Cycling: Nice will ultimately not host the Gravel World Championships

Change of program. The Gravel World Championships, initially scheduled for Nice on October 18, 2025, will ultimately not take place in the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced on Tuesday.

"The UCI and the city of Nice are experiencing difficulties in organising the event in the capital of the Côte d'Azur on this date, and given various technical and calendar constraints, it has been decided by mutual agreement not to organise the 4th edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships in Nice," the international federation stressed in its press release.

"The UCI is currently studying different options to find a new organiser and a new site. These, as well as the date of the event, will be announced as soon as possible," the body added.

A new cycling discipline born around fifteen years ago in the United States, gravel , which alternates between passages on asphalt roads and paths, is enjoying growing popularity.

French rider Romain Bardet, who is set to retire from the professional road cycling peloton after the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, has announced his participation in the 2025 Gravel World Championships. In 2024, Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel was crowned world champion in the discipline in Leuven (Belgium).