Ranxo | last dance
Gravel Earth Series
Catalonia is always a special place to ride a bike, but never more so than for the grand finale of the Gravel Earth Series, the Ranxo and our closing weekend of the season for the Café du Cycliste Gravel Team.
It was the culmination of a five-race programme across Europe, taking in notable adventures amid beautiful landscapes and fierce competition in Spain, France and Finland.
The Ranxo is where the Gravel Earth Series king and queen are crowned, and build-up to the races was full of anticipation. Hundreds of cyclists came to enjoy a coffee at the Café du Cycliste tent, including our riders, who wore Jane, the new Cloudspotting Atelier collection off-bike hoodie – helping them to switch off and keep that Forever Outsiders spirit as the pre-race tensions rose.
Our women and men were on the start line of all three of the weekend’s races, from the Small (67km and 1,050m climbing) to the Medium (108km/1,300m) and the Long (162km/1,800m), the Gravel Earth Series decider.
The Long women’s race started as day broke, at 07h45, and a competitive field sprinted out into early morning mists that soon would lift to reveal blue skies and a perfect autumn day. In what was a long day in the saddle, our Barcelona-based Spanish rider Maria completed the challenging parcours and finished with a smile on her face.
The men, meanwhile, set off just over an hour later, chasing the women to the line and ensuring a thrilling, almost simultaneous finish.
In the men’s race, both Andréa and Axel crashed in the first 20 kilometres and, though they both remounted and continued, this was the end of their contention for any honours. Although it was both a physical and mental blow, they both hung on to finish in the second group behind the winners.
Better news, however, came from the Short women’s race, where our consistent performer Maria, the ‘Queen of Iceland’, came second, taking a deserved podium place in her third year of racing on the team.
Café du Cycliste has been a partner of the 2024 Gravel Earth Series, and was headline sponsor of both the Santa Vall and La Ranxo legs. We’d like to extend our warmest congratulations to Karolina Migon, who won both the Long women’s race and the overall Series, and to Griffin Easter, the men’s race winner, and Simen Nordahl Svenson, the Gravel Earth Series 2024 king.
Thanks for everything and see you in 2025!
In the meantime, you can read our interview with the founder of the Gravel Earth Series here.
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