Race situation
Mathieu van der Poel wins the Gravel World Championship
Dutchman rides an aggressive race and is rewarded, as Belgians Florian Vermeersch and Quinten Hermans take silver and bronze.
Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of the elite men's race at the UCI Gravel World Championships.
After the women's race served up a battle between Marianne Vos and Lotte Kopecky, what does the men's gravel world championship have in store? 2023 champion Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) is on the start list, as is Classics star and former road race and cyclo-cross world champ Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands).
Ahead of them is a 182km course in Belgium, featuring two laps of the 47km circuit around the woodland south of Leuven that we saw yesterday.
The action gets underway at 12pm local time, so just around the corner.
Here is Van der Poel at the start in Halle just now.
Van der Poel has plenty of teammates but not on quite the same level as the Dutch mafia we saw in the women's race. Fellow cyclo-cross race Joris Nieuwenhuis is among those by his side.
Mohoric, who won in style last year but was forced to miss the recent Road Worlds to to a hand injury sustained in a gravel ride. Mohoric even tried proper US gravel earlier this year at Unbound, but this is UCI gravel and, especially with a relatively tame course, is well suited to a road racing engine.
The strongest squad here is undoubtedly the home nation, Belgium, who bring the inaugural world champ from 2021, Gianni Vermeersch, along with a wealth of WorldTour talent: Tim Merlier, Tiesj Benoot, Jaspery Stuyven, Quinten Hermans, Florian Vermeersch, They also have cyclo-cross stalwarts Eli Iserbyt, Laurens Sweeck, and Michael Vanthourenhout, and, to top it all off, a certain Greg Van Avermaet - former Classics star who has taken up gravel in retirement.
Van der Poel and Mohoric on the start line.
We're off
The race is underway. No TV bikes or race radio so updates for the first part of the race will come to us via live timing checkpoints.
Miss yesterday's action? You can catch up here:
UCI Gravel World Championships: Marianne Vos overpowers Kopecky to seize elite women's title
Here's a shot from the start line. The sea of light blue is Belgian jerseys. If this becomes team-tactical like a road race, they clearly possess the upper hand.
The first checkpoint came after 4km but no splits in the large peloton so far. The Slovenian Matevz Govekar was first through there as he looks to marshall the bunch on behalf of Mohoric.
Still all together after 16km. Van der Poel and Mohoric are up towards the front of the bunch, though - second and third through that checkpoint behind Frenchman Florian Dauphin.
Let's take a closer look at the course
The riders will spend the best part of 90 kilometres riding from Halle to Leuven from the south west (and off the side of the map on this image). The finish line is at the top in the centre of Leuven and the riders will then hit the 47km finishing circuit that takes them south of the city into the Forest of Brabant and then back into Leuven on the same paths from the south west. Whereas the women did one lap of the circuit, the men will do two.
The route as a whole is not very hilly, with no major climbs. Being Belgium, though, there are plenty of punchy kickers. This is the profile for the circuit, with one late hike up into the woods ahead of the trip back into the city. There's a very late little kicker there in the form of the Ramberg, a short but nasty narrow cobbled road that could serve as the final attack point - after that it's through a city park and into the final kilometre with the home straight along a wide boulevard.
In case you missed it, there was a rather big story yesterday in that Marianne Vos won the world title using an adjustable tyre pressure system. We've seen this toyed with in the past in the road Classics but it hasn't properly caught on... yet...
Marianne Vos uses self-inflating tyres at Gravel World Championships
Some shots from the early kilometres
After 39.5km we have some gaps starting to appear. A bunch of 30 riders have small gap, with most of the big names in there. Van der Poel was in second place through that checkpoint so still up at the front of proceedings.
More than half of that 30-man lead group are Belgian.
Van Avermaet is up there, as is fellow retired road pro turned gravel rider Jan Bakelants. The main WorldTour men Benoot, Merlier, Stuyven, Meurisse, Hermans, Kielich, and the two Vermeersch's are all there. Then you have two of the CX pros in Iserbyt and Aerts, and to cap it off there's Lawrence Naesen, Seppe Rombouts, Lander Loockx, and Kevin Panhuyzen. That's 16 in total.
7 in the lead
That large group has been further cut to size after 51km, with an elite seven-man selection at the head of the race. Van der Poel and Mohoric are there with a number of Belgians.
Here's the composition of the lead group
Matej Mohoric (Slovenia)
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
Tiesj Benoot (Belgium)
Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
Kevin Panhuyzen (Belgium)
Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium)
Florian Vermeersch (Belgium)
Who does Greg Van Avermaet think will win the world title? CN's Jackie Tyson caught up with the former cobbled classics star in Leuven earlier this week.
Van der Poel alone in the lead
There we have it. The Dutchman goes solo and passes the checkpoint at kilometre 70.6 with a lead of 30 seconds over the rest of the field. Jasper Stuyven was in second place, just ahead of a group of 19 riders.
