Power Rankings Update : Aug 1, 2022

We get a lot of questions about the Pure Gravel Power Rankings. 

People want to know why their favorite event is not included. Why don't we count smaller events with high-quality pro fields like Oregon Trail, Crusher in the Tushar, or The Rock Cobbler? The reason is that the Pure Gravel Power Rankings have a very specific focus.

The question the rankings seek to answer is “Who were the fastest racers at the largest events.”Their are hundreds of amazing gravel events held every year. We love the breadth and variety of events that gravel has to offer but that is not our focus. We use a size cutoff that will give us a manageable number of events to track. We shoot for the 10–20 largest events. For 2022 the cutoff is number we selected is 750 riders. We think this was the right call. So far in 2022 we have had 10 qualifying events, and we expect about 6 more before the season ends in October. (There are no large gravel events in November or December.) 

In July we had several events on our radar which we thought would make the rankings, but did not. 

• Crusher in the Tushar had an extremely strong pro field, bolstered by its inclusion in the Life Time Grand Prix, but that didn't translate into mass participation with only 549 riders on course.
• RIFT Iceland is not in the USA, and it was too small at 603 riders.
• Foco Fondo is an odd case. Our best estimate is that they had 878 riders, which is large enough to qualify for the rankings, but several of the distances were not chip timed. We only have data on 635 riders, which is too small for the rankings. Ultimately we have to use the data we have, so Foco Fondo is not included in the 2022 rankings. 

Photo: Meg McMahon

We did have one event make the rankings this month… Rooted Vermont!

Rooted does not list DNFs in their results but even so, they show 775 finishers which qualifies. The top 15 men and women earn points. Here they are:

Full results

And we have a new leader!

Adam Roberge’s win at Rooted Vermont gave him enough points to pass Alexey Vermeulen for the overall lead in the Pure Gravel Power Rankings. Congratulations Adam!

Photo: Meg McMahon

  See the updated Women's Power Rankings

See the updated Men’s Power Rankings

The next power ranking event will be Gravel Worlds in Lincoln Nebraska on August 20. We will be at the expo with the pre-ride show, and chasing the race live on Instagram. We will see how things shape up on race day, but with over 2500 registrants, it looks like Gravel Worlds will be the second-largest gravel race in 2022; surpassed only by Unbound Gravel.