The third version of the UCI Gravel World Championships, held October 5-6 within the Flemish area of Belgium, brings a recent ethos to the burgeoning battle for rainbow stripes, with a brand new organiser, new geography and new opponents. Not the entire adjustments 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 by means of the year-long Trek UCI Gravel World Collection has helped deepen the fields. The sequence went from 16 international occasions in 2023 to 25 occasions on the calendar this 12 months, the place the highest 25% of every race made the lower of their class. Golazo Sports activities, which manages the Gravel World Collection, can also be overseeing the Worlds this 12 months and with way 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 highway biking ranks.
Not like 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 lads.
The course has a lot in frequent with the one used final 12 months for the European Gravel Championships and is ready up like a one-day Belgian Traditional with plenty of flat, quick sections and quick, punchy hills. The mix of the shorter distances than typically discovered within the large US gravel occasions together with with the proportion of filth paths and cobblestones to paved sections are prone to lean in favour of the highway specialists. That’s just like the primary two editions when 100% of the ladies’s prime 20 got here from highway backgrounds on Continental or WorldTour groups and 85% of the lads’s prime 20 had WorldTour or ProTeam expertise.
All programs begin on the Possozplein in Halle, with a 12.5km loop, then traverse by means of the nationwide park Brabantse Woods, to succeed in Leuven. The ladies will full a 47.7km end circuit as soon as, the lads 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 should 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 opponents trying to make their marks on gravel embody two-time ladies’s elite highway race world champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and U23 ladies’s highway race world champion Puck Pieterse (Netherlands).
The seasoned professionals who’re again for a 3rd time on the Gravel World Championships and have completed within the prime 15 in each earlier editions embody simply 5 ladies and three males. On the ladies’s aspect are Tiffany Cromwell (Australia), Letizia Borghesi (Italy), Rasa Leleivyte (Lithuania), Riejanne Markus (Netherlands) and Lauren Stephens (United States). On the lads’s aspect are 2022 champion Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium), Alessandro De Marchi (Italy) and Sebastian Schönberger (Austria).
The UCI recognises that the booming off-road various self-discipline started blossoming “within the US Midwest some 15 years in the past”, nevertheless lots of the notable names of the gravel racers from North and South America won’t be in Belgium. Followers will not see Keegan Swenson, Peter Stetina, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Haley Smith or Lauren De Crescenzo, as they stay within the US for different gravel pursuits, specifically shares within the cash-rich Life Time Grand Prix.
Whereas just a few different names lacking embody Alejandro Valverde (Spain) and an injured Wout van Aert (Belgium), fourth and eighth, respectively, final 12 months within the males’s race final 12 months, there’s nonetheless a bounty of massive names on elite begin lists.
Listed below are among the versatile riders to observe – primarily based on preliminary starter indications – who might 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 highway, 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 swept up two of the largest victories of her greater than a decade-long skilled profession in 2024. The 30-year-old first gained 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 successful 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 towards a packed Dutch workforce.
Will probably 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 highway race in Zurich and whereas seventeenth maybe wasn’t the end result she was on the lookout for it ought to have helped with the race rhythm forward of Bolero. No matter what occurs on Saturday, it has been an unforgettable 12 months for Niewiadoma and that nothing-to-lose perspective might 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 might be one of many favourites to line up on the occasion in Leuven on residence soil in Belgium.
Kopecky is in prime kind having secured her second-consecutive highway race world title on the Zurich World Championships final weekend. She can also be one of many prime one-day Classics specialists on the planet, which suggests this classics-style gravel occasion could possibly be well-suited to her strengths.
Kopecky, who can also 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 gained cobbled Monuments; Tour of Flanders twice and Paris-Roubaix. She has additionally proven no problem on the white gravel roads of Strade Bianche, successful 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 highway and observe.
Lorena Wiebes will lead a strong Dutch workforce 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 gained the title in Oud-Heverlee final 12 months, and might be trying to carry her gravel racing success into this world championships. She has loved a successful season on the highway to this point with 19 victories, and quite a few different podiums as a part of the SD Worx-Protime squad.
Final 12 months, Wiebes completed fifth within the World Championships occasion in Italy, however this time across the course seems just like the earlier 12 months’s European Championships, and so might higher swimsuit Wiebes’ strengths on a flatter, classics-style race.
She not too long ago gained the highway race title on the European Championships in Hasselt earlier than turning her consideration to gravel racing the place she gained Okay Gravel + Merida NL Gravel Collection-Meerveld.
She didn’t take part within the highway World held in Zurich final weekend and so is perhaps lining up more energizing than her opponents who competed within the elite and under-23 ladies’s highway occasions.
Tiffany Cromwell has the perfect mixture of highway and gravel know-how plus the confirmed capability to carry out on the type of terrain that this course presents. The Australian has been a daily participant, and winner, within the UCI Gravel World Collection rounds. She additionally is aware of her highway techniques and rivals inside out after 16 seasons of racing.
Already on the two UCI Gravel World Championships she has raced, Cromwell has delivered a tenth and sixth place however this 12 months is one the place she has each motive to hope for much more because the punchy course, with out a large climb proper at first, works to her strengths. The proof of that was clear when she gained the European Continental Championships race in 2023 – the title nevertheless went to second-placed Lorena Wiebes as a substitute given Cromwell’s nationality.
Cromwell is exhibiting sturdy kind, successful 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 levels. Plus Cromwell was then a late call-up for the Australian workforce on the Street World Championships, the place among the many riders she was supporting had been U23 silver medallist Neve Bradbury. The Canyon-SRAM teammates’ roles will flip this weekend, with Bradbury sure to be a invaluable help for Cromwell as a substitute, 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 highway workforce techniques leach into the gravel contest the bonding in Zurich might effectively repay even additional in Belgium. (SG)
Lauren Stephens will lead the US workforce on the Gravel Worlds having simply competed within the time trial, blended relay and highway race on the Street Worlds in Zurich final week and weekend.
