How big is gravel racing in 2025? It's fair to say an avalanche of events emerging on the global landscape, for amateurs and pros alike, proves the off-road discipline is still rising in popularity.
Collections of races now form several regional and multi-national series, the UCI Trek Gravel World Series the largest with 33 events in 21 countries, having grown from just 10 events in 2022. The appeal of the events is not an overall prize or payout, but opportunities to qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships, the top 25% of finishers in pro and age categories earning invitations to compete for rainbow stripes in the fall.
Another growing global series that does offer an overall classification and a share in a $37,500 prize purse is the Gravel Earth Series, which now boasts 25 races in 15 countries. The first year of the series began in 2023 with seven races. Five of the original competitions continue to be part of GES, with the signature events at The Traka in Girona, Spain the most popular.
In the US, considered the home of gravel racing, the Life Time Grand Prix has a spotlight for their invitation-only field of 50 elite riders who compete across six off-road events for a share in a $200,000 series prize purse. In 2025, Life Time introduced $30,000 cash prizes in the pro categories at the six events, including Unbound Gravel 200. Three of the events are distinctly gravel this year, the other three are mountain bike competitions.
Four races in the Belgian Waffle Ride series comprise a new Tripel-Quadrupel Series in the US and there is a Grasshopper Adventure Series in California, and smaller collections of racers are springing up in the southeast as well. A Nordic Gravel Series offers events across Finland and Sweden this year.
The number of national championships in gravel are also on the rise, last year around 14 countries awarded prizes for at national competitions, as well as Nordic and European regional titles.
There seems to be plenty of room for individual races, with the Lauf Gravel Worlds in Nebraska amping up their notoriety with a $100,000 prize purse in 2020. Gravel stage races are also more prevalent, with GES including six multi-day races on their schedule, Migration Gravel Race in Kenya and Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder in Oregon, both in June, providing bonus scoring in the standings.
Cyclingnews has assembled a list of nearly 100 leading gravel competitions for the 2025 calendar year. We'll provide race reports and news on most of the action this season, so follow along to keep track of the action, as well as tips later on how to register for top gravel events if you are an amateur or a pro.
