Toki Sawada (Astemo Utsunomiya Blitzen) of Japan surprised Traka 360 champion Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing) with the elite men’s victory at Dustman Gravel in Thailand on November 1, while Scottish gravel champion Caroline Livesey won the women’s title.
With the victories, Sawada and Livesey earned entries into the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships, as Dustman was the third of four qualifiers in the wrap-around calendar for the UCI Gravel World Series.
A multi-discipline rider who rode for a third year with his UCI Continental-level team, Sawada competes across road, cyclocross and mountain bike, and won Gravel Race Yajurai in August. There were only three elite men’s riders from Asia at last year’s UCI Gravel Worlds, representing Hong Kong and China, and now Sawada has his ticket punched for the Worlds, which will be in Nannup, Western Australia from October 10–11, 2026.
The women’s race lived up to expectations as a battle between a duo from Great Britain, Hayley Simmonds and Caroline Livesey. The victory went to Livesey in a time of 4:50:31 that was also good for eighth overall. She earned the inaugural gravel national title for Scotland in June, then finished eighth at the British gravel championships.
“This is the first time Thailand has been host to a UCI Gravel World Series race, and when the opportunity came up for me to race I couldn’t refuse. I’m so glad I came, it’s been a special week, Livesey wrote on Instagram, noting how the rain made the race a “mudfest adventure”.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…