Daan Soete and Nicole Frain topped the podium at Heathland Gravel on Sunday 09 August, winning on their debuts at the Belgian race, Europe’s only official qualifying event for Unbound Gravel in the United States.
The third edition of the 160-kilometre race started and finished at Terhills in Maasmechelen, taking riders through Hoge Kempen National Park and across roughly ten timed sections used to determine qualifying places for the 2027 edition in Emporia, Kansas.
Soete, riding for Ridley Racing, won the men’s race in 03:24:57. The Belgian arrived at Heathland in good form, having won the UCI Gravel World Series Sea Otter Europe Gravel race in September 2025 before finishing 15th against a stacked professional field at Gravel Worlds in Nebraska the following month.
Kevin Panhuyzen finished second, 25 seconds behind. The Belgian, nicknamed “the Panda”, is a former professional mountain biker who switched to gravel in 2019. He went on to become amateur gravel world champion in Houffalize in 2022. Adne Koster completed the men’s podium, 47 seconds behind Soete, with Aaron Van der Beken and Lars Loohuis rounding out the top five.
In the women’s race, Australian Nicole Frain of Factor Racing-RCC crossed the line first in 03:40:33, extending what has arguably been the best season of her career. A former Australian road champion who moved into gravel full-time in 2025, Frain arrived in Maasmechelen having already won the inaugural Oceania Gravel Championship, as well as UCI Gravel World Series rounds in Turnhout, Belgium, the 114 Gravel Race on the Portugal-Spain border, Wörthersee in Austria and Gravel Tour Hlinsko in Czechia.
Belgian Hanne Van Loock took second, 11 minutes 50 seconds behind, ahead of compatriot Nathalie Bex in third, 14 minutes 9 seconds back. Éléonore Hiller and Julie Sap completed the women’s top five.
As in previous editions, 50 places for Unbound Gravel 2027 were on offer at Heathland Gravel, with 25 awarded based on performance and 25 through a random draw. The performance-based places were distributed across age categories according to the number of starters in each category, while riders who did not earn a place on performance were eligible for the lottery. Successful riders can bypass Unbound’s notoriously difficult entry lottery.
View Heathland Gravel results HERE
Photo Credit: Heathland Gravel
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