In the group behind, we find Stuyven, Benoot, Merlier, Hermans, Vermeersch x2, Van Avermaet, Mohoric, Govekar, Connor Swift, among others.
In fact, of the 20 riders in the group behind Van der Poel, 13 are Belgian. Can they use the numbers to chase him down?
The 20 riders left behind Van der Poel are:
Belgium: Stuyven, Benoot, Merlier, Hermans, G.Vermeersch, F.Vermeersch, Meurisse, Kielich, Van Avermaet, Loockx, Panhuyzen, Naesen, Aerts.
Slovenia: Mohoric, Govekar
Germany: Voss, Rabmann
Britain: Swift
Netherlands: Ottema
Denmark: Lindberg
We could see some more regroupings but at the last check those 20 had a lead of nearly two minutes over the next group on the road. TV coverage will be underway shortly.
Spotted (eyes emoji) at the start:
Wild unseen Lapierre gravel bike spotted at Gravel World Championships
It looks like we have footage of Van der Poel's attack, courtesy of Belgian journalist Greg Ienco.
Here's our first shot of Van der Poel alone in the lead
Van der Poel caught
The early charge is over and the Dutchman won't be winning this world title with a 110km solo. He is brought back by a group that is now down to 10 riders as they reach Leuven, cross the line, and set out for the first of two laps of the finishing circuit.
This is the new lead group of 10
Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
Florian Vermeersch (Belgium)
Quinten Hermans (Belgium)
Toon Aerts (Belgium)
Xandro Meurisse (Belgium)
Timo Kielich (Belgium)
Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium)
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands)
Matej Mohoric (Slovenia)
Connor Swift (Great Britain)
We do, however, have another group of six just 15 seconds behind.
83km to go
The six chasers have caught up to give us 16 in the lead. The newcomers are:
Tim Merlier (Belgium)
Lawrence Naesen (Belgium)
Kevin Panhuyzen (Belgium)
Matevz Govekar (Slovenia)
Rick Ottema (Netherlands)
Jonas Lindberg (Denmark)
This is how the front group shapes up
Belgium: Stuyven, Merlier F.Vermeersch, G.Vermeersch, Hermans, Aerts, Meurisse, Kielich, Panhuyzen, Naesen
Netherlands: Van der Poel, Ottema
Slovenia: Mohoric, Govekar
Great Britain: Swift
Denmark: Lindberg
One notable absentee here is Tiesj Benoot, who punctured a little earlier and had to stop for a wheel change. Not that the Belgians need any more representation in this group.
Benoot is two and a half minutes down, chasing with Germany's Frederik Rassmann. There's another half a minute back to the next group on the road, which contains the likes of Petr Vakoc and Cameron Mason.
So far this group of 16 are happy to make ground. Ottema and Govekar have been doing turns for their leaders Van der Poel and Mohoric respectively. The Belgians haven't yet really attempted to shake this group up.
The lead group in the trees
A rough farm track now and Lindberg struggles with the lines, gets bumped around all over the place, and dangles off the back as Belgium line it out.
We're on the long straight section through the Brabant Forest and the group remains together with Meurisse doing a long stint on the front.
The big question here is how the 10 Belgians work together. They're all wearing the same jersey but gravel racing isn't road racing, and even on the road cohesion isn't always a given. This is a new discipline for many, and for some a one-off, so it'll be interesting to know how much team tactics have been driven into them by the coaches.
Another consideration is that these riders are divided up differently in their usual trade teams. We saw in the inaugural edition of Worlds that Mathieu van der Poel was more than happy to see his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Gianni Vermeersch ride away to the world title.
It's Alpecin-Deceuninck who dominate this group, with Dutchman Van der Poel joined by four Belgians: Gianni Vermeersch, Timo Kielich, Xandro Meurisse, and Quinten Hermans.
Slovenians Mohoric and Govekar are also teammates at Bahrain Victorious.
Other WorldTour teams have a sole rider: Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), Ineos Grenadiers (Swift), Lotto Dstny (Florian Vermeersch).
The remaining five riders don't have pro road contracts: Naesen, Aerts, Panhuyzen, Ottema, Lindberg.
60km to go
Van der Poel attacks!
The Dutchman uses a short incline to issue a surge after a long holding pattern.
Swift responds and gets on terms. Gap back to the rest!
Mohoric leads the fightback, with four Belgians in his wheel.
Mohoric is passed by three Belgians and now loses the wheel. F.Vermeersch is just behind him and nips around him now too.
57km tog o
Junction up front as the four Belgians and now Mohoric get across to Van der Poel and Swift. The four Belgians are Stuyven, Hermans, and the two Vermeersch's.
