Monaco Gravel Race

The Monaco Gravel Race never touches the principality's famous streets. It starts high above them, near the perched village of Peille, and heads into the hills of the Alpes-Maritimes, where the snow-capped Mercantour peaks and the Mediterranean share the same horizon.

The loops string together wide stony tracks, forest climbs and quiet mountain roads over the Col de Braus (climbed by the Tour de France in 2024), the Col du Castillon and the Col des Banquettes, passing through L'Escarène and Sainte-Agnès, often called the highest coastal village on the Mediterranean. Each lap opens and closes on rocky, technical ground, yet the organisers keep it rideable, with no singletrack and nowhere you should need to push. The climbing is treated as part of the test: the UCI described the 2026 edition, won by Romain Bardet and Sophie Wright, as brutally selective.

Behind the event is Cédric Amand, who spent years running the La Baroudeuse long-distance events before bringing a UCI Gravel World Series qualifier to these hills, under the Monegasque cycling federation. He sees gravel as more than touring, and the weekend reflects that: a hard, timed race for riders chasing a Worlds place, and untimed tours for those who simply want to explore the same backcountry.