The third version of the UCI Gravel World Championships, held October 5-6 within the Flemish area of Belgium, brings a contemporary ethos to the burgeoning battle for rainbow stripes, with a brand new organiser, new geography and new rivals. Not the entire modifications have created a full metamorphosis within the self-discipline, however the groundwork is in place to present gravel a stable basis on the worldwide stage.
The qualification course of via the year-long Trek UCI Gravel World Collection has helped deepen the fields. The sequence went from 16 world occasions in 2023 to 25 occasions on the calendar this yr, the place the highest 25% of every race made the lower of their class. Golazo Sports activities, which manages the Gravel World Collection, can be overseeing the Worlds this yr and with much more advance discover on the course and qualification because the UCI incarnation of the self-discipline hits its stride, the beginner and elite fields are brimming with these wanting to race, particularly from the highest tier of the skilled street biking ranks.
In contrast to the UCI Gravel World Collection occasions, the elite ladies have their very own day for the beginning on a route that’s shorter than the elite males. On Saturday, October 5, Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) will defend her 2023 title on a 133km course between Halle and Leuven. On Sunday, October 6, elite males’s defending champion Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) will begin on the entrance of the grid on an 182km course, the distinction being further native laps for the boys.
The course has a lot in frequent with the one used final yr for the European Gravel Championships and is ready up like a one-day Belgian Basic with a lot of flat, quick sections and brief, punchy hills. The mix of the shorter distances than usually discovered within the massive US gravel occasions together with the proportion of filth paths and cobblestones to paved sections are more likely to lean in favour of the street specialists.
All programs begin on the Possozplein in Halle, with a 12.5km loop, then traverse via the nationwide park Brabantse Woods, to succeed in Leuven. The ladies will full a 47.7km end circuit as soon as, the boys making the lap twice, to finish the race within the metropolis centre of Leuven. To succeed in the end line, a brief however steep Ramberg cobblestone climb of 1.8km have to be crossed, adopted by the Donatuspark “gravel” part for the ultimate kilometre.
Anticipated to return after a one-year absence is Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) whereas first-time rivals trying to make their marks on gravel embrace two-time ladies’s elite street race world champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and U23 ladies’s street race world champion Puck Pieterse (Netherlands).
The seasoned professionals who’re again for a 3rd time on the Gravel World Championships embrace Tiffany Cromwell (Australia), Lauren Stephens (United States), Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium), Alessandro De Marchi (Italy).
The UCI recognises that the booming off-road various self-discipline started blossoming “within the US Midwest some 15 years in the past”, nonetheless lots of the notable names of the gravel racers from North and South America is not going to be in Belgium. Followers will not see Keegan Swenson, Peter Stetina, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Haley Smith or Lauren De Crescenzo, as they continue to be within the US for different gravel pursuits. A number of different names lacking are Alejandro Valverde (Spain) and an injured Wout van Aert (Belgium) however there’s nonetheless a bounty of massive names on elite begin lists.
Listed here are a number of the versatile riders to look at – primarily based on preliminary starter indications – who may earn the rainbow jerseys on the UCI Gravel World Championships.
Elite Girls
When Kasia Niewiadoma lined up on the UCI Gravel World Championships in 2023 it was her first gravel race and got here after a interval of sturdy outcomes on the street, however a top-step drought that dated proper again to 2019. That every one started to vary when she flew solo towards the end line on the end in Pieve di Soligo and secured the gravel rainbow stripes.
The drought broke and Niewiadoma then additionally swept up two of the most important victories of her greater than a decade-long skilled street profession in 2024. The 30-year-old first received La Flèche Wallonne after which went on to upset the clear-cut Tour de France Femmes favorite Demi Vollering, securing yellow in an thrilling competitors that ended with a tenacious battle up Alpe d’Huez and a profitable margin of simply 4 seconds. It was a contest of nerves and grit, two traits that might simply assist put Niewiadoma in with a shot of defending her gravel title in opposition to a packed Dutch crew.
