World stars set for Gravel Burn Eastern Cape showdown

A host of world stars will be on show when the Nedbank Gravel Burn stage race gets under way in Robert Sobukwe Town on Sunday, heading for its finish at the Shamwari Private Game Reserve on October 31.

Two-time mountain bike marathon world champions Andreas Seewald and Henrique Avancini, Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson and 2026 Gravel World Championships bronze medallist Larissa Hartog will join defending champions Matt Beers and Axelle Dubau-Prévot at the start.

The second edition of the race, which covers 750km through the Great Karoo over seven days, has attracted a field with victories on the cobblestones of northern France, the gravel roads of Kansas and the challenging trails of the Cape Epic.

In its second year, as was the case in the inaugural edition, the event has attracted the world's most competitive field in gravel stage racing, bringing together established champions and emerging contenders.

Beers, fresh from a ninth-place finish at the recent Gravel World Championships in Australia, returns with the advantage of knowing what it takes to win the Nedbank Gravel Burn and with the desire to fend off any challengers on home soil.

The popular SA star claimed the title in 2025 and arrives in 2026 with another major stage race victory behind him, having won his fourth Cape Epic, alongside fellow South African Tristan Nortje, in March.

Beers followed that victory up with consistent performances at international gravel and mountain bike races in 2026.

Nortje, the 25-year-old fourth-place finisher at Nedbank Gravel Burn 2025, is also on the start list, as is Marc Pritzen, giving local supporters three of SA cycling's strongest riders to cheer for during the week's racing.

Pritzen, national marathon champion, stage winner at the Cape Epic and winner of the 2022 Cape Town Cycle Tour, comes into the race in red-hot form and will look to end his excellent season on a high.

Brazil's Avancini finished 11th at the Gravel World Championships and brings the firepower that won him two marathon world titles to his first Gravel Burn.

No stranger to SA conditions, Avancini is a multiple podium finisher at the Cape Epic, and his handling skills and race pedigree will push the racing to the limit.

In Germany's Seewald, who won his second marathon world title in September, the event showcases a five-star competitor who knows how to dig deep and suffer over long distances.

Seewald's presence will ensure the racing remains dynamic and tactical throughout.

Switzerland's Simon Pellaud will look to go one better in 2026 after finishing second to Beers in 2025.

Runner-up at Unbound Gravel 200 and second overall in the Life Time Grand Prix in 2025, Pellaud has already shown that his experience in the professional road peloton (riding for Tudor Pro Cycling until 2024) transfers well to long days on gravel.

Germany's Lukas Baum, a former Cape Epic winner, returns after finishing fifth at Nedbank Gravel Burn 2025.

Switzerland's Filippo Colombo arrives in top form after a podium finish at the final round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in the US, and brings the explosive speed of a World Cup racer to his Gravel Burn campaign.

France's Hugo Drechou, Switzerland's Andri Frischknecht and the Netherlands' Hans Becking add further depth to a men's field that also includes the Netherlands' Mathijs Loman, American Griffin Easter and Belgium's Lawrence Naesen.

Pritzen's Cape Epic teammate Felix Stehli, fresh from a solid finish at the Gravel World Championships and two stage wins alongside Pritzen at the 2026 Swiss Epic, will also make his debut in the Great Karoo in 2026.

French rider Dubau-Prévot returns after producing one of the defining performances of the inaugural women's race.

The 2025 winner started the final stage almost nine minutes off the overall lead, then overturned that deficit to claim the title at Shamwari.

Canada's Jackson brings the pedigree of her 2023 Paris-Roubaix victory to the race.

Elena Hartmann is a three-time Swiss champion (time-trial) and finished both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia last year.

Nathalie Eklund has won the Swedish national gravel title twice, while Germany's Carolin Schiff won 2023 Unbound Gravel 200.

All have proved themselves in races where endurance, positioning and handling difficult conditions are essential.

The recent Gravel World Championships in Australia provided another measure of the quality heading to SA.

The Netherlands' Larissa Hartog claimed bronze, Germany's Nele Laing finished fourth and Switzerland's Irina Lützelschwab took seventh.

All three will make their Nedbank Gravel Burn debuts in October, alongside Schiff, who finished 11th at the Gravel World Championships.

Germany's Jade Treffeisen and Canadian rider Sarah Diekmeyer also raced at the Gravel World Championships and will join a field featuring SA's Hayley Preen, as well as the US's Alexis Skarda, Great Britain's Isla Short and Germany's Clara Koppenburg.

Preen, third at Nedbank Gravel Burn 2025 by mere seconds, has spent the season racing between SA and the US and currently sits fourth overall in the Life Time Grand Prix series.

Race founder Kevin Vermaak said: "It's great to welcome back both defending champions alongside world champions, a Paris-Roubaix winner and a Gravel World Championships medallist in only our second year.

"Stage racing in the Karoo is a different kind of test.

"It demands patience, resilience and smart racing as much as firepower — we can't wait to see how the race unfolds." — Nedbank Gravel Burn