Road tech on show in our Gravel National Championships Tech Gallery

Since 2021, The British Gravel Championships have been pitting the best gravel cyclists in the country against each other with age-group and elite national titles up for grabs. This year the Championships were hosted in Dalby Forest and consisted of a Time-trial on Friday evening, Age-group championships on the Saturday before the undulating circuit was cleared for the Elite race on Sunday.

Despite being wetter than the age-group event the day before, the Elite races were far from technical and the result was a mix of bikes and equipment choices. Here’s some of the most interesting bits of tech from the weekend:

Pinarello Dogma GR, the first major gravel win for the bike since it was released in July. He’d only picked it up the week before the race!

Ben Swift's Dura-Ace chainset used at the British Gravel National Championships

Both Connor and 2nd place finisher Ben Swift used a Dura-Ace 2x groupset with the former opting for a massive 54/40T chainset, the course was hilly but rarely exceeded 6-7% inclines.

Conor Swift's number taped to the head tube of his Pinarello Dogma GR gravel race bike

Numbers were taped to the head tube to minimize the aerodynamic penalty.

Ben Swift's Pinarello Dogma GR gravel race bike with 40mm wide tyres

Both Ineos Grenadiers riders opted for 40mm wide rubber, telling of the fast rolling course. In this case it’s Continental’s Terra Speed TR tyre.

Jenson Young's (Ribble Outliers Team) road pedals fitted to his gravel race bike

Nearly all of the Elite racers opted for road shoes and pedals, subscribing to the “If I need to walk, I’ve already lost” theory. Pictured here are the pedals of 4th place finisher Jenson Young of the Ribble Outliers Team.

Kim Baptista's (Spectra Racing) Pearson gravel bike

An unreleased Pearson gravel bike spotted! This very shiny steed belongs to Kim Baptista of Spectra Racing.

Notice the lack of mounting points on the forks; this new machine looks far more race orientated than the current On & On.

Alistair Brownlee played it safe with rubber bands to help keep his bottles in check on the fast bumpy descents.

The joint biggest chainring of the day belonged to Toby Perry (Classified Rose), a 54T whopper helped by the Classified system hiding in the rear hub.

Toby Perry's novel name tag at the Gravel National champs!

His mum made sure to assure me that this is not his middle name!

Detail of Cameron Mason's gravel bike used at the British National Gravel Championships

Cameron Mason carried a “Bacon strip” tubeless tyre plug loaded and ready to be used taped to his top tube.

Alice Mcwilliam's Argon18 Dark Matter gravel bike

Alice McWilliam took 5th on the day in the Elite Women’s race aboard this tiny size XXS Argon 18 Dark Matter, once again the Classified system was being put to good use.

Danny Shrosbree's Argon 18 Dark Matter gravel bike

Danny Shrosbree, fresh off the back of Badlands success, brought along this wacky paint job that got plenty of looks over the weekend, she also opted for ENVE 4.5 SES road rims.