Q36.5 announced a four-rider women's gravel racing team for 2026, the Q36.5 Women's Off-Road Racing Expedition. Three-time US Marathon Mountain Bike champion Alexis Skarda and British rider Madeleine 'Maddy' Nutt, last year's Gravel Brasil winner, will anchor the team.
Dutch rider Maaike Coljé moves from five years on the road, the last three seasons with Arkéa-B&B Hotels, for a full-time gravel campaign. Balancing a mix of road and gravel to round out the squad is Australian Cassia Boglio, who earned a bronze in the elite women's road race at nationals and then placed sixth at RADL GRVL. Both had top 10s at UCI Gravel World Series events, Coljé at La Monserrato and Boglio with podiums at Seven and Wish One Millau.
"Our ambition is first and foremost to support athletes the same way we support the Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team: with the most comprehensive and versatile high-performance kit in the peloton," said Luigi Bergamo, the founder of cycling apparel company Q36.5, in a press release.
"Just as important is the possibility to begin building a network of female ambassadors whose approach to high performance is more approachable and open than what is often possible in the hyper-professionalized world of WorldTour road racing."
Skarda is an established performer in off-road racing, having won the US Marathon Mountain Bike National Championship three of the last five years and finished in the top 5 all four years in the Life Time Grand Prix. She was described by her former htSQD team as "a contender at every race", an accurate statement, going second last year at Cape Epic with teammate Vera Looser.
The Traka is a new target on Skarda's US-focused calendar this year. In January, she took part in the Bodega Run, a 500-mile mixed-surface ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which was completed in 4 days, 28 hours. The reward was a 10-day stay in Malibu for a warm winter training camp with gravel colleagues and fellow Grand Prix competitors Lauren De Crescenzo and Cecily Decker.
The 2026 season marks a fifth consecutive year Skarda will compete in the Life Time Grand Prix, looking for her first podium at Unbound Gravel 200 and a second podium at Leadville Trail 100.
Meanwhile, Nutt begins her year in South America, building fitness with a training camp in Colombia in mid-February. She then plans to take part in the eight-day Transcordilleras event across the Andes mountains, followed by the defence of her title at Gravel Brasil on March 8.
Last year, Nutt finished eighth at The Traka 360, and she targets Traka 560 this year, as well as Unbound Gravel XL.
In a company press release, Q36.5 noted they will work closely with the four athletes to continue to improve women’s performance fit and create solutions to the specific demands of the discipline like aerodynamics, on-body hydration and 'thermoregulations' for an optimal range of body temperature in diverse environments.
All four athletes will wear the same Dottore Pro and Dottore Clima skinsuits as the Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling team, and be outfitted with Q36.5 Gregarius Clima jerseys and Foul Weather thermal racing system and winter training gear.
The jerseys feature an 'acid' yellow and white colour scheme, with the bib shorts adding dark blue with the Q36.5 brand reversed in white on the outside panels.
Q36.5 Women's Off-Road Racing Expedition 2026 roster
- Alexis Skarda (USA)
- Maddie Nutt (GBR)
- Maaike Coljé (NED)
- Cassia Boglio (AUS)
