Tessa Neefjes (LIV Racing) and Paul Voß (AUTˈSAID) claimed victories in the sixth round of the UCI Gravel World Series in Aachen, Germany on Saturday.
The 3RIDES event, one of 16 qualifiers for the UCI Gravel World Championships, took place on a demanding 18.5-kilometre circuit and both winners had only small margins at the line.
Neefjes out-sprinted Carolin Schiff (Canyon) to claim the women’s title, while Voß attacked to win the men’s by one second over Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise-Trek) and Daan Soete (Deschacht Hens Maes CX Team).
Schiff was on the attack until the final lap when Neefjes attacked on a climb, dropped WorldTour sprinter Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) and bridged across just before the finish. Neefjes proved the quickest at the line, while Wiebes held on for third, four minutes adrift.
“It was a super valuable win for me,” said Neefjes, “I thought I was going to finish second today – and then I caught Carolin on the last corner.” Beforehand, Neefjes had not expected to win. “The field was super strong, so it was absolutely surprising for me today,” Neefjes said.
Voß is targeting Unbound Gravel this season and was surprised to take the win. “I had problems in between and was really struggling,” he said. “So I let out a pretty loud cry of emotion on the finish line. Riding away solo was impossible here, it was a very fast race despite the rain of the previous days.”
Gravel World Champion Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) started but did not finish along with well-known former racers Andre Greipel, former cyclocross world champion Erwin Vervecken,
Results – Men
| 1 | Paul Voß (Ger) AUTˈSAID | 3:37:12 |
| 2 | Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) ZELHEM | 0:00:01 |
| 3 | Daan Soete (Bel) Grobbendonk | 0:00:01 |
| 4 | Ryan Christensen (NZl) Bolton Equities Black Spoke Pro Cycling | 0:00:04 |
| 5 | Eli Iserbyt (Bel) Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal | 0:00:04 |
| 6 | Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team | 0:00:11 |
| 7 | Ryan Kamp (Ned) Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal | 0:02:13 |
| 8 | Jasper Ockeloen (Ned) Canyon | 0:02:14 |
| 9 | Matthias van Roy (Bel) Cycle Passion – SCOTT Racing Team | 0:02:15 |
| 10 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) Vorselaar | 0:02:15 |
| 11 | Seppe Rombouts (Bel) RB Zelfbouw UCT | 0:02:22 |
| 12 | Thomas Joseph (Bel) Tarteletto Isorex | 0:03:56 |
| 13 | Arne Vrachten (Bel) Acrog-Tormans Balen BC | 0:03:56 |
| 14 | Kevin Panhuyzen (Bel) Giant Liv Benelux offroad team | 0:03:57 |
| 15 | Joes Oosterlinck (Bel) EFC-L&R-Van Mossel | 0:05:51 |
| 16 | Thijs Zonneveld (Ned) BEAT CYCLING CLUB | 0:06:08 |
| 17 | Jan-Ole Zilse (Ger) ROSE Racing Circle | 0:06:11 |
| 18 | Julian Siemons (Bel) Van den Plas – HePa Cycling Team | 0:06:27 |
| 19 |
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