I joined Simon Pellaud last week for Gravel Burn 2025, an epic 800km stage race event, that was the most extraordinary – and hardest – ride I have ever taken part in. I caught up with the Swiss pro in between stages, to find out more about why he was there, and check out the kit he'd chosen for this wholly unusual race.
Pellaud was heading into Gravel Burn as one of the favourites for the overall title, having finished second on the Life Time Grand Prix GC for 2025. Having duelled it out with Matthew Beers for much of the season, the battle would continue for a further seven days – but in a much more hostile setting marred by corrugated terrain, heavy rain, sub-zero temperatures, extreme heat and wind, hail, and mud. The extreme weather was so severe that it culminated in the neutralisation of stage 6.
