The third edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships, held October 5-6 in the Flemish region of Belgium, brings a fresh ethos to the burgeoning battle for rainbow stripes, with a new organiser, new geography and new competitors. Not all of the changes have created a full metamorphosis in the discipline, but the groundwork is in place to give gravel a solid foundation on the global stage.
The qualification process through the year-long Trek UCI Gravel World Series has helped deepen the fields. The series went from 16 global events in 2023 to 25 events on the calendar this year, where the top 25% of each race made the cut in their category. Golazo Sports, which manages the Gravel World Series, is also overseeing the Worlds this year and with far more advance notice on the course and qualification as the UCI incarnation of the discipline hits its stride, the amateur and elite fields are brimming with those eager to race, especially from the top tier of the professional road cycling ranks.
Unlike the UCI Gravel World Series events, the elite women have their own day for the start on a route that is shorter than the elite men. Last year's winner, Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) has opted to skip the elite women's race held on Saturday, October 5 but there will be no shortage of competition across the 133km course between Halle and Leuven. On Sunday, October 6, elite men's defending champion Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) will start at the front of the grid on an 182km course, the difference being extra local laps for the men.
The course has much in common with the one used last year for the European Gravel Championships and is set up like a one-day Belgian Classic with lots of flat, fast sections and short, punchy hills. The combination of the shorter distances than often found in the big US gravel events along with the proportion of dirt paths and cobblestones to paved sections are likely to lean in favour of the road specialists.
All courses start on the Possozplein in Halle, with a 12.5km loop, then traverse through the national park Brabantse Woods, to reach Leuven. The women will complete a 47.7km finish circuit once, the men making the lap twice, to complete the race in the city centre of Leuven. To reach the finish line, a short but steep Ramberg cobblestone climb of 1.8km must be crossed, followed by the Donatuspark “gravel” section for the final kilometre.
Expected to return after a one-year absence is Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) while first-time competitors looking to make their marks on gravel include two-time women's elite road race world champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and U23 women's road race world champion Puck Pieterse (Netherlands).
The seasoned pros who are back for a third time at the Gravel World Championships include Tiffany Cromwell (Australia), Lauren Stephens (United States), Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium), Alessandro De Marchi (Italy).
The UCI recognises that the booming off-road alternative discipline began blossoming "in the US Midwest some 15 years ago", however many of the notable names of the gravel racers from North and South America will not be in Belgium. Fans won't see Keegan Swenson, Peter Stetina, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, Haley Smith or Lauren De Crescenzo, as they remain in the US for other gravel pursuits. A few other names missing are Alejandro Valverde (Spain) and an injured Wout van Aert (Belgium) but there's still a bounty of big names on elite start lists.
Here are some of the versatile riders to watch – based on preliminary starter indications – who could earn the rainbow jerseys at the UCI Gravel World Championships.
Kopecky is in top form having secured her second-consecutive road race world title at the Zurich World Championships last weekend. She is also one of the top one-day Classics specialists in the world, which means this classics-style gravel event could be well-suited to her strengths.
Kopecky, who is also a six-time world champion and Olympic medallist on the track, excels as a multi-discipline racer. She might not have raced in the gravel discipline before, but she has won cobbled Monuments; Tour of Flanders twice and Paris-Roubaix. She has also shown no difficulty on the white gravel roads of Strade Bianche, winning the one-day race two times.
Watch for Kopecky to add a rainbow jersey in gravel racing to her collection of world titles on the road and track. (KF)
Lorena Wiebes will lead a powerful Dutch team at the Gravel World Championships that includes 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 won the title in Oud-Heverlee last year, and will be looking to carry her gravel racing success into this world championships. She has enjoyed a winning season on the road so far with 19 victories, and numerous other podiums as part of the SD Worx-Protime squad.
Last year, Wiebes finished fifth in the World Championships event in Italy, but this time around the course looks similar to the previous year's European Championships, and so could better suit Wiebes' strengths, given the flatter, classics-style course.
She recently won the road race title at the European Championships in Hasselt before turning her attention to gravel racing where she won K Gravel + Merida NL Gravel Series-Meerveld.
She did not participate in the Road World Championships held in Zurich last weekend and so might be lining up fresher than her competitors who took part in the elite and under-23 women's road events. (KF)
Tiffany Cromwell has the ideal mix of road and gravel know-how plus the proven ability to perform on the style of terrain that this course presents. The Australian has been a regular participant, and winner, in the UCI Gravel World Series rounds. She also knows her road tactics and rivals inside out after 16 seasons of racing.
