A field of 137 Elite women will line up for the 3rd edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships this Saturday (Oct. 5) in Belgium. The 135 kilometer race will start in Halle and finish in Leuven.
While last year’s champion, Kasia Niewiadoma, will not be participating, having decided to end her successful, but demanding season early, there will be a very competitive field of WorldTour riders.
Amongst the field will be newly-crowned World Road Champion, Lotte Kopecky (BEL), World MTB Champion, Puck Pieterse (NED), World Cyclo-Cross Champion, Fem van Empel (NED), former World Champion, Marianne Vos (NED), as well as many other top WorldTour riders.
The largest team is the Netherlands, with 25 riders scheduled to start the Elite women’s race, with Germany fielding 14 riders, USA – 12, Belgium – 11, and Great Britain – 10.
Kasia Niewiadoma will not defend her title, but there will still be a very competitive field of WorldTour riders. (photo:UCI cycling)
Growing popularity
The popularity of the Gravel World Championships has grown enormously in a very short time, with many WorldTour teams embracing it for the exposure it provides sponsors. Danny Stam of SD Worx-Protime explained how their partnership with Specialized and gravel grew.
“Gravel is becoming increasingly important in cycling,” Stam explained. “Last year we were asked by Specialized if we could think along with them. We have seen that, as a team, we get a lot of extra exposure and popularity out of gravel cycling. We realise that it is also important to have charisma in this branch of cycling.”
It’s notable that SD Worx-Protime just signed their first full-time gravel rider, the 35-year-old Dutch cyclist Geerike Schreurs, who will join the team primarily as a gravel rider, but also can step in if necessary when the team is short of a rider for a road race.
Elite Women Course (135 km)
It’s a lumpy 135 km course with 1080 meters elevation gain that will suit riders who perform well in the more demanding spring Classics.
All the races start in Halle and end in Leuven and follow the same route in the first 88 km. The longest gravel sector is around 5km long in the Brabantse Wouden National Park just south of Brussels. In the final part of the race, the Elite races will ride a circuit around the Meerdaalwoud Forest, south of Leuven, very similar to the one used at the 2023 European Gravel Championships.
The final kilometers in Leuven will include the Ramberg cobblestone climb, followed by a gravel section of around 500 meters before the last kilometer to the finish.
Tiffany Cromwell (AUS), who finished 10th last year, described this year’s course as being fast and technical, as well as rolling and punchy, but less demanding than the 2023 course in Veneto, Italy.
“The course is very much a Belgium Spring Slassics style,” said Cromwell, “with some added farm tracks and forest trails to add the ‘gravel element’. I like it. It’s rolling, a little punchy in parts. Fast and technical. It has a bit of everything. It’s a bit harder than the 2022 World’s course but isn’t as hard as last year’s.”
Riders to Watch
*** Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos, Silvia Persico, Puck Pieterse
** Lorena Wiebes, Fem van Empel, Yara Kastelijn
* Lucinda Brand, Geerike Schreurs, Marie Schreiber, Riejanne Markus
Lotte Kopecky (BEL) has never ridden a gravel race, but has indicated she’d like to add another rainbow jersey to her collection, saying last week, “I’ve never done a gravel race in my life, but it’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to riding a different kind of race. It would be nice to win another rainbow jersey.” Kopecky has the fitness from her recent Worlds victory, as well as the experience from the spring Classics and the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, so she could very well ride away from the others. The only thing lacking is experience on the gravel. But unlike North American gravel, which has longer and rougher terrain, the Worlds course appears tame and should be accessible to road riders like Kopecky. If she is on form, a podium place at the very least is expected for Kopecky.
Marianne Vos (NED), like Kopecky, does not have gravel experience, but she has won the World Cyclo-Cross Championships 8x in the past (2006-2022) and has been World Road Champion 3x. At age 37, Vos is not only one of the most experienced riders in the peloton, but also one of the most successful, currently sitting 5th in UCI rankings. She was 4th at Paris-Roubaix Femmes, took a silver medal in the Olympic road race in Paris, and won the points classification at this year’s Tour de France Femmes. If she is still on form from the Worlds, Vos will be a rival to Kopecky for the rainbow jersey. At the very least, a podium spot.
Silvia Persico (ITA) placed second at last year’s race, finishing 33 seconds behind winner Kasia Niewiadoma, and she should be able to fight for a podium spot again this year. However, there are many more Elite-level riders this year and a podium spot will require more from Persico. She’s been on the podium before at the cyclo-cross Worlds (2022) and that experience should serve her well, it’s just a matter of whether she has the form needed to compete with riders like Kopecky and Vos. This year’s course is less hilly and may not suit her so well.
Puck Pieterse (NED) has had a super season. In the spring Classics, with the exception of Strada Bianchi Donne, she placed in the top 10 in five races before she switched to the mountain bike to prepare for the Olympics. After the Olympics, she won stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes and the white youth classification jersey. She then went on to win the World Championships MTB XC event and the U23 title at the World Championships Road Race in Zurich. In addition to all of that, Pieterse has years of cyclo-cross experience. If there were more hills like last year’s Worlds, Pieterse could go head-to head with Kopecky, but the flatter course may not suit her and a podium spot is more likely. That said, don’t count her out. She could surprise everyone.
Lorena Wiebes (NED) won last year’s European Gravel Championships and was 5th at last year’s hillier and more demanding Gravel Worlds in Italy. She is very familiar with this year’s Worlds course and it should be more to her liking. While primarily a Classics sprinter, Wiebes has shown that she can hang-tough in the lumpier races and that she has no problem navigating technical courses. Whether she can get onto the podium may largely depend upon the strategy and fitness of the Dutch team, which is large at almost 25 riders. She should at least be able to break into the top 5 again.
Fem van Empel (NED) is the current World Champion in cyclo-cross and should, theoretically, be able to put her ‘cross experience and road experience together and turn in a good performance. What seems to be lacking, though, is her endurance, especially in longer races where she tends to lose power and fade towards the end. She was second at last year’s European Gravel Championships, just behind Lorena Wiebes, and that experience and knowledge of the course should give her an advantage over other riders. Her last race was Tour de France Femmes, so there may be a question of whether she has the form or not. If she does, then she could be in the running for a podium spot.
Yara Kastelijn (NED) finished 4th in last year’s race and has the kind of gravel and cyclo-cross experience that can help, but the hills of last year’s course will not be a feature of this year’s course and she may get overshadowed by rivals who are more capable in laying down power on the flatter terrain. Still, her performance last year should not be overlooked and she could surprise us with a top five performance.