Traka 360: Schmidt Cracks 10-Hour Barrier, Klöser Gaps Dubau-Prévot for Statement Victories

Mads Würtz Schmidt and Rosa Klöser delivered two statement solo wins at the The Traka 360 on Friday.

Schmidt didn’t wait to make his move in the men’s race. The powering Dane took the lead with more than 100km to go and never looked back.

Klöser’s decisive attack came a little later when she gapped Axelle Dubau-Prévot inside the final hours of racing.

The multi-distance Traka is considered Europe’s answer to Unbound, and is a key stop in the Gravel Earth series.

The headlining Traka 360 event is a beast, stacking 3,600 meters of elevation gain into its 325km romp across the hills of Girona, Spain.

The gravel elite typically splits itself between the Traka 360 and the Traka 200, which rolls out Saturday.

Specialized goes 1-3 with Schmidt and Beers

Schmidt hit the turbos with around 100km to go and never turned them off for his course record win.

Specialized Off-Road’s dynamo Dane powered away from a lead group after more than seven hours of racing and hung tough to clinch an 11-minute victory.

Hugo Drechou spent hours dangling less than 5 minutes back but didn’t have the legs to make the bridge to the relentless former road pro.

The Frenchman placed second, with Schmidt’s Specialized teammate Matt Beers in third.

Beers, who counts four victories at Cape Epic on his palmares, pulled away from Benjamin Perry, Paul Voss, and recently retired WorldTour pro Romain Bardet in the final.

The dirt was dry, warm, and fast on Friday.

Racing on near-perfect conditions and on a course that’s seen repeated tweaks, Schmidt became the first rider to break the 10-hour barrier with his winning time of 9:57.

His huge course record blows away the mark from 2025 when Tobias Kongstad won a cool, damp race in 11:37. Kongstad finished 7th on Friday.

Schmidt did the “The Traka Double” with his 360 victory Friday after he won Traka 200 last year.

The 31-year-old now boasts one of the most stacked palmares in gravel. He finished fourth last year at Unbound, won the European gravel champs, and this year won the multi-day Santa Vall event.

Klöser cracks Dubau-Prévot in WorldTour showdown

Klöser added another line to her substantial record with her victory on Friday.

The German won Unbound 200 in 2024, hit the podium of the Traka 200 the last two years in a row, and dominated the Gravel Earth Series in 2025.

And as if that’s not enough, the 29-year-old only recently finished racing the cobbled classics with Women’s WorldTour team Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto.

Klöser got away with her road-gravel rival Axelle Dubau-Prévot after around 100km of racing, and they went bar-to-bar for hours of dusty rolling hills.

Dubau-Prévot, who races with EF Education-Oatly and is the sister of reigning Tour de France champion Pauline, lost the wheel in the final 100km and couldn’t make the catch.

Geerike Schreurs raced with Klöser and Dubau-Prévot in the opening stages of the race and held third all the way to the line after she was dropped.

2025 Traka 360 champion Karolina Mignoń appears to have pulled out of her title defense inside the first 100km of the race.

U.S. stalwart Lauren De Crescenzo hit the top-10 in her Traka 360 debut.

Summary results: Men’s Traka 360:

1. Mads Würtz Schmidt: 9:57.38
2. Hugo Drechou: 10:08.56
3. Matt Beers: 10:09.09
4. Benjamin Perry: 10:09.46
5. Romain Bardet: 10:09.53
6. Paul Voss: 10:10.25

Summary results: Women’s Traka 360:

1. Rosa Klöser: 11:27.58
2. Axelle Dubau-Prévot: 11:40.51
3. Geerike Schreurs: 11:46.27
4. Morgan Aguirre: 12:01.38
5. Hayley Smith: 12:02.30
6. Nathalie Eklund: 12:12.24

Full results are available here.