Stephens gained her second consecutive nationwide title on the USA Biking Gravel Championships in September and in addition gained Rattlesnake Gravel Grind, SBT GRVL, and defended the ladies’s title at Garmin Gravel Worlds in Nebraska.
On the highway, Stephens gained Clasica de Almeria, a stage of the Tour de Normandie, the general title at Tour of the Gila, and gold within the elite highway 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 organize 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 frolicked previewing the Gravel Worlds route.
Though Stephens hasn’t competed in a UCI gravel occasion this 12 months, 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.
Further riders to observe
Exterior of our collection of favourites, there are honourable mentions and riders to observe and lots of of them might be competing for the Dutch squad together with Demi Vollering, 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. Any considered one of these riders has the potential to win a world title, and Vollering strains up, she’s going to little doubt need to safe a rainbow jersey after a number of second-place performances on the Tour de France, Tour de Romandie, the person time trial in Zurich, the place she completed fifth as a part of the breakaway within the highway race. That stated, Pieterse not too long ago secured the elite ladies’s world title in cross-country mountain bike and the under-23 world title within the highway race. The multi-discipline rider has additionally earned silver and bronze medals within the elite ladies’s cyclocross Worlds and he or she gained a stage on the Tour de France Femmes in August. Different riders to observe embody Italy’s Silvia Persico, who completed second final 12 months, and German Champion Carolin Schiff, who gained Gravel World Collection occasions in Poland, Germany, and France, whereas additionally successful Traka 200 and Utopia Gravel Fest.
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 highway world title in Zürich only a few days in the past. The 29-year-old large of a number of disciplines might very effectively add the gravel rainbow jersey to his assortment subsequent Sunday. Nobody might catch Tadej Pogačar on his solo win at Street Worlds, however Van der Poel was third greatest and one of many few riders to complete rather less than a minute behind the hovering Slovenia. Except Pogačar surprises the sector and exhibits up at first line in Halle, Van der Poel would be the prime 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 gained 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 12 months at Gent-Wevelgem and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in addition to Street Worlds.
If for some motive Van der Poel cannot get in gear on a course that’s a lot shorter than his Classics conquests, Jasper Ockeloen might take over because the Dutch chief. He completed thirteenth final 12 months 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 isn’t in kind. (JT)
Matej Mohorič (Slovenia)
Matej Mohorič is greater than motivated to retain the lads’s elite world title for gravel, as he wish to put on it throughout a end line at one race. He suffered a mechanical at Unbound Gravel 200 and was a DNF. Then he suffered a hand damage on a preview trip the day earlier than Sea Otter Europe Girona which brought about him to tug out of that gravel tuneup. He subsequent didn’t line up for Slovenia on the Street World Championships to get well for his defence on gravel.
The 2024 season saved Mohorič centered on the highway with UAE Group 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 Traditional,” he advised Cyclingnews about this 12 months’s route. Final 12 months, he stated the Italian setup was “tremendous exhausting and fairly punchy within the last with lengthy climbs” and stated he wasn’t positive the Belgian course with smaller quantities of climbing would swimsuit him.
The 29-year-old has competed in 12 Grand Excursions, and numerous Traditional, 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)
Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
The Belgian males’s workforce is stacked and an extended checklist of riders on the squad might simply be listed among the many favourites, however there’s one factor that units Jasper Stuyven aside, and that’s his confirmed capability to win on the terrain. It was final 12 months 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 practically as soon as once more proved his gravel capability in 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, although his hopes had 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 Traditional 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 workforce. Quotas could preserve a decent restrict on the variety of riders in a Street World Championships, however not so in gravel so the house nation workforce is predicted to come back out in pressure to verify considered one of their riders will get to rejoice in entrance of the house crowd. (SG)
Paul Voß (Germany)
Final 12 months’s winner of The Traka 200 has change into one of many veterans of gravel racing, his 11 years on the world stage of highway racing put aside in 2016. Final weekend, Paul Voß completed second at Sea Otter Europe Girona, one of many last qualifying races within the UCI Gravel World Collection, so he is obtained confidence coming into his third Gravel World Championships. In Girona, he outsprinted Petr Vakoc (Czechia) and distanced prime contenders Alessandro De Marchi (Italy) and Hugo Drechou (France).
Final 12 months 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 12 months’s Worlds course, so search for Voß to do effectively on acquainted floor. (JT)
Connor Swift (Nice Britain)
Final 12 months 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 residence, successful 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 attempt once more in 2024.
A 12 months later the Ineos Grenadiers rider has a little bit extra gravel expertise, a course the place his Classics expertise ought to make him that little extra at residence and an ideal report within the self-discipline in 2024, having gained each the British Gravel Championships and the UCI Gravel World Collection race, Graen Cymru. Swift now might be hoping he could make it three for 3. (SG)
Further riders to observe
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 sector. Firstly there’s the winner of the inaugural version, Gianni Vermeersch or maybe final 12 months’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 12 months, gained on the mid-year Blaavands Huk UCI Gravel World Collection spherical and in addition being within the midst of a strong streak on the highway, with three wins in September and a kind 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 12 months and barely 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 powerful gravel run this 12 months, with second at Octopus Gravel and Unbound. The choices for the Dutch workforce additionally aren’t confined to Mathieu van der Poel, with the gravel centered Jasper Ockeloen having completed thirteenth on the World Championships final 12 months, having come second at The Traka 200 this 12 months behind Vakoc.
