2024 was the Café du Cycliste Gravel Team's third year, and the big news was that, lining up alongside our women, we had men riding in our colours for the first time. In a deal with the Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur road squad, we had four professional riders ready to bring their athleticism and focus to a new arena… 2024 would be double trouble!

However, our first race of the season featured an all-female line-up. The Gravel Earth Series opener, Santa Vall in Catalonia, northern Spain, saw our veteran rider María Ögn Guðmundsdóttir lead the charge, with all four women making it through the three days’ events.

They were joined by the men for the Traka, the next leg of the Gravel Earth Series and perhaps the most anticipated gravel event in Europe. In a day of fierce competition, with blue skies above and heavy mud below, Guðmundsdóttir and Heura Piñol finished 15th and 32nd woman respectively in the 300km race, while the Gravel Team men competed in the 200km, and Café athletes represented the brand in the 100km and 50km distances too.

Third on the slate, the Wish One race that took in the high plateaux around the stunning Gorges du Tarn, was the only leg of the UCI Gravel World Series on French soil, and, with a magnificent effort for 18th place, Andréa Mifsud booked his place at the Gravel World Championships. As did his dad, Stephan, who came in third in his age category and 122nd overall – wearing Café du Cycliste colours, of course! “It’s more fun than the road, but it’s still competition and the rhythm is the same as among the pros,” said Café rider Axel Zuccarelli after his 49th-place finish.

Race four took our men and women to Finland, for the Falling Leaves Lahti. The racing on beautiful smooth gravel roads through ancient forests really played to the team’s strengths, and Andréa Mifsud sprinted to an incredible second on podium.

Both men and women took the start line at the season finale, the Gravel Earth Series's Ranxo, of which Café du Cycliste was a major sponsor. The racers, spectators and community at Gravel Earth Series events, particularly in its homeland, are second to none, and they spurred on our athletes to give their best. Despite punctures and bad luck, our male riders ended the season with a smile. Better news, however, came from the short women’s race, where our consistent performer María, the ‘Queen of Iceland’, came second, taking a deserved podium place in her third year of racing on the team.

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