USA Biking has introduced its roster of elite and age-group cyclists to tackle the world’s greatest on the UCI Gravel World Championship on October 5 and 6.
That is the third 12 months of the Gravel World Championships, which, after having been held in Italy for 2 editions, will happen within the Flanders area of Belgium. In 2023, the elite races have been gained by Matej Mohorič (Slovenia / Crew Bahrain Victorious) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland / Canyon-SRAM).
This 12 months, Crew USA hopes to search out itself on the elite podium with a roster that blends WorldTour street racing expertise with high gravel racers. Freshly topped U.S. nationwide gravel champions Lauren Stephens and Brennan Wertz shall be joined by the likes of retired WorldTour racer Ted King, Visma-Lease a Bike rider Colby Simmons, DNA Professional Biking‘s Shayna Powless and previous Unbound Gravel winner Lauren De Crescenzo.
Notably lacking from the listing of athletes is Keegan Swenson, who is taken into account to be the highest gravel racer within the nation however did not safe a spot. Riders had a number of methods to qualify for the Gravel World Championships due to the UCI’s Biking for All initiative. These {qualifications} included a end within the high 25% of one of many UCI Gravel World Collection occasions, a win of their Nationwide Championship class, or being nominated as a ‘wild card’ addition by ending within the high 5 on the Elite Gravel Nationwide Championships.
The Europe-based UCI Gravel World Championships have to date eschewed the lengthy distances popularised by American gravel races, and the routes for the 2024 occasion aren’t any completely different. The elite girls’s area will sort out 133 kilometres on Saturday, October fifth, and the elite males will cowl “simply” 179 kilometres the next day. In comparison with the 200-320-kilometre U.S. races, these distances are moderately quick certainly. However the place it lacks in distances, it makes up for in punchy climbs and slender, twisty-turny paths.
Gravel, cobblestones and unpaved surfaces make up 56% of the route, many sections of which have been beforehand featured within the 2023 European Gravel Championship, gained by Classics specialist Jasper Stuyven (Belgium) and sprinter Lorena Wiebes (The Netherlands). The paved sections may also be acquainted for some, because the 2021 UCI Highway World Championships happened in the identical area, travelling between Antwerpen and Leuven. This Classics-style race was gained in a dash by Elisa Balsamo (Italy) within the girls’s race and by Julian Alaphilippe (France) who entered the end solo within the males’s occasion.
Podium hopefuls representing Crew USA within the elite classes are:
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