[Words by Steve Thomas - photography from SWpix]

Over the past weekend, many of the greatest bike racers of the era took to the trails and forest of Brabant in Belgium to battle it out for the UCI Gravel World Championship titles. Here’s how it unfolded and a bit more, too.

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Elite Women

There was dust and awe aplenty in the forests and fields of Brabant in Belgium on Saturday afternoon as the finest names in women’s pro cycling tore up the trails, battered the bergs, and ripped up the cobbles during an epic, yet slightly predictable battle for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships title.

2024 uci grav champs 1.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Thankfully, after some midweek damping and polishing of the trails and potentially knee-cracking cobbles, fine autumnal weather graced the riders as they lined up for the third edition of the Gravel title race. This was ultimately to make for a fast, smooth, hardly technical race that suited the big powerhouses with a road background, which was much as anticipated.

All eyes were on a duel between the fearsome and full Dutch squad and the Belgian World Road Race Champion Lotte Kopecky, and that’s pretty much how it played out.

From the outset, it was clear that this was going to be raced like a classic Belgian road race, one with a few extra rough and ready sectors thrown in, which made for an exciting race, and one that opened up far more than most would have anticipated, with the Marianne Vos’s winning speed evening out at an impressive 33.7km/h for the snip over four hours that it took to cover the full undulating 134km.

The going was fast and forced from the get-go and, by mid-race, the sheer power in numbers of the Dutch looked set to lay down the odds for this one. However, the outnumbered Kopecky took matters into her own hands and turned the heat up to a sizzling point, which in turn split the front end of the orange jersey dominant head of the race, with just the 13-time World Champion in numerous disciplines, Marianne Vos able to hang on to the Belgian’s wheel.

The Belgian ace is a smooth road powerhouse with a hell of a pedal punch and a nous for tactical grandeur. Though Vos is also one of the fastest finishers in the game, and perhaps the most experienced and refined tactician of the era, it was fitting that these two greats of the sport would be thrust head-to-head in the title battle.

The pair worked together seamlessly throughout, and there was little to no messing around or playing poker. In short order, they etched out a huge four-minute gap over the fragmenting chase group, which was both led and ordered by the Dutch duo of MTB World Champ Puck Pieterse and road pro, Lorena Wiebes, who were both unable to make an indent on the lead and would be unwise to try reeling their teammate Vos.

2024 uci grav champs 2.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Although the two leaders were quite well matched in terms of commitment, Kopecky did look to be slightly stronger, and all expectations were that she would try and distance Vos on the final uphill ramps, but the veteran Dutch racer went first, thwarting any plans she may have had. 

Just a week earlier the duo was together in the leading group at the World Road Race Championships and, while Kopecky stormed away for victory on the final climb there, Vos was left reeling as her teammates made questionable tactical decisions and left her behind, thus effective stunting the chances of pulling Vos back to the sprint for glory.

This time around, Vos played a tactical blinder of a sprint, kicking far too hard for the Belgian to hold, adding a fine 14th Rainbow jersey to her growing collection, and underlining that Vos is indeed still the boss. 

Meanwhile, four minutes behind Wiebes led Pieterse home for third and fourth places respectively, making for 6 Dutch riders in the top 10. The best Brit on the day was Amelia Mitchell in the 39th spot.

Elite men

The shimmering sight of the flying Dutchman Mathieu Van Der Poel in full flight through the pathways of the Brabant Forests was truly something to behold. The dominant allrounder blasted ahead solo, and as he passed the straggling age-group riders you could grasp with a harsh sense of stunting reality just how powerful these Elite racers are. Shaving elbows as they passed by at almost double their speed, it really did put things in perspective.

2024 uci grav champs 5.jpg, by Liam Mercer

This is one of the great things about gravel racing, and we hope it remains that way – a place where “way above average Joes” with abilities many a fit racing rider can relate to coming helmet to cleat with the greats of the sport, something not seen elsewhere in cycling.

Not too far into the 182km race, the pressure had been on since the flag was raised and Van Der Poel was very much the man twisting that gauge towards boiling point. The aim was simple, to split the race apart and shred it into bite-sized strips, which turned out to be mostly wrapped in the pale blue and striped jerseys of the mighty Belgian national team. Passing the 100km mark the lead group was down to 16, with 10 of those being Belgian riders. Hammer and kick it some more and the 16 became seven by the first of the two long finishing laps.

2024 uci grav champs 4.jpg, by Liam Mercer

Still, the numerical odds were stacked well and truly in Belgian favour, with Britain’s Conor Swift and defending Champion Matej Mahoric of Slovenia left in front with MVDP and the four Belgians. Something had to be done, and again and again, MVDP attacked finally scraping clear with Florien Vermeersch of Belgium, last year’s silver medalist, and brother of Gianni, the 2022 title winner – who was one of the famous five left behind.

As soon as the duo took over 45 seconds lead, it was effectively game over and just a matter of when – not if MVDP would make his killing move. Through the sun-dappled autumnally tree-lined magical forests, on a long climb packed full of cheering fans, he hit that red button, there was no answer to the brutal brilliance of that kick for glory.

Crossing the Leuven finish line, Van Der Poel made it a double Dutch weekend, raising his bike aloft beneath the finish banner – another rainbow jersey for his bottom draw.
Behind him, Vermeersch came home happy in second place,  while Quinten Hermans took third place, with Britain’s Conor Swift finishing a solid sixth.

With seven Belgian racers in the top 10, and with a winning speed of just under 39km/h, this was one hell of a fast bike race, and one that may leave some blurry lines of engagement theories for many – but either day, it was grand of Belgian day out.

Final thoughts

There’s no getting away from the fact that this was a great weekend of bike racing and I say bike racing as the lines between gravel and rough road racing are ever blurring – although that does actually reflect gravel riding reality for many of us, and if the sport is to become global then there will indeed be variations in courses and terrain.

The speed was short of that of a top road classic, the competition level at the dusty end was also WorldTour standard, and many of the same road riders were dominating this, which is inevitable in so many ways.

Sure, it’s a long way from the Belgian Waffle Ride and other classic US races, and if you happened to have watched the WorldTour pros riding the muddy vineyard trails of Paris-Tours on the same weekend you may be left even more blurry-eyed. Either way, all credit to the organizers, the riders, and the amazing live TV coverage – which is not easy to pull off from a motorbike offroad and under dappled light.

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