Ribble Outliers at the UCI Gravel World Championships 2026, Nannup, Australia

On probably the most punishing course of the 2026 season, Saturday's rain added to the tricky pea gravel top surface, making the racing technically demanding for Ribble Outliers Sophie Wright and Jenson Young.

The women's elite race began on Saturday morning at 10.10am with a short 10km road section, allowing riders to settle before heading off onto the red grit trails that criss-cross the local plantations and farmland.

With three huge climbs on the 125km route ahead, Sophie rode towards the front of the peloton, then led up the first big climb at Brockman Farm, igniting the race. On gradients over 30% the peloton fragmented into small groups stretched out across the muddy trail.

Having been swamped at the top of Brockman Farm, Sophie rode well in the second and later the third group on the road, not far behind the leaders. But as conditions worsened on the Ellis Creek trail, the strongest riders on the day pulled clear. On the tricky run-in to the finish, Germany's Rosa Klöser crashed on a technical bend, and Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, widely regarded as the greatest cyclist of all time, pulled clear. She proved a worthy winner, becoming the first rider to win two elite Gravel World titles. The unlucky Klöser recovered to take second, with Larissa Hartog of the Netherlands in third. Sophie was the first British rider home, finishing 17th and repeating her placing from 2025.

This race brings the curtain down on Sophie's second season with the Ribble Outliers. We can only guess at how well she might have done had she not picked up a rib injury mid-summer, when she was arguably riding well enough to finish at the front of any race.

Sunday dawned brighter after the weather improved overnight. Like Sophie, Jenson is a top 10 UCI-ranked rider, and he lined up on the front row of the men's elite race.

Leading the fast-rolling peloton from the gun, Jenson decided to jump into the break with his comrade from The Gralloch, Austria's Lukas Pöstlberger.

Initially they made up two parts of a four-man break, but within 5km this was reduced to the strongest three. Alongside Peter Schulting of the Netherlands, they had distanced the peloton by the time they hit the gravel.

Pushing hard, they held a two to three minute lead for over 100km of the 144km course, before Jenson slipped back into the clutches of the chasing group of pre-race favourites on the brutal Ellis Creek climb.

Not long after that catch, the front of the race re-formed, with the 14 leaders swapping places until the final descent back into Nannup, when Mads Würtz Schmidt, Connor Swift, Magnus Bak Klaris and Florian Vermeersch broke clear.

On the same tricky bend that saw Rosa Klöser crash the previous day, Würtz Schmidt hit the deck hard. The other three sensed their chance, and once back on the final tarmac road they sprinted for the line.

All four crossed the line on the same time, with the least likely sprinter, Denmark's Magnus Bak Klaris, taking the win ahead of Belgium's Florian Vermeersch and Great Britain's Connor Swift. Würtz Schmidt was fourth.

Not far behind them, Jenson came home in a battling 14th place, having been at the front of the race for three of the four hours.

Women's elite results

1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 4:30:04
2. Rosa Klöser (Germany) +0:27
3. Larissa Hartog (Netherlands) +2:15
4. Sophie Wright (Great Britain, Ribble Outliers) +20:49

Men's elite results

1. Magnus Bak Klaris (Denmark) 4:09:05
2. Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) same time
3. Connor Swift (Great Britain) same time
4. Jenson Young (Great Britain, Ribble Outliers) +6:08

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The road to the 2027 UCI Gravel World Championships in Châtel, Portes du Soleil, begins early next year. Riders earn their place at the Worlds through the UCI Gravel World Series, a calendar of qualifying races around the world, and the Ribble Outliers will line up first at the Castellón Gravel Race in Spain.

It's a big year to qualify. In 2027 gravel joins road, mountain bike and the other cycling disciplines at the UCI Cycling World Championships for the first time, with every discipline racing in Haute-Savoie, France.

Fancy finding your own line off-road? Take a look at our gravel bikes, built for days exactly like these.

Watch this space for all the Ribble Outliers news in 2027.