UCI Alentejo Gravel

Alentejo Gravel is a round of the UCI Gravel World Series, so it is a proper race: elite riders and age-groupers line up together in Ourique, all chasing a qualifying place for the Gravel World Championships. It is only a few years old but has drawn a strongly international field, and Rosa Kloser won both of its first two editions. Around the start there is a festival feel, with brand stands, a kids' bike gymkhana the day before, a family walk while the race is out on course and a pasta lunch once riders are back.

The course is a big loop through the Baixo Alentejo, mostly on dry, sandy dirt roads between wire fences and through open pasture dotted with oaks. There are no mountains here. The terrain rolls constantly instead, with short climbs of a kilometre or two that wear the legs down over the day, and the finish comes at the top of a final climb back into town. Dust, low autumn light and wide horizons are what riders take home from this corner of southern Portugal.

Behind it is Cabreira Solutions, a team from northern Portugal that already runs several large road and gravel events, including Granfondo Coimbra Region, working here with the municipality of Ourique and the regional tourism board. They talk about keeping a close, family feel even at a big event, and under their Pegada Positiva label they cut waste and clean up the routes after the riders have passed.