Photo Finish: Geerike Schreurs Snatches Gravel Worlds 2026 Win

Earlier this week, when we caught up with Geerike Schreurs, we joked that since she was second here at Gravel Worlds last year, it seemed logical that it was her turn to win the race in 2026. In the end, the win did come, but it was close – a photo finish decision (0.01 of a second) over the woman who out-sprinted her here last year – Germany’s Rosa Klöser.

As with the men’s race, the women’s race ended up being fast – Schreurs’ 7:19:37 finish time would break the previous best time on the course of 7:36:42 set by Lauren De Crescenzo in 2021 – despite the tactical nature of the day, which saw no moves that really stuck for any length of time until the winning move, which came, as with the men’s race, around the one and only MMR (minimum maintenance road) that remained on the course after organizers moved from the planned route to the “wet” course after rain storms the night before the race.

Right from the gun the women seemed to be happy to keep things relatively together, with the one lone breakaway in the early stages of the race coming in the form of a one-woman attack from American Hannah Shell.

Even as Shell was opening up a bit of time on the group, no one seemed at all worried, and the American would eventually be caught. A few other moves would end in similar fashion, with things slowing down dramatically once the leaders were caught.

The race is best described by the two women who would reprise their breakaway effort from last year – this time, though, waiting until the last 20 or 30 miles of the course to get away, versus last year’s effort that saw them pull clear at roughly the 30-mile point of the race. Despite a hard crash (more on that below), Klöser was able to join Schreurs in a breakaway that would decide the overall title, leading to the exciting sprint to the line. Rounding out the podium was New Zealand’s Charlotte Clarke.

Geerike Schreurs

It was very close. I was hoping it wouldn’t be that close, but a win is a win.

Not having the MMRs made it a very different race. At one point it was more like a bike race. It was like stop, go, stop, go, stop, go. And if you put a lot of effort into try to get away, the whole group came back. I think, Sofia (her teammate Sofia Gomez Villafañe) and I, we’re really good at making the race hard at times, and that, for sure, made others, tired.

And then finally, on that last MMR, that’s where the final break went. Then it was just committing to the finish line. And then I thought, “Well, we will see who has the fastest legs,” and this time it was me.

Rosa and I, we are have had lots of races together. She’s beaten me many times as well, but it’s always nice to race with her. She always wants to race. I’m the same. So we both know, once we are together going away, we will put the work in, and then it’s, easier to keep going together.

I said at one point to her, “Here we are again,” and she said, “Yep.” And I thought, “Okay, but this time I need to play it differently.” And, so yeah, I learned from last year. I took the control earlier and I knew I needed to make it a long sprint, although it was maybe a bit too long because she got so close.

Rosa Klöser

I went down really, really hard, to be honest (at about 140 km into the race) … I really appreciated Gee (Geerike) in that moment because she checked in with me right away. I banged up my shoulder, elbow and knee pretty badly, and my entire cockpit was twisted — shifter and everything — so I was almost sure I’d pull out at the next feed, because out in Nebraska you’re in the middle of nowhere and can’t just stop. I had to chase back to the group first, and once I was back in it, I could tell my legs were still pretty okay. So I figured, okay, I can either stop at the feed now, or just ride the last 55–60k and finish. We were in a big group, but I usually have a pretty good sprint, so even after the crash I was confident I could finish top five out of that group.

Then we saw an opportunity — G attacked and I jumped with her. At that point I was just like, whatever, I’m not holding back. I could tell I was pulling the harder turns, but I didn’t care — I just wanted to finish. Honestly, I told myself I’d just follow her through the corners, because I really didn’t want to crash again before the final straight. But, then I saw an opening in the sprint — Gee’s a good sprinter, but I don’t think she went quite as fast as I expected, so I tried to come around. I might have just waited a little too long. I think we ended up in a photo finish — I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know exactly how close it was, but I heard it was tight.

A little déjà vu from last year, just a few miles shorter. Last year we got away at kilometer 50, about 30 miles in, and rode the whole way to the finish. This year we got away with 30 miles to go, so a bit of a plot twist.

To be honest, when Gee and I got away, I thought, even second is fine today considering how hard I went down. But then I’m a racer, so in the end I want to win — and when you come back as defending champion, anything short of winning feels like losing. So, yeah, let’s hope we can add a few more wins this season.

Charlotte Clarke

It was a good day. It was really enjoyable. I loved the course. It was definitely very much like a road race. I come from roads, so I quite liked that. We’ve been up in the mountains the past five weeks in Leadville, so coming back down to sea level felt pretty good.

It was pretty hard. I think every roller we pushed full gas up. So I found it to be a pretty hard day out.

With about 10 km to go, Gee and Rosa were off the front. We weren’t chasing very cohesively. And then there was a lull in the pace and I just did a little seated attack and no one followed, so it was sweet and I committed and somehow opened up a gap and held it.

It’s been a big step up for me this season and I haven’t got the results I’ve wanted, but I’ve just kept being patient and consistent and it’s really cool to see it pay off.

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