Van der Poel, who already attacked way earlier in the race, has cut this lead group down from 16 to 7. He has removed 6 Belgians but still has 4 with him in this lead group, along with Swift and Mohoric.
30 seconds is the gap between this front seven and the rest of what was that lead group.
Plenty of chatter between the Belgians, with Stuyven in particular having a word with Hermans. As we mentioned previously, Hermans and Gianni Vermeersch are usually teammates with Van der Poel at Alpecin-Deceuninck.
Connor Swift has looked really strong here. The 28-year-old Briton has dabbled in gravel events in recent years, winning the British title and a couple of events on the UCI world series, as well as taking bronze at last year's Worlds. On the road he has settled into a domestique role at Ineos but is a former winner of Tro Bro Leon, a race that covers plenty of dirt roads.
50km to go
Into the final 50 and we're coming towards the end of the first of our two laps of the finishing circuit. For those just joining, we had Van der Poel launching a solo attack from 120km out, before settling into a group that was whittled down to 16 early on this first lap and now, under another Van der Poel acceleration, down to seven. The theme of the race, aside from Van der Poel's aggression, has been Belgium's numerical dominance throughout.
G.Vermeersch issues an attack on the tarmac roads into Leuven but Van der Poel brings him back.
A little preview of the closing kilometres here, and we're about to hit the Ramberg, a nasty short cobbled climb inside the final 2km.
Stuyven accelerates on the Ramberg!
No gaps between the group, though. They now head through a city park for some gentle gravel, then a few corners on the road take them onto the wide home straight.
47km to go
Stuyven takes them into the home straight and Van der Poel and Mohoric turn through as they cross the line for the first time.
The chase group of nine riders - who were tailed off by Van der Poel's attack - hit the line 1:10 down. It's hard to see them coming back and it looks like we have seven contenders remaining for the rainbow jersey.
Attack from Florian Vermeersch! Van der Poel goes with him!
The attack came on the tarmac and Van der Poel was alive to it. Mohoric responds from behind now.
The gap is growing as the Belgians decide what to do! They have a man up the road but crucially they've got Van der Poel with him.
Stuyven again has words with Hermans. Not sure if we're reading too much into this but Belgian tactics will certainly be one of the post-race talking points.
Stuyven accelerates but the five-man chase group is back together.
Van der Poel and F.Vermeersch have 10 seconds. Vermeersch is happy to work with Van der Poel for now.
36km to go
20 seconds now and the gap is still on the rise.
G.Vermeersch attacks from behind. Mohoric responds.
Splits behind now, as G.Vermeersch goes again and this time has Stuyven in the wheel. Gap to Swift, Hermans, and Mohoric.
Mohoric has to unclip as he overcooks a corner back into the woods. He's dragging his trio back and Swift is now contributing.
31km to go
Stuyven and G.Vermeersch are brought back so we again have five in the chase. 23 seconds is the gap to the two leaders, and what happens now? This group aren't working together, just attacking each other, and that's going to allow the front two to sail further up the road.
30 seconds now with 30km to go, and as I write that it jumps again to 38 seconds. It's coming down to a two-horse race.
This leading pair will conjure mud-caked memories of the 2021 Paris-Roubaix, when the pair were both beaten in the Roubaix velodrome by Sonny Colbrelli. Surprisingly, Vermeersch beat Van der Poel to second place in the sprint that day. Injuries have meant he hasn't truly kicked on but the 25-year-old remains a quality rider, who was the runner up at Gravel Worlds last year.
25km to go
The gap hits one minute as Van der Poel and F.Vermeersch trade turns as they head along the straight section through the Forest of Brabant.
Mohoric attacks from behind! Stuyven quickly responds and they're back together.
The Belgians are letting gaps open in the chase. They're resigned now to letting F.Vermeersch fight it out with Van der Poel, even if that represents a tall order. Questions will no doubt be asked about how they played this race, with so many numbers. F.Vermeersch could have just sat on Van der Poel as soon as he was followed, and they could have tried to work over the favourite, but he has been happy to work with the Dutchman throughout, and now has to work out how to beat him one-on-one.
20km to go
1:20 is the gap now and we have a two-way battle for gold and a five-way battle for bronze.
There isn't a huge amount of elevation or technical terrain, but there is a short off-road climb coming up in a few kilometres, while the cobbled Ramberg climb in Leuven represents a final late launchpad.
Van der Poel and Vermeersch are shifting on this flat and smooth section through the forest and they're having to pick their way through not just muddy patches on the track but also other riders, with the elite riders sharing the course with riders from various older age group categories.
Van der Poel and Vermeersch start the drop down towards the group of mini lakes, which they'll head around on the tarmac before climbing back into the woods on that key uphill section.
They finish the descent and come onto the tarmac. Vermeersch has been following for a couple of kilometres now. Will he start turning again on this road section?
Yes, he comes through now. He's riding an honest race but does he have the strength to dispatch Van der Poel in a straight fight?
