The Traka 200: Ex road pro Lukas Pöstlberger holds off MTB chasers to win 'biggest gravel race in Europe' as Sofia Gómez Villafañe strikes out for second straight title

The Traka 200: Ex road pro Lukas Pöstlberger holds off MTB chasers to win ‘biggest gravel race in Europe’ as Sofia Gómez Villafañe strikes out for second straight title

May 2, 2026

Lukas Pöstlberger (Rose Racing Circle) and Sofía Gómez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) triumphed in The Traka 200 on Saturday, both riders arriving alone with small margins of victory.

The 200, following on from the 360 and the Adventure events, is the flagship race of The Traka, a key part of the Gravel Earth Series, with a 202km route featuring 2,650 metres of elevation gain around Girona, Spain.

In the men’s race, it was a tale of roadie versus mountain bikers, as former WorldTour pro Lukas Pöstlberger was chased in dramatic fashion by a trio of Bryden Lange (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing) and the Buff BH duo of Martin Stošek and Wout Alleman, with MTB legend Nino Schurter not far behind.

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That anxiety was highest on the narrow technical singletrack inside the final 6km, where Pöstlberger led by just 10 seconds. But the chasing trio couldn’t work together in the closing couple of kilometres to set up a sprint finish. Instead, it was a sprint for second place, 20 seconds down on the winner, which Lange won, with Stošek taking the final spot on the podium.

“It’s the biggest gravel race in Europe and winning here is really special,” said Pöstlberger, whose winning time was 6:04:42. “You dream, you train, you work hard you make a plan, and today everyhing went perfectly.”

Sofia Gomez Villafañe goes back to back at The Traka 200 with another win in 2026 (Image credit: @Gravel Earth Series l @TheTraka l @sergi_romeu)

In the women’s race, Villafañe doubled up, retaining the title that she won 12 months ago. It was a similar story to last year, with a long-time companion dispatched close to the finish line.

This time, it was Larissa Hartog (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing), who had gone clear with Villafañe on a technical descent early in the race. Despite being dropped on the key climb of Els Metges just past the half-way mark, Hartog worked her way back on the descent to make it a leading duo for more than two hours.

But on the final short climb before that late single-track, the defending champion crunched on the pedals and forced her way clear. The damage was done as her lead ballooned on the singletrack and she celebrated he second title just over a minute before Hartog hit the line.

Nele Laing (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing) rounded out the day’s podium nearly eight minutes down, having chased alone since Els Metges.

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“I knew it was going to be a dogfight to the singletrack. I could tell Larissa was hurting a bit on the climbs, but she’s so strong on the flats, and I didn’t know if I could go an hour out from the line,” Villafañe told Cyclingnews.

“We worked really well together, then sprinted each other into the last climb. I knew any time I was going over 300 [watts] that maybe she was hurting a bit, so I punched it and rode as hard as I could to get as much time going into the singletrack.”

In the men’s race, the climbing started early and so did the moves, the first set of ascents followed by a big downhill which wrapped up the first 50km of racing.

There was plenty of shuffling among the leading riders in the first half of the race, but by the time the second major climb of the race was through, with 64km to go, Hans Becking (Buff BH), Lukas Pöstlberger (Rose Racing Circle) and Jeremy Presbury had formed a solid trio at front with a chase group of six riders around a minute-and-a-half behind.

The chase was made up of US gravel champion Bradyn Lange (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing), Eskil Evensen-Lie, Nino Schurter, Wout Alleman (Buff BH), Martin Stošek (Buff BH) and Magnus Bak Klaris (PAS Racing), who had actually been out front with the leading three earlier.

A flat took Presbury out of the trio at 53 km to go and there was a lot more reshuffling to come. Ultimately with 20km to go, Pöstlberger was out front alone but the chasing group of around six – Alleman, Bak Klaris, Schurter, Lange, Evensen-Lie and Stošek was not far away.

The group split apart as the pursuit got more charged in the final 10km, with the Buff BH combination of Stošek and Alleman the leading pursuers. Another mountain biker, Lange, also joined them, as the narrow singletrack section produced some thrills and spills, particularly with TV motorbikes attempting to squeeze through.

Postlberger only had around 10 seconds in hand but remarkably he held his advantage over his more technically-experienced chasers. In the final couple of kilometre on easier terrain, they had the numeric advantage but they didn’t trade turns and any chance of catching the flying Postlberger was definitively gone.

As the women elite riders took off from the start line, there was one unexpected name, with the 360 winner of 2025, Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing), crashing and then suffering a mechanical which put her out of the event where she was defending champion on Friday. Instead of waiting a year for her next chance at The Traka, she decided to shift her attention to the 200 instead.

Defending champion Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road), however, wasn’t going to wait around and let anyone else stamp their authority on the race early, making her mark on the early climbs, but Larissa Hartog (Canyon x DT Swiss All Terrain Racing) was a rider who was determined not to let her get away. The pair of them rode away from the field on a technicaly downhill.

At 48km into the race there was still a solid group not far behind, with Nicole Frain (Factor Racing), Sophie Wright (Ribble Outliers), Elena Hartmann, Nele Laing ( Canyon x DT Swiss All Terrain Racing), Jade Wiel (FDJ United-SUEZ), Samara Sheppard and Alexis Skarda (Q36.5 Off Road Racing) at around 20 seconds back plus Migoń and Cecily Decker (PAS Racing) just a few seconds further back.

Villafañe later went clear on the tough 9km climb of Els Metges just over half-way through the race, Hartog hung on and rejoined her on the descent. They worked together well and opened a lead of a few minutes, which grew all the way towards the finish as it became clear this was a contest between two riders.

Meanwhile the revelation of Sea Otter Classic Gravel, Nele Laing, established herself as the best of the rest, but her deficit was counted in minutes and would only grow.

After almost taking a costly wrong turn with 17km to go, Villafañe used the final punchy climb to stamp clear with just over 10km to go, emerging clearly the strongest as she took her advantage to a minute by the time she hit the line.