A large part of gravel racing’s popularity over the past decade was tied up in the freeform nature of its events, but the growth of the discipline – promoted eagerly by the bike industry – was never going to pass wholly unacknowledged by the UCI.
After sanctioning the Gravel World Series this season, eleven-races in total, the governing body is now rolling out the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto this weekend. Whether the configuration of the event – or even its very existence – is fully in keeping with the nebulous concept of the ‘spirit of gravel’ is moot. There are rainbow jerseys in the discipline on offer this weekend and there will be some lofty names on the start line contesting them.
The headline act is surely Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France), who is chasing her fourth rainbow jersey of 2022 in the wake of her triumphs in the short track, cross country and marathon mountain bike world titles. There is no question the Frenchwoman has the ability to perform across multiple disciplines, given that after winning the Road World Championships in Ponferrada in 2014, she went onto sweep up the cyclo-cross world title and cross-country mountain bike rainbow jersey as well.
There will be plenty of star power in the men’s race the following day, too, with Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) back in action after his ill-fated expedition to the Road Worlds in Wollongong. Other marquee names in action in Italy include Peter Sagan (Slovakia), Niki Terpstra (Netherlands), Nathan Haas (Australia), Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) and Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic).
But perhaps the greatest intrigue of the weekend will be provided by the very novelty of the event, organised this year and next by Filippo Pozzato’s PP Sport Events, which also runs next week’s season-ending slate of racing on road and gravel in the Veneto. It will be a weekend of gravel racing, but not quite as we know it.
For one thing, the route is, by most accounts, rather more in keeping with the chalk roads of Strade Bianche than the rockier terrain on offer on the North American gravel scene. If gravel bikes emerged as a means of tackling a wider range of surfaces than a conventional road or mountain bike allowed, then this Worlds leans rather closer to the road end of the spectrum – hence the cluster of WorldTour riders tempted to line out here.
The distance covered is shorter than the norm for a major US-based gravel event, too, which was doubtless decided…
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