After her phenomenal first Ardennes classics campaign, Axelle will start the 325-kilometer journey around Catalunya full of confidence. She is eager to better her second place from last year’s edition and, after finishing 10th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège with a stunning ride over La Redoute and lighting up the final kilometers of La Flèche Wallonne, the French gravel champion knows that she can go toe to toe with the best riders in the world in any race. The Traka is Axelle’s first big off-road goal of the year and she is going to go all out to win it.

“I want to win Traka,” she said. “That’s my biggest goal of the year. I am ready. I am excited. I know 100% of the track. I did some good blocks of training, so I'm really excited. It’s long and there are some very tough efforts that suit me well, so let’s see.”

Lachy is excited to see how he stacks up against the best off-road racers in the world on Friday. Gravel racing has changed fast since Lachy first ventured onto dirt on a drop-handlebar bike with wider tires, but Lachy has kept pace in his own free-spirited style. After a huge block of training at home in California, the 2024 Unbound winner wants to test himself on the red-dirt roads and trails of Catalunya that he has explored more than anyone else.

“I am just going to go there and race as hard as I can,” Lachy said. “I want to be in the mix. In racing, the goalposts move pretty quickly. I feel like my condition is really good. I just don’t know what that means. I will try and win, I guess.”

The atmosphere in Girona during Traka week is electric. Lachy and Axelle are trying to stay grounded before the starter’s shot thunders through the air on Friday morning at dawn. The energy buzzing through the Catalan university city has them amped.

“It’s wild to see how many people come into town,” Lachlan said. “When I lived there, it was starting to blow up. A lot of people have moved to this part of the world to ride bikes and gravel racing really took off. It is very surreal. It’s cool, but it’s not something I would have predicted when I lived in Girona and was racing road bikes and exploring the countryside. You have the ocean on one side and then the mountains on the other side and in between that you have a lot of forest and bush and a volcanic area, and because you're in Europe, there are amazing roads and trails. It is just kind of this endless network. Catalunya has so much going for it. The food is great and there are all these historic stone towns out in the hills.”

Axelle loves ripping around the hills around Girona. The terrain suits her very well.

“It’s spicy,” she said. “You have big hills, big downhills, and it’s always a bit technical. To enjoy it, you need to have good skills. It’s not fast gravel. You need to be a pure gravel racer.”

Axelle proved that she is more than just a pure gravel racer last week, but she sure is one and the Traka is still the race that is closest to her heart. 

Wish her and Lachlan and everyone who has made the trip to Girona to race the Traka good luck! This weekend is going to be fun.