Gravel is more professional than ever. From renegade beginnings it’s been a meteoric rise, with the formation of small rosters of athletes riding under a single banner, season-long series, marquee events that punch through to the mainstream, plus growing brand and media investment. There’s even a UCI Gravel World Championships.
But despite that supercharged growth, there are still things missing. Areas where the sport can improve. Steps to take and trails to blaze. The next ten years of gravel is up for grabs.
The PRO.FWD program is a bid to contribute to the future of professional gravel racing. It’s focused on the emerging stars of gravel, but with full knowledge that the selected athletes have the potential to become anything; from cross-country Olympians to WorldTour roadies.
To create progress, we have to recognise the orthodox and then challenge it. That means shaping new structures, finding new ways to build.
Along with our partners in the program, Zwift and Wahoo, we’re bringing this ethos to bear. We’ll provide core partner support, financial backing and a platform to build prominence to each selected athlete, so they can take a step forward.
On top of this partner support, each athlete will get access to mentorship from leaders in the privateer community, such as Haley Smith, Finsty, Rosa Klöser and Freddy Ovett. These are riders who’ve competed and won at the top of the gravel scene with plenty of wisdom to impart. From the necessary but perhaps unfamiliar territory of building a roster of valuable partners, negotiating contracts and building a personal brand to the more familiar training programs, nutrition and race tactics.
We want to create a launchpad to propel rising athletes to their next level. PRO.FWD is the name. Progression is the purpose.
Tenets of PRO.FWD
Rider-centred:
We’ll put the athlete first. Always. Every rider is an individual, and that means tailored and empathetic treatment.
Emerging talent:
This is a platform for the future, a pathway to the new face of the sport. We want to propel these athletes onto the next step of their racing career.
Educate, empower, elevate:
More than just a sponsorship, this is a mentorship. That means expanding capabilities beyond watts per kilo.
Mastering the message:
It’s time to redefine the way we tell stories about the sport. Our PRO.FWD athletes will become both the subjects and the narrators of these new myths.
The future of the sport is pushing the pace today
Gravel doesn’t typically have development teams. Not in the same way that road does, at least. For a long time, the brightest talents in road riding have progressed through devo squads (typically restricted to riders under the age of 23), before stepping up to the elite.
Gravel, with its freeform structure and small rosters of just a handful of riders, doesn’t have the infrastructure to support development in the same way. At least not yet.
Which is where PRO.FWD comes in.
We don’t want the next potential winners of Unbound, Traka or Worlds to miss out on their opportunity to turn pro because of a lack of support at the early stages. We’re putting down the framework to support them to get where they need to be.
While only a few can stay with the pace, this is a rising tide that lifts all participants.
Mentorships matter. They make ripples in our lives that sometimes continue for decades after the first disturbance of the surface. With PRO.FWD, we aim to start a chain of actions and reactions lasting long into the future of cycling.
Be sure to follow Stella, Sofia, Ethan, Hayden, Neruda and Alia throughout the season to see where PRO.FWD takes them.