From wildcard to winner – Mathieu van der Poel earns first title at Gravel World Championships in Leuven

The Dutch will paint the town of Leuven orange after a weekend sweep of rainbow jerseys for their elite riders at the UCI Gravel World Championships. Marianne Vos won in a two-up sprint against Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) on Saturday and Mathieu van der Poel powered to a solo victory on Sunday.

Van der Poel raced one week ago at the Road World Championships but lost the road race title he earned in 2023 to Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) and headed home with a bronze medal. The Dutch national team did not know if the powerhouse multi-discipline rider would be in Belgium for a second attempt at the new-breed Worlds.