Traka 2026

The Traka. It’s considered one of the big 3 in the gravel world, alongside Unbound and Worlds. So I want to talk about both my race, but also the event itself.

My Race

Upon reflection a number of things happened to influence my day and while no single event may be enough to unravel you, it’s the accumulation effect. I also want to note that a lot of athletes have a rough lead in to the race, so I am no more ‘hard done by’ than the next. But it was my day none-the-less.

I personally put a lot of pressure on this event and wanting a result I was proud of. That doesn’t actually mean winning. Though I have come off a winning streak and winning feels nice. But a day where you feel like you get it all right. You nutrition well, you paced it smart, you put yourself in the right position for technical components, you fought hard and you finish the race knowing that where you ended up was where you belong.

After my recent results I really wanted to see how I would stack up in a deep field. I believe I have the ability to race in the front, and I wanted to feel that and then let the rest unfold.

Pressure

It was perhaps this personal pressure on myself that already made it a tough day for me. The day before I felt in all sorts. Small things became big for me, an inconvenience put me in a bad mood, small decisions felt like big ones, I felt stress in my body. This is already a stark contrast to how I have felt in other races. Where I have a more ‘she will be right’ attitude, can problem solve and probably even take on the load of those around me. This time I needed to lean more on others. And while I was aware this was happening, I didn’t feel I could change it much.

No one wants to perform more than yourself. I will also note that my sponsors have only provided positive support. I didn’t feel any sense of expectation from them. Most important was to enjoy it, be kind to yourself and soak up the experience. For this I am grateful and mostly why I choose to work with who I work with. They understand racing.

But as my partner told me, you can never want something too much. Perhaps I was already out of it before it started for this very reason.

Navigation

The morning of the race, I didn’t feel flustered, everything was laid out, prepared, and we rolled down to the start. It was only then I went to turn on my computer as Daan and I started some warming up and I saw 15% flash up on my computer.

This didn’t, and still doesn’t, make sense to me. I charged it all day the day before. Or so I thought. I can only assume the cable wasn’t pressed in correctly, and it doesn’t matter much now anyway.

I tried to give it a quick charge in the media tent before hand but it wasn’t enough. So I made a decision to start the race without it on, and only turn it on when I felt I needed it.

I knew that navigation was going to be hard. I wasn’t aware where the corners were exactly coming up, how sharp they were, so it made it very difficult to race with speed and confidence. You underestimate the importance of this. So at one point when I had made a technical error and needed to unclip, when I lost sight of the girls infont of me it just became harder to race. Later in the race I would then take a wrong turn which would cost me minutes and wipe out almost all the moral I had left.

What I didn’t account for though was the importance of knowing the time and distance of your race. I was so locked in for those first climbs, and after that I struggled to have any awareness of the time and distance we had been racing. As a result I vastly under fuelled and could say goodbye to any opportunity of a late come back. You just cannot recoup those losses in a race that goes that deep in the beginning.

I think these two factors were ultimately the biggest influence for my race day and I can certainly take some points away from this on how to be better. This was only my second ever Traka, and it’s also my second seasons. We can all make mistakes, I haven’t made some of these ones before, and I probably won’t again.

The race

Now that we have talked about MY race, let’s talk about the race itself. Because there is a lot of noise going on here and I equally have my own opinion.

The Traka has built itself up to be the biggest event in Europe, standing alongside Unbound (USA) and Worlds (UCI). But just like the Giro doesn’t compete with the Tour de France to the the only grand tour, the Traka should also embrace the other events that help athletes be professional and success enough to be at their event. If the Gravel Earth Series was the only series to exist in the world we would only have 11 race days, which wouldn’t be enough. The Traka has a growing reputation for wanting to try and be bigger and better then everything around it, rather then building gravel as a whole and supporting the sport.

The safety.

This is probably the biggest topic everyone is discussing here and I honestly think the reason there is a lot of negative feedback on this is because 1. there are clear examples of a lack of safety standards in the event such as cars on descents, in the neutral zones or crashes without medical aid and 2. I don’t think athletes feel like they are being heard with their concerns. I think they feel like they are just being used as part of a show, a bit disposable, and really they just want it to be acknowledged that maybe there are some things that were not up to standard and that the organisation that takes all our money will do something about it.

I have also had some discussions on this about people saying that the organisation does their best and probably don’t like to hear all the complaining. This of course is true, having been on the organisation side of events before it can be so frustrating when what you thought was a perfect event, comes back to bite you after execution, leading you to wonder why you bothered.

The Traka is an awesome event, for gravel, for the community, brand exposure, athlete performance and everything in between. But it needs to be understood that the organisation made this event one of the biggest in the schedule, it created the problem of this many participants, it accepts all these entry fees and sponsorship money, and therefore it has a responsibility to adhere to a standard in it’s delivery.

What is the standard though? That is for sure a bit of the question. Gravel Earth sits outside of the UCI which governs many of the other events with specific rules such as road closures, timings and entry caps. Don’t get me wrong, they come with some of their own issues as well, but they are at least free of dangers like public cars on the course and they have a way in which it is possible to express concerns for action. Is gravel getting big enough, and professional enough that it needs a governing body? Does it need a riders union so that we can deliver first hand our concerns without fear of repercussions for speaking up?

And I know that ‘that’s not how gravel started…’ but it is what it has become. Riders make salaries, livings and embrace a fully professional life for the sport. For this reason I would also like to see doping control at and around events now that the sport is expanding professionally.

From 560 dot watching issues, cars on descents, lead car drivers playing on their phones with a peloton of professionals sitting on the bumper, lack of medical assistance for crashes and road marshals sun bathing rather than watching the road crossing for racers. There are a lot of things that can be addressed for the future of the event which I think are all very manageable and while everyone is hot on the topic, it could be wise to acknowledge some of the shortfalls.

What's next on my schedule? Ruleof3 and Unbound in the USA before a mid-season break before a refocus for worlds.