Mathieu van der Poel to ride inaugural UCI gravel worlds

Mathieu van der Poel is ending his road season and will ride the UCI world gravel championships in Veneto, Italy, according to WielerFlits.

The elite men will ride 190 km in front from Vincenza Cittadella. The course is 75 per cent gravel roads, with some steep climbs sprinkled throughout the course. In 2021, when asked if he would ever race a gravel race, he told GCN that he was unsure.

“Would I win? I don’t know. I’ve never done a gravel race before,” the 27-year-old rider at the time. He won’t be the only big name In Veneto. Greg Van Avermaet, Gianni Vermeersch, Zdenek Stybar, Peter Sagan, and Daniel Oss will be there, to name a few.