European champion Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road) and Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) claimed victories at The Traka 360, both triumphing solo in the 325km race in Girona race which draws the attention of the gravel world.
Hugo Drechou (Gravel Nation) was second among the men’s pro field with Matt Beers (Specialized Off-Road) third after the chasing group split apart in an aggressive finale, eventually finishing some 11 minutes down on Würtz Schmidt.
In the women’s race, Axelle Dubau-Prévot (EF Education-Oatly) was the runner-up for the second year in a row, unable to match the formidable effort from Klöser, whilst Geerike Scheurs (Specialized Off-Road) took third after a long solo chase in the race, which is the jewel of the Gravel Earth Series.
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Würtz Schmidt spent over 100km solo, pulling out a huge gap on a large chasing group, and completing the course in nine hours, 57 minutes and 38 seconds to succeed Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing) as the winner.
It’s back-to-back Traka wins for the Dane, who won the 200km event last year, and indeed he is the first rider to win both headline events at The Traka –
However, asked if he might go for the triple and try to win the 560 race, Würtz Schmidt told Cyclingnews, “Never ever, never never never. I’m back on the 200 next year. I’m happy I won this, because now I don’t have to do it again.”
Klöser finished in a time of 11 hours, 27 minutes and 57 seconds, finishing 12:53 ahead of Dubau-Prévot in the end, and 18:29 clear of Scheurs
“I really hope Karolina [Migoń] is OK. I was just sending a message to her,” she said of the defending champion who seemingly had an incident on the course.
Elite men
In the men’s race, Würtz Schmidt followed in the footsteps of Tobias Kongstad’s mammoth solo last year, going solo with more than 100km to race and building a lead of several minutes over the chasers to claim a dominant victory.
There was a large chasing group in pursuit of the European champion, but even their strength in numbers couldn’t match his solo strength, and they were left fighting for second, 12 minutes down going into the final kilometres.
Canada’s Ben Perry launched an attack from the chasers in the final 6km on singletrack to get away from the group and try to grab the runner-up spot, but was chased down by Hugo Drechou, who passed him and proved strongest in the finale, riding to second.
Matt Beers set off to try and reel Drechou back in, using his mountain bike skills in the technical finale to shake off Romain Bardet, and he nearly made it. The South African could see Drechou on the finishing grass stretch, but couldn’t quite catch the Frenchman and settled for third on the line, making it a 1-3 for Specialized Off-Road.
Perry’s late efforts were rewarded with fourth, whilst Bardet took fifth. Defending champion Tobias Kongstad couldn’t repeat his win from 2025, settling for seventh, 16:25 down on the winner.
Elite women
The women’s race was also won solo, and the front of the racing stayed closer for only slightly longer than the men’s race, after Klöser herself had forced an early selection over the first climbs.
A small elite group formed in the first 200km of racing, eventually whittling down to just two, in Klöser and Dubau-Prévot, having dropped Geerike Scheurs and a problem for defending champion Migoń.
Former Unbound winner Klöser then put the hammer down on a climb with just over 90km to go to dispatch with the French champion.
Klöser had a lead of three minutes after only 20 more kilometres, which initially looked closeable for Dubau-Prévot, with Scheurs also only a few minutes back, but despite the best efforts from the two chasers, the gaps only got bigger, not smaller, as the riders spread across the course in the final hours of racing.
Ultimately, Kloser would pull out a lead of nearly 13 minutes over Dubau-Prévot, who had to settle for second once again, whilst Scheurs seemed happy with third.
The rest of the field came over the line in dribs and drabs, with gaps of over an hour even within the top 10 after a long and hard day on the Girona gravel.
Results
|
Position |
Rider (Team) |
Time |
|
1. |
Mads Würtz Schmidt (Specialized Off-Road) |
9:57:38 |
|
2. |
Hugo Drechou (Gravel Nation) |
+11:18 |
|
3. |
Matthew Beers (Specialized Off-Road) |
+11:30 |
|
4. |
Ben Perry (Castelli SOG) |
+12:08 |
|
5. |
Romain Bardet (Factor Racing x Rapha) |
+12:15 |
|
6. |
Paul Voß (Autsaid x Rose Bikes) |
+12:47 |
|
7. |
Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing |
+16:25 |
|
8. |
Row 8 – Cell 1 | Row 8 – Cell 2 |
|
9. |
Row 9 – Cell 1 | Row 9 – Cell 2 |
|
10. |
Row 10 – Cell 1 | Row 10 – Cell 2 |
|
Position |
Rider (Team) |
Time |
|
1. |
Rosa Klöser (privateer) |
11:27:58 |
|
2. |
Axelle Dubau-Prévot (EF Education-Oatly) |
+12:53 |
|
3. |
Geerike Scheurs (Specialized Off-Road) |
+18:29 |
|
4. |
Morgan Aguirre (PAS Racing) |
+33:40 |
|
5. |
Haley Smith (Trek Driftless) |
+34:32 |
|
6. |
Row 6 – Cell 1 | Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
7. |
Row 7 – Cell 1 | Row 7 – Cell 2 |
|
8. |
Row 8 – Cell 1 | Row 8 – Cell 2 |
|
9. |
Row 9 – Cell 1 | Row 9 – Cell 2 |
|
10. |
Row 10 – Cell 1 | Row 10 – Cell 2 |