Elite Herrer / U23 (7 × 20 km)

Elite Herrer / U23 (7 × 20 km)

Seven times round a lap of about 20 km, roughly half asphalt and half wide forest roads with fast gravel. Each lap opens fast and downhill into a technical corner and a hard climb, with a hard hill about 600 metres in, about three kilometres of gravel before the first asphalt, and short kickers all the way round. The route is mostly one-way, with short two-way stretches on Tinnetvej near the finish, and the age-group classes are on the same lap at the same time from two minutes behind.

There are no following cars. Feeding, bottle drops and mechanical help happen only in the marked depot zone on the right just past the finish line, which is also the only place on the course to drop waste; littering elsewhere means disqualification. A sweep vehicle circulates all day to bring riders with a defect back to the finish. The podium is decided in the class, and the final also settles the overall DCU Gravel Cup podium. This page is about the 2026 edition.

On seven laps the depot sees each rider seven times, and the people standing there need to know which pass is which. A Livebib broadcast that the rider shares shows the position on the lap, the distance covered (and so which lap it is) and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes. It opens in a browser with no account and no app, anything estimated is marked as estimated, and the rider decides who has the link.