The fouth edition of the Swedish qualifier in Halmstad attracted some 775 riders on the startline.
Following Friday’s time trial, Saturday’s race was the main event—the official qualifier for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships. The men’s elite race was a tight battle as a large pack of 30-35 riders stayed together for most of the race. In the final stretch, Jordan Habets launched a decisive attack, breaking away to secure his second consecutive win. The Dutch rider crossed the finish line with a 10-second lead over Anton Stensby of Norway, with Ian Millennium of Denmark taking third just 16 seconds behind.
The women’s race ended in a four-way sprint to the finish. Dutch Femke Markus, representing SD Worx Protime took the win. She edged out Nicole Frain (Australia), Irina Lutzelschwab (Switzerland), and hometown favourite Hanne Nilsson (Sweden).
The average speed of the winners was respectively 36.3 and 31.2 km/h on the beautiful hilly Swedish course. And so, the first qualifier after a 5 week break in the UCI Gravel World Series turned out to have exactly the same winners as the last qualifier in the Netherlands as both Dutch riders renewed their win from mid-July.
In the overall standing with also the Sunday race counting for the GC, Swiss Felix Stehli and Dutch Femke Markus took the overall win!
