The Turnhout Gravel, counting as the eighth stage of the season (the fourth in the 2026 calendar year) of the UCI Gravel World Series, saw the stars shine for Nicole Frain and Jarno Bellens. The thirty-three-year-old Australian from the Factor Racing team, already successful this season at the RADL GRVL on January 23rd, claimed victory in the elite women's race (held on the same schedule as the men's race over a distance of 144 kilometers) by outsprinting two Dutch riders, Anne Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels) and Wendy Oosterwoud (PAS Racing), with whom she had previously managed to gain an advantage along one of the most demanding singletrack sections of the course.

The outcome of the men's race, however, was different, with the Belgian from Baloise verzekeringen-Het Poetsbureau Lions taking it home solo by accelerating 6 kilometers from the finish. This move, combined with the disruptive action among the chasers by his teammate Robbe Mellaerts, allowed the twenty-five-year-old from Heist-op-den-Berg to secure his first seasonal victory in the discipline with a comfortable margin.

Behind him, with a gap of 29 seconds, Latvian Mārtiņš Pluto from Energus Cycling (this year seventh on the road at the UMAG Classic) won the sprint for the remaining podium positions ahead of local favorite Lander Lockxx, who, after two top-ten finishes on the road at the Visit South Aegean GP (7th) and the Region on Dodecanese GP (4th), delivered the first gravel podium of 2026 for Unibet Rose Rockets.

Taking place as the second appointment on Belgian soil, the UCI-branded Gravel World Series will continue this weekend with the 114 Gravel Race, which, between the Portuguese town of Elvas and the Spanish town of Badajoz, will see some of the sport's top exponents return to compete over a distance of 123 kilometers.