What is all-terrain racing in cycling: From gravel to mixed-surface competition

From Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse to Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Tom Pidcock, today, many of cycling’s greatest stars shine on more than one surface or distance.

This is true for many riders, and with Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing, we have built a team of riders from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Each rider has walked their own, unique path into the sport, and we have assembled them not to challenge in any one discipline, but to compete wherever people are pushing bicycles further off-road. This is all-terrain racing.

The term “all-terrain bike” has an unusual history in the world of bikes. In French, the term “velo tout terrain,” the ubiquitous term for a mountain bike, is a direct translation of the phrase. For us anglophones, the “all-terrain bike” was actually voted as Bicycling readers’ preferred term for the then-emerging sport of mountain biking in 1980.

The moniker of a mountain bike was a marketing term launched by Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly in 1979. While their company did not last, the term mountain bike became forever attached to fat-tyred, off-road bicycles, leaving the phrase “all-terrain cycling” untethered until recently.

Today, all-terrain racing is a catch-all term, talking about any kind of off-road racing that emphasises the physical aspects of off-road riding. The easiest way to understand this is to look at cycling as a continuum from road cycling through to downhill mountain bike racing.

Road cycling is an almost purely physical sport - it focuses on the ability of the athletes to generate and sustain power on the road. On the other end, downhill racing relies on the ability of the athlete to conquer the toughest, steepest, most technical trails in the world at incredible speeds.

When we talk about all-terrain racing, we mean any kind of endurance event that lies between these two extremes. Anywhere riders are pushing their endurance limits on dirt is what we consider to be all-terrain racing.

The world of mountain bike and road racing is dominated by the UCI. On the road, the UCI World Tour is the main focus of the big teams, and their energies go into making sure they win enough points in each three-year cycle to hold onto their spot in the premier division of the sport. In mountain biking, the UCI cross-country World Cup is the main racing series, having grown up with the sport itself.

In gravel, things are different. It is a discipline that grew from outsiders and adventurers, from experimenting and exploring, and there is no central focus in the same way. Yes, today there is a UCI Gravel World Series, but the Lifetime Grand Prix series in the US, the Gravel Earth series, Unbound and others are all considered equally important to gravel athletes.

Without a central focus or ranking to fight for, there is a lot more freedom for athletes to choose programmes that excite them. The US Lifetime Grand Prix series is a great example of this, because while it is considered a gravel series, it includes marathon mountain bike races like the prestigious Leadville 100.

While gravel is at the heart of all-terrain racing, we use the term to cover anything that involves covering ground fast off-road. The characteristics that make a great gravel racer equip them well for ultra-distance, marathon XC and even cyclocross.

This means that while the heart of our Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing programme is gravel races like Unbound, the UCI Gravel World Series and Traka, our riders will be heading out to take in everything from the Tour Divide to Marathon cross-country World Cup mountain bike races and beyond.

Gravel riding has always sold itself as an adventure sport. That draws in adventurous people, and what you find is that that kind of rider doesn’t like to confine themselves to just one thing. They like to, you guessed it, adventure - to try new things. It can mean searching out new places to explore, new challenges to conquer, but it can also mean other styles of riding.

It is going beyond the traditional race formats and going deeper into technical terrain with whatever bike works best. This is where all-terrain racing fits - for the kind of rider who wants to go further and faster off-road, and doesn’t like the idea of being confined by a narrow idea of what is fun.

While there are the obvious physical characteristics that a top athlete needs, like a high VO2 Max or FTP, in the world of all-terrain racing, it is often the mental side that really sets apart the winners.

When you are deep into the night on a long race, it’s having the mental strength to keep pushing makes the biggest difference. Technical skills matter greatly too – a highly proficient technical rider can make up lots of time during certain stretches of a race or ride.

One of the most experienced riders on the team, Jasper shines when the racing demands more. His teammates call him Goldie because of his signature gold chains.

