightly at 10,500 feet for the 152 miles of the main event, but that should still be enough to cook the legs of any riders, as the soft, pebbly gravel always makes the uphill going slow.

However, the heat might be more difficult this year, as the temperatures in Lincoln are set to be hot and windy. The highs for Saturday currently sit at 92 degrees, with 13 mph winds from the south expected all day. In Nebraska, where the summer climate is hot and humid, that is not unusual, but it will still shock the system for many. The conditions are conducive for fast racing, which will be a relief for the riders who raced last year, where a pre-race deluge slowed the speeds way down, adding hours to many riders finishing times. 

Technically speaking, the Gravel Worlds course is perhaps the l; least demanding of all the big races in North America. The downhills are, for the most part, simple and straight. The gravel is never that large or sharp, and technical choices can be made around rolling resistance and aerodynamic concerns. It will be interesting to see how wide the tyres go, as Gravel Worlds has typically been a course where top riders have survived well on tyres 40mm or less. 

 The contenders 

The elevated status of the pro field, not to mention the prize purse, has brought a collection of talented pros that rivals any non-Life Time Grand Prix field this year with established gravel names in both the men’s and women’s fields. 

For the women, Lauren Stephens is the woman to beat. She won last year and is coming fresh off a win at SBT GRVL last weekend. She will be the big favourite, but the women’s field is still deep, with potential spoilers Whitney Allison, Emily Newsom, Kyleigh Spearing, and Emma Grant. 

In the men’s race, John Borstelmann is something of a Gravel Worlds specialist. Not only is he the defending champion and three-time winner, but Borstelmann also calls Lincoln, Nebraska, home. Nevertheless, he has never had a start list like this to contend with as strong riders like Russell Finsterwald, Micheal Garrison, Simen Nordahl Svendsen, and Tobias Mørch Kongstad make their debut in Nebraska. 

The race will be professionally streamed live in its entirety, a novel endeavor by a gravel race made possible by 5G coverage around the entire course since it circumnavigates a large midwestern city. You can find the stream here at the race’s website with coverage beginning at 5:55 a.m. Central Time, on Saturday, August 24th.