It was only two years ago that the SEVEN race in Nannup jumped into the new UCI Gravel World Series and put their hands up to host a World Championship in the discipline as well. Then the road ahead was an unknown, with as many possible routes as there are course options in the gravel road rich wilderness surrounding Nannup, although the team behind the Western Australian event had an inkling of the potential massive growth ahead.
Now, the event is heading into its third edition as part of the series, but seventh year all up, and the field keeps ballooning as it heads toward 2026 when it will host the first UCI Gravel World Championships outside Europe on a course that, given the race history, is likely be just about as close as you can get to 100% gravel.
It is bound to be a UCI Gravel World Championships unlike any seen before, and the ranks of those from interstate and overseas coming over to get an early insight into what they are in for is growing. The race itself, just like the series and World Championships itself has hit an upward trajectory, one that may just become as steep as some of the climbs out on the course.
"The pick up has been massive, especially with a lot of people getting in early," race director Stephen Gallagher told Cyclingnews in the days before the event. "The biggest success for us is the amount of overseas riders, we have almost tripled the amount of international visitation and also have over double the amount of interstate riders."
That means close to 1,500 riders will be making the trek to Nannup – which means stopping place in Noongar language – more than the entire population of the town itself. A large influx but just a taste of what is to come, with planning well underway to accommodate the World Championships, where Nannup is the hub but with spokes out to a number of other destinations in the region replete with the facilities to support the event – which is likely going to be significantly larger than was envisaged when the bid was first submitted.
Importantly, however, what the hub location of Nannup does have an abundance of is gravel roads, there are plenty to pick and choose from. Planning is underway for a spectator friendly World Championships course in 2026, with a UCI delegation out to see how the process is progressing, but that doesn't mean organisers have lost sight of the near term either, with the addition of a new section to the 2024 Gravel World Series course as well that will deliver some spectacular white gravel.
The 2024 SEVEN race, named after the seven sectors it traverses, will still cover 125km and deliver 3,200m of vertical ascent over largely the same course as in recent years – winding its way out and back from Nannup on nearly 100% gravel through pine plantations, state forests and farmland – but two of the 12 key climbs will be different. Delta and Meacham are out and the new white gravel section which takes the course further to the west leading to the introduction of Mader and Shale Hill. Both climbs are under a kilometre, but Gallagher warns that riders shouldn't assume they will be easy.
"Don't let how short they are deceive you about how hard they are because, especially Shale Hill, is very steep," said Gallagher.
Key riders to watch
The 2023 men's winner Tasman Nankervis (BMC-Shimano) will be back in 2024. The rider who last year headed over to the United States to compete in the Life Time Grand Prix series is keeping his focus in Australia this year. He is looking as formidable as ever, having claimed the win in the stacked field of RADL GRVL in South Australia in January, ahead of regular rival Brendan 'Trekky' Johnston (Giant), and fighting his way to fourth at the first edition of Sutton Grange Winery Uncorked Gravel in February, even though he was limited to one gear much of the race after a rock hit his derailleur. The 28 year old from Bendigo then went on to take his sixth win at the Great Otway Gravel Grind.
Still Johnston is lining up with strong form to try and dethrone Nankervis. The experienced hand has come back from the United States after racing the opening round, Fuego XL, and coming fifth. First on the agenda while back home was last weekend's AusCycling Marathon Mountain Bike National Championships where the 32-year-old claimed his sixth title.
Nankervis will also have to be on the lookout for 2022 winner, Adam Blazevic, who has constantly been up near the top of the results table in the key Australian summer gravel events and the privateer is also now likely to be hitting a new vein of form as he builds toward his key international goals. Then there is also Nicolas Roche, with the former professional on the road having recently taken third at another UCI Gravel World Series event, the Highlands Gravel Classic, last month and he was also third in Nannup last year.
Other riders to watch for in the elite men's category include 2023's second placed Mark Chong and fourth placed Matthew Bird. Roche, also won't be the only former WorldTour professional at the race, with Fumiyuki Beppu, the first Japanese rider to make cycling's top tier, also making the trip to Western Australia this year.
The women's race will see a new victor this year, with 2023 winner Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) not returning, however, there will be no shortage of competition. Australian champion Justine Barrow has been out checking out the course on the lead in. Barrow has already won a UCI Gravel World Series round, taking out Gravelista in Beechworth in 2022, but missed out on SEVEN in Nannup last year as she was racing gravel in the United States. This year, however, she is using the Western Australian race as a lead in to her international ambitions.
The rider, who has some serious climbing capacity, may not have had the best tail end to her season last year, with a crash leading to AC joint stabilisation surgery and a complicated recovery. Still, Barrow, who was bitten by the Unbound bug in 2023, has now built back and is clearly comfortable on the bike again, having decided at the Beechworth Granite Classic last month that the 115km distance alone wasn't enough, and turning right back around once she had finished to ride the 90km course as well.
Cassia Boglio (Liv Brazilian Butterfly Racing p/b Willing & Twin Peaks) will be hoping to lean on home ground advantage, plus the 23-year-old rider who came second at the race last year has gained some valuable experience and results since which bode well for her chances of mounting a serious challenge this year. They include another Gravel World Series podium, with third at Gravelista at the end of 2023, and a first place at Life Time Sea Otter Classic, which came near the end of block of gravel racing in the United States where she also netted two top ten finishes in Belgian Waffle Ride California and Utah.
Then there is Peta Mullens (Liv Brazilian Butterfly), who hasn't had the strongest of patches with her health not playing along, but the rider who is also racing the LIfe Time Grand Prix series this year is one that should never be dismissed and her twelve Australian titles across various cycling disciplines are all the explanation required.
