When Nicolas Roche left the WorldTour peloton last year, he could hardly have expected it to come back and find him again in his new cycling life as a gravel rider. No, just when he thought he was out, it pulled him back in – and then remorselessly set about trying to rip his hamstrings apart for five hours in the Veneto.
Welcome to the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships.
Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) was already at the podium being helped into the elite men’s rainbow jersey when Roche reached the finish line in Cittadella on Sunday afternoon. No matter, the Irishman’s thousand-yard stare was paired with a smile as he made his way gingerly through the finish area on Via Garibaldi. It was that kind of a day.
“It was like racing a junior race but with Tour de France riders,” Roche joked. “I think it was great fun and a lot of the pro riders appreciated it.”
The road professionals certainly carried off the spoils. Vermeersch was joined by Daniel Oss (Italy) and his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) on the podium, while the first nine places at the finish were occupied by WorldTour riders, with Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium), Magnus Cort (Denmark) and Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) all prominent.
The course was lighter on jagged gravel sections than more established events in North America, while there was little climbing beyond the early ascent of Monte Berico. In other words, the terrain lent itself to the kind of sustained top-end speed that is best honed by the rigours of the WorldTour peloton. The gravel specialists competed gamely in the opening half, but the bigger engines began to dominate as the afternoon wore on and the race followed its flat path along the Brenta towards Cittadella.
“Look, when you’re a Tour de France rider, you’re just capable of doing 200km or more at such a high speed and today was a little bit more in favour of that,” said Roche, who competed alongside his younger brother Alexis in Irish colours. “When it’s a bit more technical, more rolling, up and down, and when there are no teams, then the tactics are a little bit different.”
Roche has 22 Grand Tour finishes to his name, but muscle memory can only carry a man so far against a field of this calibre. Although he has raced a handful of gravel races this season, Roche’s schedule has also included a stint on Dancing with the Stars and the duties of national road coach. Training time was understandably restricted and gravel racing…
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