Leaving behind professional road racing, winner of the 2024 edition of Unbound Gravel, Carolin has found her niche with gravel racing. She brings a deep well of calm, experience and determination to the team.

From the Canyon factory floor to winning the 2025 UCI World Series, this young Dutchman has come a long way in a short time. With the support of a professional team behind him, we are excited to see how far he can go.

This Uganda-born African cycling pioneer races with a purpose. Based in Kenya today, he will race a global programme focused not just on his own glory, but also on helping young African racers find their place on the world stage.

It’s no mean feat to balance the demands of medical training and high-level ultra-endurance racing, but Marei manages it. On top of working to become a surgeon, she won the prestigious Atlas Mountain Race in 2025.

With his background as a sports scientist, Luca brings a strong mindset to the team. A newbie to gravel racing, his time with the team will be a voyage of discovery for him.

Fred is the team’s sprinter. He has a lot to prove after losing his ‘victory’ at the 2024 Traka 200 to a controversial disqualification.  

Not only does Jade bring the good vibes to the team, but she is an analytical, technical and adaptable rider. For 2026, her goal is to conquer the longer distance Traka 360.

Bradyn is one of the most gifted bike handlers on the team, mixing up the Lifetime Grand Prix series and marathon MTB races for 2026. We have no doubts that whatever he does, it will be exciting. 

Handball’s loss was our gain. A former high-level handball player, Nele is new to her gravel journey, but loves it when the climbs get long and punishing.

Juri’s path to all-terrain racing was a brutal one. A former World Tour road racer with Alpecin-Deceunick, a nightmare crash at the 2025 Giro D’Italia changed his life. The road back has been long and tough, and spelt an end to his professional road cycling dreams, but with Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing he has a team around him to help him fight to get back to the highest levels of racing.

Alex thrives on suffering. When the races get long and the miles hard, that is where this Brit shines brightest. He has a boiling ambition, and we can’t wait to see how far he can go for us in 2026.

This former cyclocross racer has a newfound love for distance. Not content with the endless laps of her first sport, she has blossomed over longer distances, grabbing 9th place at her first gravel world championships. 

To take the team further and faster, our athletes will compete on our no-compromise Canyon CFR bikes – developed at the highest level of the sport and built without limits.

Across gravel and mountain bike racing, three bike platforms will define how they push the boundaries of off-road performance :

Our aerodynamic, gravel-eating speed machine. With wins at the highest levels of gravel racing under its belt, the Grail needs little introduction. From shorter gravel races, like the UCI world Series, to the hard miles of the Traka, this bike will be a fearless companion for our racers, no matter how far they push.

When the dirt demands a little more, the Exceed will be there for our riders. Our speed hardtail MTB is so fast that it begs the question of where a gravel bike ends and a mountain bike ends. We envisage the team’s ultra-distance riders using the Exceed at races like Hellenic Mountain Race, Badlands, and Tour Divide.

For the most challenging of terrain, our riders will go for our cross-country World Championship-winning Lux World Cup platform. Already proven at the Olympic distance, The Canyon x DT Swiss ATR team aim to show the world how far it can go, too.  

Unburdened by the constraints of questions like “is this a mountain bike or a gravel bike?” the ATR team will simply focus on what is fastest. Working closely with our engineers, DT Swiss and other team partners, they will throw out the rulebook to try and find the quickest bikes possible, no matter the distance.

We believe that this is the future of off-road racing, no longer tied up in artificial categories or unnecessary restrictions, they will represent the spirit of adventure, going forth to try and push themselves and their equipment to the very limits of off-road endurance riding.

Curious where you fit into the off-road spectrum? Whether you’re drawn to the technical precision of mountain biking or the boundless exploration of gravel, explore our mountain bike buying guide and gravel bike buying guide to find the right setup for your own ride.

Because the future of off-road isn’t about labels – it’s about how far you’re willing to go.