Exactly one week after the Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland, the Gravel World
Championship is scheduled to take place in Leuven. Just like the road race edition in that city in
2021, there are hopes for a cycling festival, but will the big stars be present? Wout van Aert has
already had to withdraw after his crash in the Vuelta, and Mathieu van der Poel is anything but a
certainty, as indicated by Dutch national coach Laurens ten Dam.
Ten Dam, who helped put this branch of cycling on the map in the Netherlands, has been the official national coach
for the Dutch gravel championship teams since April 2024. The third edition of the World Championships is
scheduled for October 5 and 6, following the victories of Gianni Vermeersch (2022) and Matej Mohorič (2023) in the
Italian Veneto in the first two editions.
At the first World Championships, Van der Poel watched his Belgian teammate Gianni Vermeersch win. Afterward,
the Dutchman spoke positively about his venture into gravel, but he only competed in the Serenissima Gravel one
week later. “I see it as a combination between road racing and cyclocross, so it could become a great discipline in the
future. It’s nice that you can adopt the same position as on a road bike, which makes it easier than, for example,
switching to mountain biking. It was a very beautiful experience,” he said at the time.
Last year, Van Aert was the man to watch at the start, but bad luck prevented the Belgian from contending for
medals. “It was still a great experience. I would like to return sometime because this is something that suits me. I
really enjoyed it, but everything has to go right,” he stated afterward. He intended to reinforce those words with
participation in Leuven, but, as is known, his crash in the Vuelta set him back.
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