‘It will come down to that final 15k’ – Romain Bardet, Cameron Jones, Alexey Vermeulen begin gravel season at RADL GRVL as defending champion Brendan Johnston bows out

Brendan Johnston (Giant-SRAM) confirmed to Cyclingnews today that he will not be on the start line Friday to defend his title at RADL GRVL p/b Quad Lock due to an ankle injury, leaving the men’s field wide open.

Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) will move from her road programme to the gravel race looking for back-to-back wins, this time against a deep regional field for the official start of global gravel racing, and this year, the inaugural Oceania Gravel Championships.