The Rift and the Gravel Earth Series are parting ways, and a new race in Iceland has taken The Rift’s place in the series.
Josh Weinberg
Thomas Euler is a gravel fanatic. Besides writing about gravel on Escape Collective, he has his own “gravel-coded” The Gravel Stack Substack. He also hosts the Gracing podcast, where he (p)reviews gravel races, often with the top pros who competed.
The Rift and the Gravel Earth Series are parting ways, as fans might have noticed when the schedule for the latter was unveiled last week, and the news marks a surprising split between one of gravel’s most beloved races and one of its premier racing series.
To longtime gravel watchers, the changes are a sign of a deeper shift in how the business of gravel is being done. As the Gravel Earth Series expands and centralizes, independent organizers are bristling at rising costs, branding demands, and what some describe as an increasingly one-sided partnership. The result is a rare public fracture, and a broader unease about whether gravel’s rapid growth is starting to look uncomfortably like the more corporate corners of the sport it once defined itself against.
The background
The Gravel Earth Series, run by a family-run Spanish company called Klassmark, is one of the “big three” competitions in gravel, alongside the Life Time Grand Prix and the UCI Gravel World Series. Last year, the GES made strides and raised its profile and reputation in the community significantly. For the 2025 season, they added several more races in the US and North America, making the series more accessible for the top names from the US. And they came. Life Time Grand Prix riders like Sofia Gómez Villafane and Matt Beers competed in the series, and others like Sarah Sturm and Pete Stetina even favored it over the LTGP.
One of the ways in which the GES differs from the LTGP is in the fact that Klassmark partners with other race organizers. That’s how the 2025 season ended up featuring three of gravel’s most prestigious races (I like to call them Monuments of Gravel): The Traka, which is Klassmark’s own race, Lauf Gravel Worlds, and The Rift.
The latter two are independently organized. Lauf Gravel Worlds had only joined the series ahead of the 2025 season. The Rift, meanwhile, has been part of the series since its inception in 2023. In total, the past season featured 25 races in 15 countries, spanning five continents.
That’s why many people were rather surprised – or even shocked – when Klassmark released the schedule of next year’s season at the end of last week. It includes only 12 races, and only three in the Americas (down from 10 last year). Another detail that raised eyebrows was the absence of certain events, including Lauf Gravel Worlds and The Rift.
Instead of The Rift, however, there is now a new race in Iceland. It will happen two weeks before The Rift. It is run by Klassmark itself. It is called Cuckoo Iceland. Or, to be precise, Cuckoo Iceland by The Traka. Keep that little detail in mind.
So. The Rift is out. Cuckoo Iceland is in. Naturally, people started asking questions right away. What went down there?
To find out, I had various conversations with race promoters who worked with the Gravel Earth Series. Plenty of DMs and several phone calls later, a picture is emerging. Let’s begin with a statement sent over by the organisers of The Rift:
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