Gravel World Championships Elite Men’s race Live – Van der Poel among contenders for rainbow jersey

We could see some more regroupings but at the last check those 20 had a lead of nearly two minutes over the next group on the road. TV coverage will be underway shortly.

The 20 riders left behind Van der Poel are:

Belgium: Stuyven, Benoot, Merlier, Hermans, G.Vermeersch, F.Vermeersch, Meurisse, Kielich, Van Avermaet, Loockx, Panhuyzen, Naesen, Aerts.

Slovenia: Mohoric, Govekar

Germany: Voss, Rabmann

Britain: Swift

Netherlands: Ottema

Denmark: Lindberg

In fact, of the 20 riders in the group behind Van der Poel, 13 are Belgian. Can they use the numbers to chase him down?

In the group behind, we find Stuyven, Benoot, Merlier, Hermans, Vermeersch x2, Van Avermaet, Mohoric, Govekar, Connor Swift, among others. 

Van der Poel alone in the lead

There we have it. The Dutchman goes solo and passes the checkpoint at kilometre 70.6 with a lead of 30 seconds over the rest of the field. Jasper Stuyven was in second place, just ahead of a group of 19 riders.

Who does Greg Van Avermaet think will win the world title? CN’s Jackie Tyson caught up with the former cobbled classics star in Leuven earlier this week. 

Home favourite Greg Van Avermaet tips Mathieu van der Poel for elite men’s win at UCI Gravel World Championships

Here’s the composition of the lead group

Matej Mohoric (Slovenia)

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)

Tiesj Benoot (Belgium)

Jasper Stuyven (Belgium) 

Kevin Panhuyzen (Belgium) 

Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) 

Florian Vermeersch (Belgium)

7 in the lead

That large group has been further cut to size after 51km, with an elite seven-man selection at the head of the race. Van der Poel and Mohoric are there with a number of Belgians.

Van Avermaet is up there, as is fellow retired road pro turned gravel rider Jan Bakelants. The main WorldTour men Benoot, Merlier, Stuyven, Meurisse, Hermans, Kielich, and the two Vermeersch’s are all there. Then you have two of the CX pros in Iserbyt and Aerts, and to cap it off there’s Lawrence Naesen, Seppe Rombouts, Lander Loockx, and Kevin Panhuyzen. That’s 16 in total.

More than half of that 30-man lead group are Belgian. 

After 39.5km we have some gaps starting to appear. A bunch of 30 riders have small gap, with most of the big…