Week of November 6, 2026

Evening, Muckers! The Giro finally showed its cards, cyclo-cross kicked off with a proper Belgian soap opera, gravel wrapped a seven-day epic in South Africa, BMC found its way into the women’s peloton, and an American MTB rider summited Kilimanjaro with a broken tibia. Oh, and gravel just got a shiny new World Series. Plenty to chew on while the kettle boils.

Here’s your weekly roundup.

1. Giro 2027: Official – Double Mortirolo, Gavia, Zoncolan and Home to Rome

Last week we had the leaks. This week RCS made it official in Rome. The 2027 Giro runs from Trieste to Rome, 8–30 May, 3,418km and a frankly rude 50,250m of climbing. Two time trials (a mountain ITT to Campo di Giove and a flat 37.3km from Monza to Milan), seven summit finishes, and a final week that looks designed to break souls.

The queen stage is stage 16, Sondrio to Aprica: Mortirolo, Passo Gavia (Cima Coppi territory at 2,600m), Mortirolo again from the Mazzo side, then Aprica. Around 5,700m of climbing in one day. Then Madonna di Campiglio, and Monte Zoncolan on stage 20 before the traditional Rome finale. Grande Partenza is back in Italy after two foreign starts, with an early hop into Slovenia.

If you want to scare yourself before next May, load up those Italian legends on ROUVY this winter and see how long your smile lasts.

Source: Cyclingnews – Giro d’Italia 2027 route revealed

2. Cyclo-Cross Is Back: Nys Crashes Twice, Still Wins Koppenbergcross

Thibau Nys opened his cyclo-cross season at the Koppenbergcross on Sunday and somehow made winning look hard. Two crashes, a bike change, half a minute down at one point – and he still caught Michael Vanthourenhout before the bell and went past him on the last ascent of the Koppenberg. Winning time 1:01:31, seven seconds clear, with Gerben Kuypers third and Britain’s Cameron Mason fifth.

That is peak Muckers energy: things go wrong, you straighten the bars, you keep going, and you still take the win. Lucinda Brand took the women’s race on the same muddy Belgian afternoon. The CX season is properly on.

Source: ProCyclingUK – Thibau Nys overcomes two crashes to win 2026 Koppenbergcross

3. Gravel Burn: Beers Defends, Laing Leads From Start to Finish

Seven days, 750km-ish of South African Karoo gravel, and the overalls went to the riders who raced clever. Matt Beers (Toyota Specialized) defended his Nedbank Gravel Burn title without winning a stage, finishing 32 seconds ahead of Filippo Colombo. Nele Laing (Canyon DT Swiss ATR) led the women’s race from day one, took two stages, and never gave the orange jersey back – Hayley Preen second at 1:05, Clara Koppenburg third.

Griffin Easter finally got his stage win after crashing out last year; Hugo Drechou and Alexis Skarda took the shortened finale. Close racing, river crossings, windmills and a reminder that stage racing on gravel rewards brains as much as watts.

Source: Cyclingnews – Matt Beers defends Gravel Burn title as Nele Laing leads overall

4. BMC Enter the Women’s Peloton (And About Time)

A week after closing their XC World Cup team, BMC announced a return to women’s road racing: technical partner of Basque ProTeam Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi for 2027. Teammachine SLR 01 frames, cockpits and wheels. BMC haven’t backed a women’s team since before the Women’s WorldTour existed; now they want bikes in both the men’s and women’s Grand Tours.

Laboral Kutxa step up with Sandra Alonso and a roster that reaches into South America. Money moving from XC into women’s road and gravel is a trend we flagged last week – this is the other side of that coin, and a good one.

Source: Cyclingnews – BMC enter women’s peloton with Laboral Kutxa partnership

5. Hannah Otto Summits Kilimanjaro With a Broken Tibia

Utah MTB endurance rider Hannah Otto became the first woman to ride up and down Mount Kilimanjaro in one day – 42.6km, 5,895m summit, 40% pitches, snow at the top, bike on her back over rocks. Two miles from the finish she slipped in mud, felt her tibia snap, remounted and pedalled one-legged to the line so the FKT would count. No assistance. Film crew watching. About $62k raised for World Bicycle Relief along the way.

“I think this shows that a dream may just be the most powerful thing in the world,” she wrote afterwards. That line belongs on a Muckers kit. If your indoor session felt hard this week, recalibrate.

Source: Cyclingnews – Hannah Otto Kilimanjaro FKT with a fracture

6. Gravel Gets a New World Series: Hello, The Traka

Klassmark are rebadging the old Gravel Earth Series as The Traka World Series for 2027: seven events, equal prize money, live streaming promised, and a clearer points race. Most of the calendar sits in Spain (Santa Vall stage race, Gravel Desert, The Traka Girona with the 300 as the series race), with CORE4 in Iowa keeping its US slot between Leadville and Gravel Worlds.

If you like your gravel with proper live coverage and a season-long story, this is the series to watch. Keep an eye out – and keep turning up to our own Muckers races in the meantime.

Source: Cyclingnews – The Traka World Series announced

This week’s races

Caught up on the week’s Muckers racing yet?

• Tuesday Race Day – 03/11/26 (2.0w/kg)
• November Championship Race 1
• Monday race preview – Anmiter / Morocco week
• Race Telemetry
• New here? How to join

Coming Up

Cyclo-cross keeps rolling through Flanders, the Traka calendar will fill out, and somewhere a climber is already staring at a Mortirolo gradient on a screen. Back home the Muckers Tuesday races and champ series keep going whatever the weather outside, so come and have a go.

Whether you’re chasing a FKT, surviving your first CX muddy mess, or just getting the turbo out after tea, everyone is welcome to grab a wheel and muck in. Until next week, keep the rubber side down and the pedals turning!

Ride with us on ROUVY: the Muckers ride and race on ROUVY every week, all winter long, so when it’s grim outside the racing carries on inside. Join the Muckers Worldwide club on ROUVY and grab a wheel.

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