UCI Gravel World Championships 2026 elite men LIVE – Strong break continue to drag out their advantage

One of the Dutch riders with a dropped chain in the peloton. That will likely see his day end at the front of the race now the pace is really on.

The peloton splitting to bits on this descent with several riders looking like they are struggling to follow the Danish trio out front.

The rain is starting to fall now and it is making it a bit skittish with Pöstlberger saving a slide on a hairpin having to take a foot out.

The leaders are now descending Arcadia. More rutted tracks with a big lock up of the back wheel by Young.

Mads Würtz Schmidt is hoping to add the rainbow jersey to his European, Traka and Unbound titles from this year and his Danish team are riding like he is very confident in doing it…

>>> ‘Full focus on World Championships’ – Mads Würtz Schmidt chasing a set of rainbow bands to add to The Traka and Unbound titles in 2026

Denmark now takes full control of the peloton with all three riders on the front. The gap is at 2’38” up to the leaders.

Lindberg tried a move off the front of the peloton but he was heavily marked by Habets and Avancini with the rest coming back across as well.

75km to go

Lead:

Schulting (NED)
Young (GBR)
Pöstlberger (AUT)

Chase +2’10”:

Bak Klaris (DEN)
Würtz Schmidt (DEN)
Beers (RSA)
Swenson (USA)
Stosek (CZE)
Vermeersch (BEL)
South (CAN)
Avancini (BRA)
Swift (GBR)
Voss (GER)
Lindberg (DEN)
Dewulf (BEL)
Loman (NED)
O’Brien (AUS)
Habets (NED)
Bettendorff (LUX)

Over the top of Arcadia and the gap has been sliced again with Bak Klaris and Würtz Schmidt taking it down to 2’10”.

Würtz Schmidt hit the front of the peloton and he has absolutely obliterated the group losing around 12 riders from the bunch.

Multiple riders being spat out of the peloton including Sweden’s Michael Tjulander. Likewise Luxembourg’s Loïc Bettendorff.

The peloton are now 3’03” down on the leaders with 29 riders in the bunch.

Stehli now being distanced off the back of the peloton.

This is the loop that was not used in the women’s race. The Arcadia climb is a brutal ascent and, like all the climbs on the route, has a nasty plateau over the top before descending.

The peloton just rode through a feed zone and have been given an update on the time. Immediately the pace in the pack is upped by Denmark.

Arcadia climb now at 2.5km long with an average gradient of 8.4% with an absolutely astonishingly steep max kick of 34%.

Several Dutch riders in the peloton including Adne Koster at the back. He has had quite the season including 6th at Unbound.

Andreas Stokbro Nielsen (Denmark) off the back of the peloton at the moment. A rider we would expect to still be right up there but he may have had an issue.

Couple of spots of rain on the course at the moment as the riders were treated to a small section of asphalt before returning to the gravel and a few deep potholes.

Mechanical

Harrison Bebbington (Australia)

Looks like the rider who finished third in the World Series version of this race earlier in the year has some pedal issues.

90km to go

Schulting gets back on to the wheels of Pöstlberger and Young. Their gap back to the chasing peloton is sat at 2’34” currently.

There has been some great crowds out in Western Australia so far.

Pöstlberger and Young gapping Schulting on this descent as the track is very rutted and churned up.

There’s an new split in the peloton. Almost perfectly in half. It will stitch back together but a lot of looking around.

For the first time, the leading trio now are said to have a gap of 3’09” on the peloton. That is a very big gap to give riders of the quality of Young, Schulting and Pöstlberger.

This is said to be the most pure gravel worlds we have seen, take a deeper dive into the worlds route in the link below…

>>> The gravelliest UCI Gravel World Championships of them all – A detailed look at the ‘perfect storm’ of terrain that riders will face this October in Western Australia

After some undulating and a few kicker climbs the riders are finally going to get another proper descent. This is the way of all the climbs on the route, they don’t go downhill properly after the top, they drag on and plateau for a bit with a few climbs dotted along the undulating way to the descent.

100km to go

The gap is said to be at 2’28” and by the way they are riding it looks like it could be possible.

Felix Stehli (Switzerland), Roman Holzer (Switzerland) and Ole Theiler (Germany) sitting at the back of the peloton currently.

All three big names who were off the back at Brockman, Beers, Avancini and Vermeersch, are now all at the front of the peloton.

Vermeersch hasn’t had the best start to the race losing touch on Brockman but he appears to be up towards the front again now…

>>> ‘I’m here to just go all-out and race without any regret’ – Florian Vermeersch prepared for Gravel Worlds title defence

Beers is indeed back in the peloton and goes straight to the front. The South African will want a good result but he is also on the same trade team as Würtz Schmidt with the Specialized often riding well together as a team across gravel.

A perfect showing of this was Würtz Schmidt and Swenson at Unbound when the Dane has a puncture so Swenson sacrificed his own chances to make sure the team got the win.

The peloton has regrouped a little bit as the likes of Vermeersch, Beers and Avancini appear to be back in there.

Onto the Shale climb. Named for the shale style gravel which is much more traditional to what we see in Europe, especially the UK.

Now onto the Mader climb at 750m with an average of 12% on more traditional gravel compared to the pea gravel. The time gap is said to be 2’33” but we’ll take that with a pinch of salt after the live timings at the top of Brockman.

It is not going to plan for Beers so far but perhaps he is coming back from an issue. He came to this race with a medal on his mind…

>>> Matt Beers ready to chase ‘a medal of any kind’ as he picks shot at Gravel World Championships glory over Life Time Grand Prix

Daan Soete (Belgium) is another big name who is out of the back. He is even further off the back than Vermeersch, Beers and Avancini.

