Scott SRAM and Nino Schurter among the first confirmed teams for the Karoo
If, until now, you thought gravel racing was all about solo battles against the desert, the Nedbank Gravel Burn 2026 has a surprise for you. The South African organisers have just announced the first formalised Teams Classification in a major international gravel stage race, and the peloton lining up to debut it is anything but second tier.
The headline signing is Scott SRAM, one of the most decorated teams in mountain bike history, managed by Thomas Frischknecht and led by Nino Schurter, Olympic champion and ten-time XCO world champion. Watching a squad with that level of technical skill and race craft take on gravel promises to be one of the highlights of the Karoo in 2026.
South Africa sends its best too
This isn't just a European invasion. A South African road team backed by 36ONE Asset Management has also confirmed its entry, with Ryan Gibbons, Kent Main, Blaine Kieck and Warren Moolman on the roster. Four riders with plenty of road racing pedigree, now ready to take on dust, gravel and the endless stages of the South African interior.
Kevin Vermaak, founder of the Nedbank Gravel Burn, hasn't hidden his excitement about the response to the announcement. In his view, gravel racing is going through the same evolution that events like The Traka or Unbound already experienced, where structured teams eventually set the pace at the sharp end of the field. The difference here is that the Teams Classification was built into the race from day one, rather than being an afterthought.
The format was developed with input from people who know exactly what they're talking about: Pete Stetina, the Canyon x DT Swiss team, and Adam Hansen, president of the CPA, the professional riders' association. In other words, this isn't a marketing gimmick, it's a format shaped by and for the riders who will actually be racing stage after stage across the Karoo.
How it works (and why solo racers are still the stars)
Don't worry if you'd rather race at your own pace and take on the event solo, nothing changes for you. The individual race remains the foundation of the Nedbank Gravel Burn, with a $150,000 USD prize purse split equally between the Pro Men's and Pro Women's categories. The Teams Classification is an extra layer of strategy and spectacle, not a replacement.
Teams are made up of four riders, and each day the three best times from each squad count towards the overall team standings. That means thinking in group tactics, sharing the workload, and waiting for a teammate who's struggling on a sandy climb... classic gravel racing, but now with a collective dimension that a race of this scale has never had before.
And the perfect finale awaits at the Burn Celebration in Shamwari, where teams will step onto the podium alongside the individual winners. An expanded party, more names on stage, and even more reasons to raise a toast around the campfire.
There's room for privateers too
The best part is that this classification isn't reserved for superteams with logos and support vehicles. Any group of friends can enter as a team of four riders and compete on equal terms in this new category. So if you and three mates from the club have already been talking about heading to the Karoo together, this is the perfect excuse to make the trip even more special.
Because, in the end, that's what makes the Nedbank Gravel Burn great: professionals like Nino Schurter sharing the route, the camp and the dust with amateurs from 25 different countries. The Teams Classification doesn't change that spirit, it multiplies it. Same route, same Burn Camp under the stars, same drive to cross the finish line, but now, if you want, with someone paddling alongside you.
Fancy putting a team together for 2026? At Masquebici we're already discussing who we'd sign for our own version of Scott SRAM. Tell us in the comments who you'd bring along to the Karoo.
