Gravel Heroes: The Traka 360

The latest episode of our Gravel Heroes series just dropped and it's a wild ride. Join Jan Stöckli and Simon Pellaud as they dive into their final prep for Europe's biggest gravel race: the Traka 360.

Relatively new to gravel and facing their longest-ever race, both riders lined up with nerves, excitement, and huge respect for what lay ahead.

After watching the video, read through Jan's Gravel Diary:

Flight booked, bike prepped, motivation packed – on April 29, I was off to Girona.I couldn’t wait! Simon and I had done a ton of planning and made what felt like a million phone calls to get everything sorted for what we hoped would be an unforgettable week.

We both landed in Barcelona around noon. I picked up the rental car while Simon had to wait a bit longer for his bike to show up – a little test of patience. Once we were all set, we drove to our amazing accommodation, just 30 minutes outside Girona. There was still enough time that afternoon to check out the course in detail. After that, we hit the supermarket and whipped up a tasty dinner. Early bedtime – day one done.

Wednesday, April 30Breakfast out on the terrace with sunshine – can’t ask for a better start to the day. Then it was straight back on the bikes: three hours of course recon, followed by cleaning up the bikes, lunch, and talking race strategy. We covered everything – nutrition, spares, feed zones. That evening, we were invited to the SRAM Athletes Dinner – amazing food and good chats. The excitement was definitely building.

Thursday, May 1The day before the race. We kept it chill: two hours of easy spinning, then we got everything ready. Energy bars and gels labeled, sorted, and packed into little bags marked “Feed 1,” “Feed 2,” “Feed 3.” In the afternoon, we picked up our race numbers and handed over the bikes for the bike check. Then we went to meet Luke and his wife Gaia – our awesome feed zone support crew. We went through the plan while Gaia cooked an amazing dinner. It was one of those rare calm moments before the storm – and I really appreciated it.

Friday – Race DayStart time: 5:50 AM. Breakfast rice was ready to go – just needed heating up. The atmosphere at the start line was electric. Everyone knew what was coming: 360 kilometers of gravel.

My Race – Looking BackWhen I signed up for the Traka360, I honestly didn’t realize what I was getting into. On the form, they asked how long you thought you’d need to finish. The options started at 11 hours. That’s when it hit me – this wasn’t 360 degrees, it was 360 kilometers! I optimistically put down 12 hours and 30 minutes… because, well, I’m an optimist.

The week before the race, I had a lot on my mind. In Monaco, I’d really struggled on the climbs. So I came up with a plan: get into an early breakaway and try to build a gap, just in case I couldn’t keep up on the longer climbs. But surprisingly, I ended up being the strongest climber in my group. On the second big climb, I pulled away and rode my own pace. But then came a super long flat stretch – over 100 kilometers. Riding that solo? Not smart. So I waited for the chase group, who caught me right at the start of that section.

We worked well together for a while, but with 100 km to go, two guys attacked. I stayed calm – still a long way to go. About 40 km later, we caught one of them, but our group had kind of fallen apart. With 10 km to go before the last big climb, I made my move. The group split, and six of us hit the climb together. After the descent, just three of us were left. The leader was about five minutes ahead – so we were fighting for second to fourth place.

After the last feed zone, it was just me and one other guy left. We both knew – it was now a battle for silver or bronze. We dug deep for the final push. Then – disaster – the guy I was with, Svendsen, crashed! I waited for him, and we rolled into the final straight together. I ended up winning the sprint… if you can even call it a sprint after 360 km. Honestly, it was the best day I’ve ever had on a bike. I never felt like I hit my limit, and my head was in the game the whole time.

Mental Tricks & MotivationI spent a lot of time beforehand thinking about how I’d mentally get through such a huge distance. My motto was: There’s always someone doing something even crazier. Like the people riding 360 km today and another 200 km tomorrow. So what I’m doing? Peanuts. I also tried to keep the vibe light in our group – cracking jokes, keeping the mood up. It helped the others, but it definitely helped me too.

And now? On to Unbound!Thanks to this result, I got a wildcard for the legendary Unbound race. Simon and I are going all in again – and we’re hoping to make something big happen there too.

Thank you! Huge shoutout to Luke and Gaia – we couldn’t have done any of this without you!