Already at the two UCI Gravel World Championships she has taken part in, Cromwell has delivered a 10th and 6th place but this year is one where she has every reason to hope for even more as the punchy course, without a big climb right at the start, works to her strengths. The evidence of that was clear when she won the European Continental Championships race in 2023 – the title however went to second-placed Lorena Wiebes instead given Cromwell’s nationality.
Cromwell is showing strong form, winning the Sea Otter Europe UCI Gravel World Series round in recent weeks, pulling off a dramatic fightback after slipping well back in the field in the opening stages. Plus Cromwell was then a late call-up for the Australian team at the Road World Championships, where among the riders she was supporting were U23 silver medallist Neve Bradbury. The Canyon-SRAM teammates' roles will flip this weekend, with Bradbury bound to be a valuable support for Cromwell instead, giving her an advantage she hasn’t had in previous editions of the World Championships. Add in Sarah Gigante as a participant in both Road and Gravel World Championships and, if road team tactics leach into the gravel contest, the bonding in Zurich could well pay off even further in Belgium. (SG)
Lauren Stephens will lead the US team at the Gravel Worlds having just competed in the time trial, mixed relay and road race at the Road Worlds in Zurich last week and weekend.
Stephens won her second consecutive national title at the USA Cycling Gravel Championships in September and also won Rattlesnake Gravel Grind, SBT GRVL, and defended the women’s title at Garmin Gravel Worlds in Nebraska.
On the road, Stephens won Clasica de Almeria, a stage of the Tour de Normandie, the overall title at Tour of the Gila, and gold in the elite road race and silver in the elite time trial at the Pan American Championships.
Stephens said she spent much of the later part of her season competing in gravel events and criteriums to prepare for competing in back-to-back Road and Gravel Worlds. Upon arriving in Leuven, she has taken time to recover from her effort in Zurich and has spent time previewing the Gravel Worlds route.
Although Stephens hasn't competed in a UCI Gravel World Series event this year, she aims to finish on the podium in Leuven. She has raced in the previous two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships finishing 6th in 2023 and 15th in 2022. (KF)
Last year it was Silvia Persico and Demi Vollering who were chasing behind when Kasia Niewiadoma launched solo toward her solo victory, and when the competition for silver unfolded it was the Italian who triumphed. It was another powerful result in a year with plenty of them for the versatile rider with a fast finish.
Persico, the only women's medallist of last year that will be on the start line this time, not only has this history of success at the Gravel World Championships on her side but a solid Classics record, and given the course this year that is a definite positive. She finished just off the podium at the Tour of Flanders last year and has been in the top 11 at the race the last three years running.
An added card is the Italian team, which during the Gravel World Championships on home soil has turned up in force and carried through with its reputation for powerful, effective teamwork earned on the road. It has had a rider on the women's elite podium for the first two editions, and could well keep that record in place, with Persico among a group of cards for the team that also includes Barbara Guarischi, Soraya Paladin, Elena Cecchini and Letizia Borghesi. (SG)
Additional riders to watch
Outside of our selection of favourites, there are honourable mentions and riders to watch and many of them will be competing for the Dutch squad including former multi-discipline world champion Marianne Vos, mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse, former cyclocross world champion Lucinda Brand, and reigning cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel.
All these riders have the potential to win a world title. Pieterse recently secured the elite women's world title in cross-country mountain bike and the under-23 world title in the road race. The multi-discipline rider has also earned silver and bronze medals in the elite women's cyclocross Worlds and she won a stage at the Tour de France Femmes in August.
Other riders to watch include 2022 winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and German Champion Carolin Schiff, who won Gravel World Series events in Poland, Germany, and France, while also winning Traka 200 and Utopia Gravel Fest. The SD Worx-ProTime gravel specialist Geerike Schreurs, who came second at Unbound, could also benefit from her road team affiliation.
Mathieu van der Poel stood on the bronze step at 2022 Gravel World Championships next to winner Gianni Vermeersch and silver medallist Daniel Oss (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
When cyclocross ramps up in a matter of weeks, Mathieu van der Poel will race in the rainbow stripes, but he lost his grip on the road world title in Zürich just a few days ago. The 29-year-old giant of multiple disciplines could very well add the gravel rainbow jersey to his collection next Sunday. No one could catch Tadej Pogačar on his solo sortie at Road Worlds, but Van der Poel was third best and one of the few riders to finish a little less than a minute behind the soaring Slovenia. Unless Pogačar surprises the field and shows up at the start line in Halle, Van der Poel will be the top favourite.
Two years ago at Gravel World Championships, Van der Poel rode to bronze in Veneto, Italy. Since then in one-day races, he's won four Monuments - Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, both starts at Paris-Roubaix and also the 2023 Road Worlds race. He was also on the podium this year at Gent-Wevelgem and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, as well as Road Worlds.
