UEC European Gravel Championships

The European Gravel Championships head north in 2027, and Lahti becomes the first Finnish city to host the continental title races. Elite riders and qualified age-groupers race for the European jerseys in national colours, while riders without a qualification can still be part of the weekend through an untimed, social Gravel Sportive.

Lahti sits where the Salpausselkä ridge meets Lake Vesijärvi, a landscape left behind by the Ice Age and now protected as a geopark. The course, drawn by the Nordic Gravel Series team, is promised to be more than nine tenths gravel, moving from hardpack 'champagne' gravel to fast double track through the forest and wide, flowing trails, with lakes, farmland and cottage country along the way.

It is run by Breakaway cc, the Helsinki-based crew behind the Nordic Gravel Series, which already brings riders to the region every September for Falling Leaves Lahti, a UCI Gravel World Series round. Expect their Finnish touches at the event village: as the organisers put it, there is no gravel without sauna.