Geerike Schreurs and Mads Würtz Schmidt carried the red colours of Specialized Off-road across the line in Bouillon, Belgium Sunday to win The River by The Traka, the final instalment of the 2026 Gravel Earth Series (GES).
It was an inaugural edition for the Belgian race, which was run across 160 km and 2,550 metres of elevation gain across the Ardennes hills.
Schreurs rode solo to win in 5:23:13 for her fourth victory in six GES starts, leaving Larissa Hartog (Canyon x DT Swiss ATR), Axelle Dubau-Prévôt (EF Education-Oatly) and Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) to battle for the rest of the podium spots. The trio sprinted across the line 5:34 back, Hartog taking second, Dubau-Prévôt third and the former Unbound Gravel 200 winner was fourth.
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“I felt good from the start and it didn’t go super fast and I had a plan and I attacked after 55km on a kicker and I knew it would be fast after that. I thought I’d just put in a high effort and see if anyone could follow,” Schreurs said in an interview put out on Gravel Earth series social media after the event.
“I quickly realised they couldn’t close it so I just kept going and kept pushing and enjoying the course. It was great.”
After sweeping the final competition in a trio of events – Oregon Trail Gravel, CORE4 and The River – Schreurs also won the pro women’s title of the series with 210 points. Dubau-Prévôt was 31 points back in second and Hartog another 19 points back in third. Migoń, who won the GES in 2024 and was second last year, settled for sixth this year.
This is the third time in four seasons that Schreurs has finished in the top 10, going fourth last year and fifth in 2023.
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European Champion Würtz Schmidt completed a run of five wins in five races in his series appearances to wrap up the men’s title. At The River, he got away for a solo victory, like his teammate in the women’s race, but not by as large a margin after illness hampered his run in to the event.
“Today was a bit unexpected, I got sick last week after European Championships and basically didn’t train all week so I was 50/50 coming into this and I was riding a little bit more conservative and saving myself and not going my usual style,” said Würtz Schmidt.
“Slowly I got better during the race and I could ride away, attack and win the race.”
After Würtz Schmidt posted a time of 4:36:43, a charge of five riders followed three minutes later, Célestin Guillon (Gravel Nation) getting a late gap to go second and Nils Brun (3T Privateer) taking third ahead of Petr Vakoc (SK Velo Praha), Joel Suter and Nortje Tristan.
The two-time European Gravel Champion carried an impenetrable lead into The River, just needing to finish to take the pro men’s title. His wins in the series included The Traka 360, contributing to a total haul of 220 points. Hugo Drechou (Gravel Nation) edged Petr Vakoč (SK Velo Praha), 146 points to 140, for second place.
This year, there were 12 races in six countries where riders could collect points in the elite women’s and elite men’s categories of the series, with the top 10 determined from best scores at The River and three other events. Those athletes share in a €25,000 prize purse.
The River Results
|
Position |
Rider (Country) |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Geerike Schreurs (Ned) |
5:23:13 |
|
2 |
Larissa Hartog (Ned) |
0:05:34 |
|
3 |
Axelle Dubau-Prevot (Fra) |
Row 2 – Cell 2 |
|
4 |
Karolina Migoń (Pol) |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
5 |
Maaike Coljé (Ned) |
0:06:01 |
|
6 |
Hanne Van Loock (Bel) |
0:10:12 |
|
7 |
Nathalie Eklund (Swe) |
0:12:55 |
|
8 |
Clara Koppenburg (Ger) |
0:12:56 |
|
9 |
Sophie Wright (GBr) |
0:13:55 |
|
10 |
Elena Hartmann (Swi) |
0:16:55 |
|
11 |
Jil Brünger (Ger) |
0:18:28 |
|
12 |
Floor Van Elsacker (Ned) |
0:19:50 |
|
13 |
Liv Pijpers (Ned) |
0:23:56 |
|
14 |
Jana Dobbelaere (Bel) |
0:27:33 |
|
15 |
Tatiana Tournut (Fra) |
0:27:35 |
|
Position |
Rider (Country) |
Time Gap |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) |
4:36:43 |
|
2 |
Célestin Guillon (Fra) |
0:03:00 |
|
3 |
Nils Brun (Swi) |
0:03:01 |
|
4 |
Petr Vakoc (Cze) |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
5 |
Joel Suter (Swi) |
Row 4 – Cell 2 |
|
6 |
Tristan Nortje (RSA) |
0:03:02 |
|
7 |
Gilles De Wilde (Bel) |
0:04:52 |
|
8 |
Floris De Tier (Bel) |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
|
9 |
Adne Koster (Ned) |
0:04:53 |
|
10 |
Lawrence Naesen (Bel) |
0:04:55 |
|
11 |
Hugo Drechou (Fra) |
0:05:07 |
|
12 |
Peat Weinberg (Ger) |
0:06:18 |
|
13 |
Eddy Le Huitouze (Fra) |
0:06:30 |
|
14 |
Max Adler (USA) |
0:08:40 |
|
15 |
Pietro Dutto (Ita) |
0:08:41 |
Gravel Earth Series final standings
|
Position |
Rider (Country) |
Points |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Geerike Schreurs (Ned) |
210 |
|
2 |
Axelle Dubau-Prevot (Fra) |
179 |
|
3 |
Larissa Hartog (Ned) |
161 |
|
4 |
Nathalie Eklund (Swe) |
141 |
|
5 |
Morgan Aguirre (USA) |
138 |
|
6 |
Karolina Migoń (Pol) |
138 |
|
7 |
Sophie Wright (GBr) |
128 |
|
8 |
Hanne Van Loock (Bel) |
109 |
|
9 |
Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Arg) |
100 |
|
10 |
Elena Hartmann (Swi) |
91 |
|
Position |
Rider (Country) |
Points |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) |
220 |
|
2 |
Hugo Drechou (Fra) Gravel Nation |
146 |
|
3 |
Petr Vakoc (Cze) |
140 |
|
4 |
Celestin Guillon (Fra) Gravel Nation |
128 |
|
5 |
Tobias Mørch Kongstad (Den) |
116 |
|
6 |
Benjamin Perry (Can) |
107 |
|
7 |
Bradyn Lange (USA) |
100 |
|
8 |
Magnus Bak Klaris (Den) |
93 |
|
9 |
Nils Brun (Swi) |
86 |
|
10 |
Matthew Beers (RSA) |
80 |