It is going to be Niewiadoma’s second race again since her Tour de France triumph, with COVID-19 altering her Tour de Romandie race plans. Her first race again was the chilly and moist World Championships street race in Zurich and whereas seventeenth maybe wasn’t the consequence she was searching for it ought to have helped set up the race rhythm forward of her gravel defence. No matter what occurs on Saturday, it has been an unforgettable yr for Niewiadoma and a nothing-to-lose perspective may simply work in her favour on the punchy terrain. (SG)
Lotte Kopecky has not competed in a gravel race throughout her in depth biking profession, however it’s no shock that she will probably be one of many favourites to line up on the occasion in Leuven on house soil in Belgium.
Kopecky is in high kind having secured her second-consecutive street race world title on the Zurich World Championships final weekend. She can be one of many high one-day Classics specialists on this planet, which implies this classics-style gravel occasion could possibly be well-suited to her strengths.
Kopecky, who can be a six-time world champion and Olympic medallist on the observe, excels as a multi-discipline racer. She may not have raced within the gravel self-discipline earlier than, however she has received cobbled Monuments; Tour of Flanders twice and Paris-Roubaix. She has additionally proven no issue on the white gravel roads of Strade Bianche, profitable the one-day race two occasions.
Look ahead to Kopecky so as to add a rainbow jersey in gravel racing to her assortment of world titles on the street and observe. (KF)
Lorena Wiebes will lead a robust Dutch crew on the Gravel World Championships that features Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos and Puck Pieterse, all of which have the potential to win the world title.
Wiebes is the reigning European Champion, having received the title in Oud-Heverlee final yr, and will probably be trying to carry her gravel racing success into this world championships. She has loved a profitable season on the street thus far with 19 victories, and quite a few different podiums as a part of the SD Worx-Protime squad.
Final yr, Wiebes completed fifth within the World Championships occasion in Italy, however this time across the course seems much like the earlier yr’s European Championships, and so may higher go well with Wiebes’ strengths, given the flatter, classics-style course.
She just lately received the street race title on the European Championships in Hasselt earlier than turning her consideration to gravel racing the place she received Okay Gravel + Merida NL Gravel Collection-Meerveld.
She didn’t take part within the Street World Championships held in Zurich final weekend and so is likely to be lining up brisker than her rivals who took half within the elite and under-23 ladies’s street occasions. (KF)
Tiffany Cromwell has the perfect mixture of street and gravel know-how plus the confirmed capacity to carry out on the type of terrain that this course presents. The Australian has been an everyday participant, and winner, within the UCI Gravel World Collection rounds. She additionally is aware of her street ways and rivals inside out after 16 seasons of racing.
Already on the two UCI Gravel World Championships she has taken half in, Cromwell has delivered a tenth and sixth place however this yr is one the place she has each purpose to hope for much more because the punchy course, with out a massive climb proper in the beginning, works to her strengths. The proof of that was clear when she received the European Continental Championships race in 2023 – the title nonetheless went to second-placed Lorena Wiebes as an alternative given Cromwell’s nationality.
Cromwell is exhibiting sturdy kind, profitable the Sea Otter Europe UCI Gravel World Collection spherical in latest weeks, pulling off a dramatic fightback after slipping effectively again within the discipline within the opening phases. Plus Cromwell was then a late call-up for the Australian crew on the Street World Championships, the place among the many riders she was supporting have been U23 silver medallist Neve Bradbury. The Canyon-SRAM teammates’ roles will flip this weekend, with Bradbury certain to be a invaluable assist for Cromwell as an alternative, giving her a bonus she hasn’t had in earlier editions of the World Championships. Add in Sarah Gigante as a participant in each Street and Gravel World Championships and, if street crew ways leach into the gravel contest, the bonding in Zurich may effectively repay even additional in Belgium. (SG)
Lauren Stephens will lead the US crew on the Gravel Worlds having simply competed within the time trial, blended relay and street race on the Street Worlds in Zurich final week and weekend.
