OPENINGA 120 km gravel course with roughly 2,400 m of climbing, starting from Peille — a village perched at 650 m in the Alpes-Maritimes — and heading up into the Mercantour National Park. The route took in the Col des Banquettes and the Col de Braus, the latter made famous by the 2024 Tour de France, on a punishing parcours that favoured pure climbing strength. Run on the same elite course for men and women, with shorter 83 km options for the older age categories, the field was a mix of road pros turned gravel privateers and dedicated gravel specialists.

UNFOLDSThe relentless climbing through the Mercantour stretched both fields out over the day, with the decisive selections coming on the long ascents rather than in any bunch finish. In the men's race Romain Bardet — already a 2026 UCI Gravel winner at the Castellon Gravel Race and at RADL GRVL in Australia — used his Grand Tour climbing pedigree to ride away from the front group.

DECIDEDBardet attacked and soloed to the finish, opening more than three minutes on the chase. Behind him the podium battle settled with Paul Voss and Sascha Weber clear of the rest, the trio separated from a tightly packed group fighting for the remaining top-ten places (Perry Benjamin, Nils Brun and Petr Vakoc all within seconds of the Weber). In the women's race Sophie Wright, riding for Ribble Outliers, attacked her breakaway companions to ride clear alone.

FINALEBardet crossed the line in 3:47:38, with Voss (+3:14) and Weber (+3:32) completing the men's podium. Wright won the women's race in 4:27:35, with Nicole Frain second at +7:55 and Jade Wiel — the WorldTour road sprinter of FDJ United Suez — third at +19:50, the large gaps underlining how selective the Mercantour climbing proved. With top-25%-per-category qualification on offer, dozens of riders secured tickets to the 2026 Gravel Worlds in Nannup.