The athletes that OGT backs are not hard to find in a start list. Here is what brings them to Galloway in May.

OGT — One Good Thing — is The Gralloch's headline nutrition partner for 2026. Their wrapper-free bars are built on a simple principle: real food, properly made, no compromises. The athletes they back reflect the same thinking.

Matt Holmes spent three seasons at WorldTour level with Lotto-Soudal — racing the Giro, the Vuelta, and Paris-Nice, where he led the climbers' classification. He won a stage at the Tour Down Under. At the end of 2022 he walked away. Eighteen months later he returned as a privateer, built his programme through sponsorship and persistence, and in 2024 won the UCI Gravel World Series race at The Gralloch. He followed it in 2025 by winning the 114 Gravel UCI World Series race. He returns to Galloway in May as one of the riders to beat — and with good reason to want to be back. "The Gralloch is my favourite race of the year," he says. "I've only ever had glorious blue sky in Gatehouse of Fleet, so I only have good memories. When I won, the final run in down the hill into town was just great — I had a comfortable gap and could really enjoy it." His verdict on the event is unambiguous: "The Gralloch should be a blueprint for how gravel races are run." On his relationship with OGT, he is equally direct: "Working with the guys from OGT has been way more than just a sponsorship — and hopefully a partnership that can continue for years to come, even beyond my racing career."

Xan Crees has raced The Gralloch since its first edition and has no intention of missing one now. The 2023 British Gravel Champion and 2025 British Cyclo-cross Champion returns this year under OGT p/b USE, the professional team she built herself. "I absolutely love the riding in Gatehouse of Fleet. It's hard to find gravel in the UK where you can head off road and have a route that's 80% gravel — but Gatehouse provides just that. And it's pretty perfect gravel terrain too. Having ridden every edition so far, there's a small part of me that just doesn't want to break the streak." Building that professional programme from the ground up has meant OGT's support extends well beyond race day. "Having OGT on board has really helped me commit to my racing calendar and make setting up the team possible," she says. "I've previously been terrible at eating enough on the bike, but I now know I can fuel my really long rides without my stomach ending up a mess." She knows the course, knows the terrain, and knows what it takes to compete at the front. The question is whether this is the year she wins it.

Lizzie Hermolle won the British Gravel Championship in Dalby Forest in September 2025 in only her third gravel race. In March 2026 she set the women's gravel Everesting world record: 65 ascents of Sheep Pasture Incline in Derbyshire, 9,325 metres of climbing, 157 kilometres in 11 hours and 5 minutes. A former footballer who found cycling just four years ago, she is still working out the limits of what she can do. "It's exciting to be able to line up against the level of riders doing The Gralloch and see where I stack up," she says. "I go in with an open mind. I'm still learning, and with every race I'm learning something new." The Everesting record, completed with OGT supplying nutrition across all 65 laps, clarified what having the right partner means when the margins are that thin. "When you're doing something that long, everything is dependent on your fuelling. OGT made a big difference — knowing I have something reliable that works for my body takes away a lot of the stress. But it's more than just the bars. Their support is unbelievable, and you feel really part of something." That combination of endurance capacity and ruthless pacing makes her one of the most compelling names in the women's field.

Jonny Brownlee holds three Olympic medals, six world titles, and an MBE for services to triathlon. He will start The Gralloch in May. The draw, he explains, is straightforward. "I'm at a stage in my career where I want different challenges. I like gravel because I like the pure racing side of it — the fact it's not always the strongest person who wins. You explore completely new places, and that's what I love about sport." On Galloway specifically: "After racing the national championships in Scotland I absolutely loved that area. The course goes up a hill to start, which splits things out straight away. And it really does feel like a festival of gravel — the finish line, the village, the food, the interviews on stage. It's a great event and I'm looking forward to being there."

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Four athletes. Four reasons to be in Gatehouse of Fleet on 17 May.

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OGT bars are built for exactly this kind of riding. Natural ingredients, no wrapper, easy to take mid-effort. Use the coming weeks to trial them properly before race day. Code GRA26 gets you your first subscription box for just £10. Worth doing before the start line.

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