Stephens received her second consecutive nationwide title on the USA Biking Gravel Championships in September and in addition received Rattlesnake Gravel Grind, SBT GRVL, and defended the ladies’s title at Garmin Gravel Worlds in Nebraska.
On the street, Stephens received Clasica de Almeria, a stage of the Tour de Normandie, the general title at Tour of the Gila, and gold within the elite street race and silver within the elite time trial on the Pan American Championships.
Stephens stated she spent a lot of the later a part of her season competing in gravel occasions and criteriums to arrange for competing in back-to-back Street and Gravel Worlds. Upon arriving in Leuven, she has taken time to get well from her effort in Zurich and has hung out previewing the Gravel Worlds route.
Though Stephens hasn’t competed in a UCI Gravel World Collection occasion this yr, she goals to complete on the rostrum in Leuven. She has raced within the earlier two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships ending sixth in 2023 and fifteenth in 2022. (KF)
Extra riders to look at
Exterior of our collection of favourites, there are honourable mentions and riders to look at and plenty of of them will probably be competing for the Dutch squad together with former multi-discipline world champion Marianne Vos, mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse, former cyclocross world champion Lucinda Model, and reigning cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel.
All these riders have the potential to win a world title. Pieterse just lately secured the elite ladies’s world title in cross-country mountain bike and the under-23 world title within the street race. The multi-discipline rider has additionally earned silver and bronze medals within the elite ladies’s cyclocross Worlds and she or he received a stage on the Tour de France Femmes in August.
Different riders to look at embrace Italy’s Silvia Persico, who completed second final yr, and German Champion Carolin Schiff, who received Gravel World Collection occasions in Poland, Germany, and France, whereas additionally profitable Traka 200 and Utopia Gravel Fest. The SD Worx-ProTime gravel specialist Geerike Schreurs, who got here second at Unbound, may additionally profit from her street crew affiliation.
Elite Males
When cyclocross ramps up in a matter of weeks, Mathieu van der Poel will race within the rainbow stripes, however he misplaced his grip on the street world title in Zürich just some days in the past. The 29-year-old large of a number of disciplines may very effectively add the gravel rainbow jersey to his assortment subsequent Sunday. Nobody may catch Tadej Pogačar on his solo sortie at Street Worlds, however Van der Poel was third finest and one of many few riders to complete rather less than a minute behind the hovering Slovenia. Except Pogačar surprises the sphere and exhibits up in the beginning line in Halle, Van der Poel would be the high favorite.
Two years in the past at Gravel World Championships, Van der Poel rode to bronze in Veneto, Italy. Since then in one-day races, he is received 4 Monuments – Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, each begins at Paris-Roubaix and in addition the 2023 Street Worlds race. He was additionally on the rostrum this yr at Gent-Wevelgem and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in addition to Street Worlds.
If for some purpose Van der Poel cannot get in gear on a course that’s a lot shorter than his Classics conquests, Jasper Ockeloen may take over because the Dutch chief. He completed thirteenth final yr on the gravel championships and has two gravel wins this season. Dutch gravel coach Laurens ten Dam gave him the nod as ‘the man’ if Van der Poel just isn’t in kind. (JT)
Matej Mohorič is greater than motivated to retain the boys’s elite world title for gravel, as one other yr may give him a chance to put on it throughout a end line. He suffered a number of mechanicals at Unbound Gravel 200 and was a DNF. Then he suffered a hand harm on a preview experience the day earlier than Sea Otter Europe Girona which prompted him to tug out of that gravel tuneup. After that he didn’t line up for Slovenia on the Street World Championships to get well for his defence on gravel.
The 2024 season stored Mohorič centered on the street with UAE Workforce Emirates and he supported Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar for a 3rd GC win. Earlier than that, he had nice efforts at two Monuments with a fifth at Strade Bianche and a sixth at Milan-San Remo.
