Formula 1 star Valtteri Bottas has big ambitions for 2024: "I will try to qualify for the gravel worlds"

A few years ago, Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas started cycling. Things have escalated quite a bit since then. He’s competed in numerous gravel events since then, racing during the free weeks in his busy F1 race schedule, while he almost always brings a bike to his F1 races, both as a form of training and as a way to escape the race bubble.

At SBT GRVL this year, he had a standout performance, finishing in the top 20 in the 100-mile blue course. Not bad for an athlete who can’t devote his full attention to cycling. He even did the age category race at the European gravel championships. "It felt more like a spring classic race than a gravel race," he says of the intense racing.

But 2024 marks his most ambitious gravel goal yet. "I will try to qualify for the gravel worlds next year," he revealed on the latest episode of the Bobby & Jens podcast.

There are a number of ways to qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships, but the most likely avenue for Bottas is qualifying through the UCI Gravel World Series. At each event in this series, the top 25 percent of riders in each age category who finish the race qualify for the world championship race. Bottas will enter 2024 as a racing age of 35, meaning he can qualify for the 35-39 age group.