Gravel Peaks 2026: First details of the route & highlights of the new gravel event
Jan Timmermann
· 16.10.2025
The brand new Gravel Peaks event takes gravel bikers over some of the most beautiful routes in the Alpine region - this much can be revealed. With a dream route through the Austrian Alps and numerous side events with the gravel community, the six-day stage event is set to become an absolute must-do for gravel bikers. From 11 to 16 May 2026, Gravel Peaks offers a varied mix of racing action and enjoyment. The route avoids high alpine terrain and is designed to offer ambitious gravel bikers just the right mix of scenery and riding fun. We were able to elicit a few details about Gravel Peaks from route manager Marc Schneider, who was also responsible for the legendary BIKE-Transalp for many years.
The region where we are realising Gravel Peaks for the first time is Salzburger Land. The six stages in the Saalfelden Leogang, Hochkönig, Flachau and Lungau regions offer everything we dreamed of for Gravel Peaks: epic gravel tracks to the box seats with the jaw-dropping panoramas. - Marc Schneider, route manager Gravel Peaks
I myself have already registered for Gravel Peaks 2026. Course director Marc Schneider is an absolute professional with a keen nose for scenic highlights. The details he has now revealed make my mouth water and increase my anticipation for next May. - Jan Timmermann, BIKE editor
Top spots on a gravel bike: landscape highlights on the pearl necklace
We will stay with Gravel Peaks for the first day in the sun-drenched Saalfelden basin and climb the first viewpoints between Leogang on one side and Maria Alm, the gateway to the Hochkönig region, on the other. Here, the rugged Leoganger Steinberge to the west and the mighty Steinerne Meer further to the east dominate the landscape. We will be able to see these mountains from afar, but also get close enough to touch them. Even the start has all the Gravel Peaks DNA.
And it doesn't stop. The sea of stone simply continues to the east and the rocks continue to pile up without interruption until they scrape the sky at an altitude of 2941 metres at the summit of the Hochkönig. There are higher mountains in Austria, but many three-thousand metre peaks are overshadowed by other giants. Not this one. The Hochkönig stands alone and always proudly shows us its crown. And there are few panoramic trails between Maria Alm, Dienten and Mühlbach where you are not mesmerised by this towering block. Only when the route leaves the Hochkönig region behind in Bischofshofen will we only have these views in our memories - or stored on the memory chip of our mobile phones.
The route of the Gravel Peak 2026: Rustic-wild to impressive-extraordinary
But then another mountain majesty soon enters the stage of our Gravel Peaks event: the Dachstein! From the Sattelbauer, the rustic mountain farm with an Instagram-plus sun terrace overlooking Flachau, the view over to its jagged summit ridge is extraordinary. This is also one of the first-class box seats of Gravel Peaks 2026, and as the route continues from Flachau via Altenmarkt towards Obertauern, the Dachstein continues to show us the way. The eastern Pongau, the region around Flachau up to the border with Styria, also offers plenty of photo spots and easy gravel tracks along the way. Only when the route turns south and we climb the wild pass from Obertauern into Lungau does the Dachstein slowly disappear behind us. We now ride right through it, through the Radstädter Tauern, further south.
Soon you reach the Lungau region. The landscape changes, showing somewhat gentler features, almost lovely, but the cliché should not be overused, as the climbs are not given to you here either. Nevertheless, although the peaks still tower well over 2000 metres into the sky, they do so with restraint here, not reaching so abruptly for the clouds and leaving room for the sun to pamper the wide, green valleys and their flanks. This vastness knows how to enchant, especially when you crank up out of the forest to the panoramic spots above this "Shire".
Inexhaustible variety: plenty of highlights for gravel bikers
The kilometres of gravel paths, forest roads and alpine trails that are really fun here on a gravel bike are almost inexhaustible. It would probably be possible to spend six days alone in Lungau. We won't be able to explore them all. Even if we stay here a day longer after arriving in the area and are allowed to do another lap between Mauterndorf, Tamsweg and St. Michael. But this already shows everything that this holiday region is capable of, it is more than just a foretaste, the tour lays the first building block in the undoubted proof that the Lungau is a tremendous gravel region. And forms the worthy conclusion to a lodge route that offers as much for the eyes as it does for the legs. If you want to get close to the mountains, you have to climb. But on this route, every watt-intensive turn of the cranks is worth it. That's a promise!
Details about the Gravel Peaks 2026
- First edition 11-16 May 2026
- Start of registration: 08.09.2025
- New gravel event with a total of six stages in the Alpine region of Salzburger Land
- Flexible participation concept: only the first or the last three days can be booked
- Event character: mixture of sporting stage race and community event
- Distance: 80-100 km & 1200-1500 m elevation gain / day (total distance 500-600 km & 8000-9000 m elevation gain)
- Daily chill-out area at the stage finish with social hub, catering, music, lounges and extensive services
- Exclusive character: Maximum 500 participants
- All information about the event: delius-klasing.de/gravel-peaks
Jan Timmermann
Editor