“I am fairly excited [about Gravel World Championships]. It is mainly like a giant one-day Basic,” he instructed Cyclingnews. Final yr, he stated the Italian setup was “tremendous onerous and fairly punchy within the remaining with lengthy climbs” and stated he wasn’t certain the Belgian course with smaller quantities of climbing would go well with him.
The 29-year-old has competed in 12 Grand Excursions, and numerous Basic, so so long as his hand can take the impacts of off-road terrain, search for Mohoric to be on the rostrum once more. (JT)
The Belgian males’s crew is stacked and plenty of riders on the squad may simply be listed among the many favourites, however there’s one factor that units Jasper Stuyven aside, and that’s his confirmed capacity to win on the terrain. It was final yr in the identical territory that he slipped on the bands of a European champion along with his solo end forward of compatriot Tim Merlier. He additionally as soon as once more proved his gravel capacity within the gravel heavy stage 9 of the Tour de France, when for a second his win on the prestigious race had appeared inside attain as he countered an assault from the break to surge out the entrance solo at simply 11km to go. His hopes, nonetheless, have been dashed when the catch occurred in sight of the flamme rouge.
Nonetheless on the Gravel World Championships, the confirmed Classics power of the Milan-San Remo, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and E3 Saxo Basic winner combines with the familiarity of the roads and paths he grew up on, making him a formidable foe. So does the power of the Belgian crew. Quotas could preserve a good restrict on the variety of riders in a Street World Championships, however not so in gravel so the house nation crew is predicted to come back out in pressure to verify certainly one of their riders will get to have fun in entrance of the house crowd. (SG)
Final yr’s winner of The Traka 200 has develop into one of many veterans of gravel racing, his 11 years on the world stage of street racing put aside in 2016. Final weekend, Paul Voß completed second at Sea Otter Europe Girona, one of many remaining qualifying races within the UCI Gravel World Collection, so he is received confidence getting into his third Gravel World Championships. In Girona, he outsprinted Petr Vakoc (Czechia) and distanced high contenders Alessandro De Marchi (Italy) and Hugo Drechou (France).
Final yr he was third within the UEC Gravel Championships, outsprinting world champion Gianni Vermeersch for the rostrum spot. That efficiency was on the course that served because the template for this yr’s Worlds course, so search for Voß to do effectively on acquainted floor. (JT)
Final yr when WorldTour rider Connor Swift determined to “have a bash at some gravel racing” on the Gralloch he found a self-discipline the place he appeared proper at house, profitable on his first outing. He then stepped straight onto the rostrum at his UCI Gravel World Championships debut, coming third behind Matej Mohoric and Florian Vermeersch, and never surprisingly rapidly foreshadowing his dedication to returning to strive once more in 2024.
A yr later the Ineos Grenadiers rider has slightly extra gravel expertise, and is lining up on a course the place his Classics expertise ought to make him much more at house. Add to that the arrogance enhance of an ideal report within the self-discipline in 2024, having received each the British Gravel Championships and the UCI Gravel World Collection race, Graen Cymru. Swift now will probably be hoping he could make it three for 3. (SG)
Extra riders to look at
We could have one Belgian rider listed among the many favourites above however there are lots extra that might simply as simply be placing the house colors on show on the entrance of the sphere. Firstly there’s the winner of the inaugural version, Gianni Vermeersch or maybe final yr’s second-placed Florian Vermeersch. Then if Tim Merlier strains up he’s seemingly be one other main risk, having come second on the European Gravel Championships final yr, received on the mid-year Blaavands Huk UCI Gravel World Collection spherical and in addition being within the midst of a robust streak on the street, with three wins in September and a type of being the European Street Championships. Turning to different nations, former WorldTour rider turned gravel specialist Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic) is a critical risk, having come sixth on the European Gravel Championships final yr and infrequently having been off the rostrum this season, together with wins on the La Monsterrato UCI Gravel World Collection race and Traka 200. American Chad Haga could possibly be an extended shot, having delivered a robust gravel run this yr, with second at Octopus Gravel and Unbound.
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