This page contains the podium, decisive moments, tactical analysis, team verdicts, and per-rider performance reports. Read no further if you intend to watch this race unspoiled.
Solo wins for two Australians on the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships course in Nannup, Western Australia. In the elite men's race (125 km), Brendan Johnston (Giant) rode away in the closing kilometres from a leading trio to win in 3:55:56, seven seconds clear of defending champion Mark O'Brien, with Harrison Bebbington third. In the elite women's race, national champion Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) attacked on the closing loop and time-trialled to a dominant solo win in 4:28:52 — her third SEVEN title — ahead of New Zealand's Maria Laurie and Matilda Raynolds. This UCI Gravel World Series round doubled as a preview of the October World Championships on the same course.
OPENINGCool conditions and overnight rain greeted more than 2,000 participants from 29 countries rolling out of central Nannup from 7am for the UCI Gravel World Series round — the same Western Australian course that will host the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships in October. The elite men's 125 km field included four former winners: Johnston, O'Brien, Tasman Nankervis and Adam Blazevic.
UNFOLDSIn the men's race the lead group was steadily whittled down by attacks — to five, then four, until only Johnston, O'Brien and Harrison Bebbington remained at the front. O'Brien was the strongest on the long climbs, at one point distancing the others, but Johnston and Bebbington kept clawing back. In the women's race Cromwell used her experience to reduce the front group to herself, Matilda Raynolds and Maria Laurie.
DECIDEDThe men's race looked set for a three-up sprint before Johnston, knowing the finish suited him, rode away in the closing kilometres. In the women's race Cromwell made her move on the closing loop, quickly building a 40-second lead that grew to over a minute as she went into 'time trial mode'.
FINALEJohnston won in 3:55:56, seven seconds clear of O'Brien, with Bebbington a further 22 seconds back — Johnston's fifth straight UCI gravel win. Cromwell soloed home in 4:28:52, becoming the first three-time SEVEN winner (also 2023 and 2025), with Laurie second at 2:30 and Raynolds third a second behind her.
Brendan Johnston rode a patient, course-savvy race on the future Worlds parcours, sitting in while O'Brien tried to break the group on the climbs and then using his finishing knowledge to ride away in the closing kilometres. The win — his fifth consecutive UCI gravel victory and a repeat of his 2024 SEVEN title — banked valuable course intelligence ahead of October's World Championships on the same roads.
Australian national champion Tiffany Cromwell opened her gravel season with a commanding solo win, becoming the first three-time winner of SEVEN. She methodically reduced the front group, then attacked on the closing loop and time-trialled clear by over a minute. Cromwell framed it as a confidence-restoring result after a difficult few months and a marker as she eyes the rainbow jersey on the same Nannup course in October.
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SEVEN's value this year went beyond the win: it let riders sample the exact course that will decide the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup in October. Both winners pointed to the course knowledge as the real prize, with Cromwell already weighing a tilt at the rainbow jersey on home roads. For the bulk of the 2,000-plus field, the top 25% in each age and gender category secured qualification for those Worlds and the UEC European Gravel Championships.