Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) has become very familiar with finding a path to the podium after bike races. In the past three years, with a focus on gravel, she’s made that trip 22 times, including the win at Unbound Gravel 200.
This year, Klöser would like nothing more than to make her first trip to the podium at UCI Gravel World Championships in a third try, with an eye on the rainbow jersey. She’s on form with a string of seven wins in nine gravel races, but the path to a rainbow jersey in Maastricht, Netherlands on Saturday has one big hurdle, namely a large contingency expected from the home nation.
“The current way the UCI handles the World Championships, you do not really have a restriction on the amount of participants per nation. There’s a lot of Dutch and Belgian riders. I need to be really cautious and aware of what the Dutch and Belgian people do,” Klöser told Cyclingnews about her expectations from the biggest national teams.
Last year Marianne Vos won the elite women’s title for the Netherlands with the race taking place in Belgium. Germany had two riders in the top 25 with Romy Kasper in fifth and Klöser in 21st. Vos outsprinted Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) for the victory, with 11 other Dutch riders making up the top 25.
The South Limburg course for elite women covers 131km with 1,190 metres of…
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