The Dutch will paint the city of Leuven orange after a weekend sweep of rainbow jerseys for his or her elite riders on the UCI Gravel World Championships. Marianne Vos received in a two-up dash in opposition to Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) on Saturday and Mathieu van der Poel powered to a solo victory on Sunday.
Van der Poel raced one week in the past on the Street World Championships however misplaced the highway race title he earned in 2023 to Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) and headed residence with a bronze medal. The Dutch nationwide workforce didn’t know if the powerhouse multi-discipline rider could be in Belgium for a second try on the new-breed Worlds.
“With the ladies we had 11 or 12 wildcards. With the lads’s workforce I gave away just one wildcard, and it is to Mathieu. And that is the one you wish to give it to. Mathieu signed up on the final minute and I used to be very glad,” Laurens ten Dam, the nationwide gravel coach for the Netherlands informed Cyclingnews.
After ending the Street Worlds, Van der Poel confirmed to his coach that he did intend to swap rainbow jerseys, going from highway to gravel.
“Yeah, it was an enormous objective for me. It is actually tough to complete it off as a favorite. The tempo was excessive all day,” Van der Poel informed Cyclingnews and a German media outlet within the combined zone late Sunday afternoon in Leuven.
“I imply, it was an enormous objective for me, but in addition for the workforce, and Canyon. So I am actually glad that that I received as we speak.”
Becoming a member of him on the rostrum was Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Quinten Hermans (Belgium), who secured the bronze medal by outsprinting a bunch 4 different riders, which included 2022 gravel champion Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) and 2023 gravel champion Matej Mohorič (Slovena).
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“It is tremendous good so as to add one other rainbow to the gathering in one other self-discipline as nicely, so I am tremendous proud of this one,” stated Van der Poel, who additionally has a complete of eight cyclocross world titles, two as a junior and 6 with elites, plus the one highway race title from a 12 months in the past.
“I simply needed to make the race as exhausting as attainable, as a result of I knew on the native lap, with an enormous group, it might be a tough state of affairs for me so I attempted to place everyone on the restrict. It was a brilliant exhausting race, however I loved it.”
Van der Poel was energetic all day on the 173km course from Halle to Leuven. He launched an assault on the ultimate Leuven circuit on a steep part within the woods, matched by Connor Swift (Nice Britain). Then 5 others made the catch for a time. Van der Poel then launched a transfer and gapped 5 riders with 21km to go, this time Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) tagging alongside.
The large Dutchman then dropped breakaway companion Florian Vermeesch on one other brief climb with below 13km remaining and kicked up the mud for his solo trip to the end on Martelarenplein, one of many metropolis’s largest open squares now crammed with 1000’s of followers. A lot of the followers had been Belgian, however they cheered for the favored Dutch rider as he crossed the road and stopped to hoist his bike skyward.
Whereas Van der Poel labored his highway craft in Zurich final week, rain soaked the gravel course for a number of days. Nonetheless, all of the filth paths and assorted terrain had virtually dried out for a sunny, heat October day for the Gravel World Championships. There was no want for Van der Poel to make any gear changes.
“Really, there was nothing particular with my setup. I at all times trip at residence as nicely for gravel. The one factor I modify is the tyres when it is muddy, however as we speak was dry. So, I simply rode the tyres I at all times trip at residence. It is Vittoria, Terreno Dry, dimension 38.”
What he did discover particular was the victory by Vos on Saturday. The developments within the elite girls’s race on Saturday was of curiosity to Van der Poel, and he confirmed he did watch the reside broadcast.
“Sure, I watched it yesterday. It was very nice to observe with Lotte and Marianne in entrance. It was a pleasant dash with the 2 of them. So, yeah, was cool to observe.”
And with a pair of elite victories for the Dutch on the Gravel World Championships, coach Ten Dam can benefit from the after social gathering.
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