Gravel racing’s world title fight went to the other side of the planet in 2026. The UCI Gravel World Championships were set for 10–11 October 2026 in Nannup, Western Australia, the first time the event has been held outside Europe. For viewers, the best news is the price of entry: in Australia, broadcaster SBS streams the racing for free on SBS On Demand.
The schedule and the courses
The UCI split the racing over two days. Saturday, October 10, belonged to all the women’s categories plus men aged 50 and over; Sunday, October 11, was reserved for the elite men and men 19–49. According to the UCI, all races start at 10:00 a.m. local time in staggered waves three to five minutes apart, and every course shares the same start and finish. The routes are a minimum of 80% gravel, and the numbers are serious:
- Elite Men & Men 19–49: 140.7 km with 3,625 m of elevation gain
- Elite Women, Women 19–49 & Men 50–64: 123.1 km with 3,100 m of elevation gain
- Women 50+ & Men 65+: 89 km with 2,000 m of elevation gain
Who to watch
Belgium’s Florian Vermeersch arrived as the men’s defending champion. In the Netherlands in October 2025 he won solo in 4h 39′ 12″, 40 seconds clear of Frits Biesterbos, after two straight years of finishing second. On the women’s side, Marianne Vos is chasing back the rainbow jersey she won in Belgium in 2024; in 2025 she took silver, given the same time as winner Lorena Wiebes after a sprint finish.
How the free stream works
SBS On Demand costs nothing, but it does ask you to create an account, and that account needs a valid Australian postcode. The service is also geo-restricted to Australia, so Australians traveling abroad will hit a block. Tom’s Guide suggests getting around that with a VPN, naming Proton VPN as its pick and offering a 70% discount with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Keep in mind that a VPN does not change a streaming service’s terms of use, and those terms decide who is actually allowed to watch.
Where SBS On Demand runs
The app is available on most of the screens you are likely to own:
- Amazon Fire TV devices, including the Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube
- Android phones, tablets and Android TV, plus iOS devices
- Supported Apple TV models, Chromecast and Google TV
- PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
- Selected LG and Samsung smart TVs, and supported Roku players and TVs
- Web browsers: Chrome, Edge and Firefox
Since the championships sit in a Western Australian time zone, European and American viewers get live racing at awkward hours. On-demand replays make that much easier, and a free replay at that.