Now onto the Adina climb for the leaders.

Defending champion Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) is out of the back with other big names Matt Beers (South Africa) and Henrique Avancini (Brazil). They’re a minute out of the back of the peloton.

The gap updates on the timings and the peloton are now just 1’02” down with Connor Swift (Great Britain), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Denmark), Keegan Swenson (USA) and Paul Voss (Germany) leading the way.

The tempo in the peloton has seen 30″ chipped off the advantage of the three leaders with 2’00” the new gap.

Piotr Havik (Netherlands) losing touch at the back of the peloton as well as multiple Danish riders but they still have numbers at the front with Mads Würtz Schmidt, Magnus Bak Klaris and Andreas Stokbro.

Pirotte is finally caught by the peloton with the Danish causing some damage here as the bunch is starting to split further.

These three out front are riding very well together as we get to see Pirotte for the first time in a while as he is still very much in no-mans-land.

Back in the peloton it is Denmark who have taken up the chasing for their leader and European champion Mads Würtz Schmidt.

The first major climb of the day, it is the climb of Brockman, 1.7km with a hellish average of 12%. This really split things up in the women’s race but it was not decisive.

One of the Australian riders just having a spill on the hairpin on the bottom of the descent. The peloton had split with a few riders now getting back in including Freddy Ovett (Australia).

120km to go

Young, Schulting and Pöstlberger have 2’30” on the pack now.

Few more riders out the back of the peloton including a couple from Canada as well as Rick Nobel (Netherlands). It is a real war of attrition out there.

The first descent is on now as they go down Killarney. All the riders out front are giving plenty of space to each other and making sure they get down this slightly damp and skittish descent.

Two riders have kicked out of the peloton. Another Dutch rider as well as one from Belgium.

They are now on the first climb of the day, the Killarney climb. Pöstlberger, Young and Schulting have 2’09” now on the bunch. This could be very dangerous as all three leaders are very capable with Pöstlberger and Young both winners of World Series races this year.

130km to go

The leading trio have 1’40” on the peloton now as there’s a couple of riders already struggling at the back of the pack.

Pöstlberger and Young went up against each other earlier in the year with the Austrian taking the win at The Gralloch in Gatehouse-of-Fleet and the Forest of Galloway up in Scotland.

Gravel starts

This is very typical racing to the European scene. They are absolutely flying. Usually in Europe the race goes out fast due to narrow tracks whereas in the US it tends to be a slower start due to the wide tracks, which we do have here, but the racing is rapid.

After briefly losing pictures we go back to the break and see that Pirotte is no longer in the break who have 58″ on the peloton. Maybe a mechanical or just dropping back.

Pöstlberger and Young are joined Peter Schulting (Netherlands) and Jo Pirotte (Belgium).

A few more counter attacks coming out of the peloton trying to get ahead before the gravel even starts.

One of the Danish riders is trying to bridge but is struggling to get to the four leaders who have 46″ on the peloton.

One of the Lithuanian riders tried to be involved but has already been distanced. Two riders from Lithuania racing today, they are Martynas Tomkus and Valdemar Volodko.

Attack

Lukas Pöstlberger (Austria)
Jenson Young (Great Britain)

Plus four others go clear early.

They have 9km of asphalt to begin before the gravel. The route is 85% gravel and hardly ever flat.

143.7km to go

Racing begins for the World Gravel Championships 2026 in Nannup, Western Australia as the sun makes a rare appearance at these championships.

The route is 143.7km but an absolutely brutal 3713 metres of elevation.

There are a few road riders at the race, it is not just Vermeersch. Stan Dewulf (Belgium), Connor Swift (Great Britain), Andreas Stokbro (Denmark), Anton Stensby (Norway), Cameron Scott (Australia) and Ole Theiler (Germany).

Around 15 minutes until the race gets underway.

There’s also former mountain bike world champion Henrique Avancini (Brazil) riding. He has had a superb road season winning the GC at the Tour of the Gila as well as finishing in the top 10 at the Tour du Rwanda. He also won the Brazil gravel and has looked strong on the tracks. One to watch.

The gravel specialists will be hoping they can take the win this time, though. The likes of Mads Würtz Schmidt (Denmark), Jenson Young (Great Britain), Daan Soete (Belgium), Matthew Beers (South Africa), Keegan Swenson (USA) and others will all hope to better the ‘roadies’ today.

Much like in the women’s side of the sport, the worlds have been dominated by road riders with Vermeersch being the current holder of the rainbow bands after Gianni Vermeersch, Matej Mohoric and Mathieu van der Poel.

Unfortunately, after travelling to Australia for the race Czech rider Petr Vakoč has had to pull out of the race due to illness. He is one of eight riders down as a DNS so far today.

It was extremely muddy yesterday for the women but it did help on the unique pea gravel that is on most of the course here. When dry it is like riding on ice. Very slippery and unpredictable. When wet it compacts down and is far more manageable.

First things first, let’s relive the action from yesterday and that absolutely brutal women’s race won by the great Marianne Vos. Her 15th world title across four disciplines won with one of the most impressive rides from the Dutch star in some time…

>>> Gravel World Championships: Marianne Vos solos to another rainbow jersey after Rosa Klöser crashes in finale of elite women’s race

Hello and welcome to Cycling News‘ live updates of the men’s elite UCI Gravel World Championships 2026 from Nannup in Western Australia.

An update from our Australia Editor Simone Giuliani on the ground in Nannup:

In Nannup there have been a few short sprinkles of rain this morning, but the sun is now making an appearance and with very little rain in the forecast and a top temperature of around 16°C it looks like we will have a far drier race for the elite men than the elite women faced yesterday. Though there is bound to still be mud out on course.