Polkadot Gravel Cup Brædstrup

Polkadot Gravel Cup is a winter gravel race series in Jutland built on a simple format: about an hour and a half of racing on a short circuit, so riders learn every bend, every change of surface and every rise as the laps go by. Four rounds between October and February each use a different course and add up to one overall classification.

It is run by Polkadot Cycling, a Danish cycling outfit with its own online newspaper, brevets and gravel rides. The cup borrows the intensity of cyclocross without its technical obstacles and running sections, and the organiser's own report from the muddy opening round in Gadbjerg compared the conditions to an autumn Paris-Roubaix.

The Brædstrup round is the Sunday finale of Polkadot Plus, a new two-day cycling festival whose Saturday brings cross races, a social gravel ride, rider talks, exhibitors, food and coffee to the local hall. Age group riders race for points, an open class welcomes those who mainly want the experience, and a Young Guns race lets children and teens ride the same circuit.