If you haven’t heard of Matthew Beers, chances are you’ve been living under a heap of gravel. Since signing with Specialized Off-Road in 2024, the South African has become one of the most popular and feared riders on the US gravel racing scene, forging a reputation built on his 480W FTP and exceptional bike-handling skills.
Despite years of success racing road, mountain, and gravel bikes in South Africa, including a stint at UAE Team Emirates-XRG as a stagiaire in 2019, it was his 2021 Cape Epic win alongside Frenchman Jordan Sarrou that put him on the radar of international teams.
Fast forward to today, and Matt Beers is as well known in the USA as he is in his home country of South Africa, thanks to the Life Time Grand Prix. Despite a successful season, 2025 didn’t start well for Beers; this included his title defence of the Cape Epic with Keegan Swenson in March.
“The early months didn’t quite go to plan,” Beers told Cycling Weekly.
“Races leading up to the Cape Epic, I had mechanicals, then the Cape Epic didn’t go great either. After that, I went to the USA and Europe and had some great results. Then, mid-season, it went downhill again, but the last months of the year were great, so it’s definitely been up-and-down with the ups outweighing the downs.”
(Image credit: James Cameron Heron)
While gravel as a discipline is still in a state of flux and constantly evolving, one country is leading the charge – the United States of America, and this is where Beers spends large amounts of his season, training and prepping alongside his good friend Keegan Swenson. Beers believes the USA is the land of opportunity for off-road racers, more particularly aspiring gravel professionals.
“I think the USA is still the place with the most opportunities. Unbound will change your career like no other gravel race, but other events and countries outside of the USA are becoming extremely popular; races such as the Traka and Gravel Burn.”
After winning the Big Sugar Classic in emphatic fashion with an incognito attack that caught the Life Time Grand Prix series leaders napping, not to mention averaging over 431w for over two hours of racing, Beers returned to his native South Africa to take on a whole new challenge before some time off with his wife – a seven-stage off-road race called Gravel Burn. In terms of the gravel racing, South Africa is the polar opposite of what you’ll find in the States, according to Beers.
“Firstly, the terrain is very different, and a lot of the gravel is quite sharp and loose in South Africa. In the USA, it obviously varies state by state because the country is so vast. But the most significant difference is the size of the elite field. The bunch is about three times the size in the USA, so positioning and fighting for the wheels is much harder.”
(Image credit: Bruce Viaene)
While Beers has always been a formidable rider – even when he was racing full time in South Africa for various teams – since signing for an international outfit and racing against the world’s best gravel riders, he seems to have kicked up a gear and reached his full potential as a cyclist, something the South African reckons comes down to the higher racing stimulus.
“The racing in the USA has definitely contributed to the higher level of my fitness and overall race craft. The racing field is deep in Europe and the USA, but the South African guys are very strong, too.”
Inconsistent performance plagued Beer’s early career, he admits, due to improper fueling and a lack of thorough understanding of the process. This is something he has spent years perfecting and training for, and the results are clear.
Beers has one of the biggest engines in contemporary professional cycling and is widely known for his unreal power output and ability to roll at ridiculously high absolute watts. Given his size, he needs a lot of fuel to operate optimally. For context, Matt is 1.96m (6’4”) tall and weighs roughly 80kg.
“It’s taken a while to find a sweetspot and something that works for me, but 90g/hr for really hot and high altitude races and 120-140g/hr for cooler races. My weight is around 82-84kg, depending on the time of year and what races I’m doing, and my FTP is 480W.”
(Image credit: James Cameron Heron)
While his size has its benefits for driving the pace on the flats and using momentum to catch lighter riders and force breaks, especially into the wind, he cites aerodynamics on the bike as one of his biggest challenges.
“My height and size have their benefits and downfalls, but that applies to anyone else, too. I think my biggest problem with the gravel bike now is aerodynamics. It isn’t easy to be aero, comfortable, and powerful. At least one of those factors is gonna be compromised, so figuring that out isn’t easy.”
Nutrition and staying healthy throughout a long and arduous racing season are challenges most professional cyclists face. While Beers doesn’t have a set nutrition regimen to enhance recovery, he tries to eat clean and maintain consistent eating habits throughout the season.
“I just try to maintain a good overall weight and relationship with food. Just eating clean, good food and not risking gastrointestinal issues with strange foods.”
Asked about South Africa’s potential to host a future addition of the UCI Gravel World Championships, he was quick to point out that the country’s vast rural network of gravel roads and variable terrain has a lot to offer the world.
“South Africa has some of the best gravel roads in the world, especially in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, and the Karoo. Hopefully, the UCI brings the World Championships to South Africa before I retire.
(Image credit: Life Time Grand Prix)
Coming off such a successful 2025 campaign, which culminated with a broken clavicle during the Wines2Whales mountain bike stage race after Gravel Burn in November, Beers was forced to take a much-needed off-season and honeymoon with his wife, Kayleigh.
“I’ll be relaxing for the most part. It’s been a long year. But I’ll be going on honeymoon with my wife, which will be very cool.”
His goals for 2026, however, revolve around gravel racing in particular, and judging by how he raced this past season, a lot will be expected from the big man – not to mention he will be more marked than ever before. While nothing has been confirmed, Beers told us he will focus on staying consistent, as that drives his success, but his goals remain the same.
“I think just consistency and learning how to race gravel has helped with my success this year; figuring out the equipment choices and specifying my training more towards gravel. I haven’t sat down yet properly and looked, but there are a few races that remain the same, like Unbound, the UCI Gravel World Champs potentially, and a few others, such as the Traka or Sea Otter Classic – those are two races I would really like to win.”
Explore More