If for some reason Van der Poel can't get in gear on a course that is much shorter than his Classics conquests, Jasper Ockeloen could take over as the Dutch leader. He finished 13th last year at the gravel championships and has two gravel wins this season. Dutch gravel coach Laurens ten Dam gave him the nod as 'the guy' if Van der Poel is not in form. (JT)
Matej Mohorič is more than motivated to retain the men's elite world title for gravel, as another year might give him an opportunity to wear it across a finish line. He suffered multiple mechanicals at Unbound Gravel 200 and was a DNF. Then he suffered a hand injury on a preview ride the day before Sea Otter Europe Girona which caused him to pull out of that gravel tuneup. After that he did not line up for Slovenia at the UCI Road World Championships to recover for his defence on gravel.
The 2024 season kept Mohorič focused on the road with Bahrain Victorious. He had great results in two Monuments with a fifth at Strade Bianche and a sixth at Milan-San Remo.
"I'm quite excited [about Gravel World Championships]. It's basically like a big one-day Classic," he told Cyclingnews. Last year, he said the Italian setup was "super hard and quite punchy in the final with long climbs" and said he wasn't sure the Belgian course with smaller amounts of climbing would suit him.
The 29-year-old has competed in 12 Grand Tours, and countless Classic, so as long as his hand can take the impacts of off-road terrain, look for Mohoric to be on the podium again. (JT)
The Belgian men's team is stacked and many riders on the squad could easily be listed among the favourites, but there is one thing that sets Jasper Stuyven apart, and that is his proven ability to win on the terrain. It was last year in the same territory that he slipped on the bands of a European champion with his solo finish ahead of compatriot Tim Merlier. He also once again proved his gravel ability in the gravel heavy stage 9 of the Tour de France, when for a moment his win at the prestigious race had seemed within reach as he countered an attack from the break to surge out the front solo at just 11km to go. His hopes, however, were dashed when the catch occurred in sight of the flamme rouge.
Still at the Gravel World Championships, the proven Classics strength of the Milan-San Remo, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne and E3 Saxo Classic winner combines with the familiarity of the roads and paths he grew up on, making him a formidable foe. So does the strength of the Belgian team. Quotas may keep a tight limit on the number of riders in a Road World Championships, but not so in gravel so the home nation team is expected to come out in force to make sure one of their riders gets to celebrate in front of the home crowd. (SG)
Last year's winner of The Traka 200 has become one of the veterans of gravel racing, his 11 years on the world stage of road racing set aside in 2016. Last weekend, Paul Voß finished second at Sea Otter Europe Girona, one of the final qualifying races in the UCI Gravel World Series, so he's got confidence entering his third Gravel World Championships. In Girona, he outsprinted Petr Vakoc (Czechia) and distanced top contenders Alessandro De Marchi (Italy) and Hugo Drechou (France).
Last year he was third in the UEC Gravel Championships, outsprinting world champion Gianni Vermeersch for the podium spot. That performance was on the course that served as the template for this year's Worlds course, so look for Voß to do well on familiar ground. (JT)
Last year when WorldTour rider Connor Swift decided to “have a bash at some gravel racing” at the Gralloch he discovered a discipline where he seemed right at home, winning on his first outing. He then stepped straight onto the podium at his UCI Gravel World Championships debut, coming third behind Matej Mohoric and Florian Vermeersch, and not surprisingly quickly foreshadowing his commitment to returning to try again in 2024.
A year later the Ineos Grenadiers rider has a little more gravel experience, and is lining up on a course where his Classics experience should make him even more at home. Add to that the confidence boost of a perfect record in the discipline in 2024, having won both the British Gravel Championships and the UCI Gravel World Series race, Graen Cymru. Swift now will be hoping he can make it three for three. (SG)
Additional riders to watch
We may have one Belgian rider listed among the favourites above but there are plenty more that could just as easily be putting the home colours on display at the front of the field. Firstly there is the winner of the inaugural edition, Gianni Vermeersch or perhaps last year’s second-placed Florian Vermeersch. Then if Tim Merlier lines up he is likely be another major threat, having come second at the European Gravel Championships last year, won at the mid-year Blaavands Huk UCI Gravel World Series round and also being in the midst of a powerful streak on the road, with three wins in September and one of those being the European Road Championships. Turning to other nations, former WorldTour rider turned gravel specialist Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic) is a serious threat, having come sixth at the European Gravel Championships last year and rarely having been off the podium this season, including wins at the La Monsterrato UCI Gravel World Series race and Traka 200. American Chad Haga could be a long shot, having delivered a strong gravel run this year, with second at Octopus Gravel and Unbound.
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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
