The inaugural edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships takes place this weekend (8-9 October) in Veneto, Italy, attracting 556 Elite and amateur riders.
The action kicks off on Saturday 8 October with the Women Elite, all women’s age-groups and men’s 50-plus categories. They will all race over the same 140km course, comprising 69% gravel and with 700m elevation gain.
On Sunday, it’s over to the Men Elite and men’s under-49 age groups. They will follow the same course but with two extra 27km loops for the Men Elite (for a total of 194km, 73% gravel and 800m of altitude gain. The men’s under-49 age groups will ride just one additional loop (for a total of 165km and 750m of altitude gain).
The routes of the UCI Gravel World Championships begin in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vicenza, then pass the historic city of Padua before finishing at the medieval-walled city of Cittadella, around 25km north of Vicenza.
Who amongst the world’s elite will write their names into history by taking victory?
Ferrand-Prévot the one to beat?
In the Women Elite category, France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is arguably the favourite. The 30-year-old won the UCI Road World Championships in 2014 and the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in 2015, plus she’s a four-time winner of the UCI Mountain Bike cross country Olympic (XCO) World Championships. Incredibly, the French legend’s fourth victory came at this year’s event where she also won gold in the cross-country short track before winning her second UCI World title in the mountain bike marathon (after 2019). That bought her total tally of Elite individual world titles to nine. Can Ferrand-Prévot make it 10 in Veneto?
“Yes, last week’s [races] treated me so good,” she recently commented on Instagram. “No race planned for this weekend but in a week’s time I will be in the field to chase a fourth rainbow jersey of the season. #gravellife #dreambigorgohome”
However, she will face intense competition, not least from American Lauren De Crescenzo. The 32-year-old won the brutal Tour of the Gila (USA) this year as well as finishing second at the US National Road Championships.
Can Van der Poel win at his gravel debut?
In the Men Elite competition, a mix of talent from many cycling disciplines will line up in Veneto on Sunday. The Netherlands’ Mathieu Van der Poel is many people’s favourite for gold despite this being his first-ever gravel race! Despite his lack of gravel experience, the 27-year-old’s off-road know-how is without doubt. He’s a four-time winner of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships and former XCO European Champion. “I trained on the gravel bike for the first time today,” he told reporters recently. “It feels like something between road racing and cyclo-cross… we’ll do our best to get the best possible result.”
Three-time road UCI World Champion Peter Sagan (SVK) is also in Italy and, like Van der Poel, is no stranger to performing off-road, his palmares including Junior XCO victory at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 2008. Other major names on the start list include former mountain bike marathon UCI World Champion Alban Lakata (AUT) and road specialists Greg Van Avermaet (BEL), Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ), U23 UCI World Champion Yevgeniy Fedorov (KAZ), Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN), Zdeněk Štybar (CZE), Davide Ballerini (ITA), Daniel Oss (ITA), Lilian Calmejane (FRA), Alessandro De Marchi (ITA).
Then there are two contenders who have already proven their expertise in gravel: Carlos Verona (ESP), who recently stormed to victory at the UCI Gravel World Series event in Ponts (Spain), and Australian Nathan Haas, who retired from the UCI WorldTour at the end of 2021 and has spent 2022 focused on gravel racing, taking a memorable victory at The Rift gravel race in Iceland.
All in all, one thing’s for sure – the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto, Italy, will live long in the memory.