They turn left off the road and back into the woods. Van der Poel on the front and out of the saddle but not big moves for now.
Vermeersch comes through now as the gradient ramps up
13km to go
Van der Poel attacks!
The Dutchman makes his move. Vermeersch was tapping it out on the front on this grinding gradient and he rips him with a huge acceleration. He's immediately away.
Vermeersch barely responds. All he can do is watch the gold medal sail away.
This was the point where Van der Poel attacked on the previous lap, to be joined by Swift and eventually thinning the group down to seven. He has now used it again to go solo and he has 12.5km to ride to collect the world title.
Van der Poel has found 20 seconds and it's hard to see how he loses this from here.
Two minutes behind Van der Poel, the five-man chase group are attacking each other again. Stuyven and Hermans are active in this battle for bronze.
Stuyven has a face of thunder. A penny for his thoughts. Belgian Worlds inquests are always entertaining and this should be a good one. They had the numbers throughout but at the crucial moment, instead of using them to gang up on the race favourite, they effectively handed it to him on a plate. The outcome may have been the same but Vermeersch's decision to work with Van der Poel will be the chief head-scratcher.
Inside the final 10 now and Van der Poel's advantage has risen to 45 seconds. He just needs to avoid a puncture now.
After Marianne Vos' 14th rainbow jersey yesterday, this will be the 8th for Van der Poel. He already has six from cyclo-cross, plus the road race world title he won in Glasgow last year. He has never won Mountain Bike XCO Worlds.
5km to go
Into the final 5km and the proper gravel is over now. There's a bit more rough stuff thrown in as they head through the outskirts of Leuven, plus the cobbled Ramberg climb in the final 2km, but it's academic now as Van der Poel has 50 seconds in hand and can't mess this up from here.
In the battle for bronze, Stuyven would probably have the strongest sprint, but surely a Belgian will try and slip away before then.
2.5km to go now and Van der Poel is powering along the tarmac as he enters the city centre of Leuven.
Van der Poel turns onto the Ramberg, springs out of the saddle and rips one last acceleration. He doesn't really need to but he launches away on the climb.
1500m to go and he turns into the city park for some light gravel en route to the home straight.
1km to go
Van der Poel exits the park and enters the final kilometre. Just a couple of corners and then it's onto the home straight.
He comes into the home straight, checks over his shoulder, and sits up. A punch of the air and now he raises both arms wide as he crosses the line. But he's not done there. He's off the bike, which is hoisted above his head as we've seen with world titles past.
Van der Poel is the world champion.
Vermeersch rolls home now. He points to his Belgian-coloured helmet in front of his home fans as he crosses the line one minute and three seconds down.
Silver for Florian Vermeersch.
No splits on the Ramberg in the fight for bronze, so it's going to come down to a sprint from five.
Swift on the front through the corners after the park. He swings off and as they turn into the home straight they all almost come to a standstill.
Hermans leads them into the home straight, Stuyven looking around. It's super cagey.
Mohoric opens it!
Swift responds and works his way back. Three Belgians in a line behind.
Hermans takes it! He grinds his way past Stuyven as the three Belgians end up sprinting it out.
Bronze for Quinten Hermans
The finish line shot
Results
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) 04:41:23
2. Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) +00:01:03
3. Quinten Hermans (Belgium) +00:03:47
4. Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
5. Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium) +00:03:48
6. Connor Swift (Great Britain)
7. Matej Mohoric (Slovenia)
8. Tim Merlier (Belgium) +00:04:15
9. Timo Kielich (Belgium)
10. Toon Aerts (Belgium)
Belgium there with positions 2 through 5, plus three more in the top 10 (7 in total!)
Let's hear from the winner
"It was a big goal for me. It's super nice to add another rainbow to the collection, in another discipline as well, so I'm super happy with this one. It's super nice also to finish the season like this. It's amazing.
"I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible because I knew on the local lap with a big group it could be a difficult situation for me. I tried to put everyone on the limit. When Florian went, we had a good cooperation. My legs were also hurting. You never know in a sprint, especially on a gravel bike, so I tried one last time on the hardest section of the course, and it's always nice when you find yourself alone like this."
Here's a link to our report page, with results and photos
Mathieu van der Poel wins the Gravel World Championship
Here's the silver medallist, Florian Vermeersch
"It was a super hard race from the beginning. When we arrived on the local lap we were with a group of 15 guys. I knew when we were only with 7 that I had to be one of the first to get away and ideally get Mathieu or someone else with me, and that's what happened. Then it came down to who was strongest, and I think everyone saw who that was.
"I knew I would get dropped when he accelerated. I just tried to do the best I could. In the end it was the strongest who won. You could see when he did the turns in front, it was always a bit longer and harder than mine, then you know who is the strongest."
And here's the bronze medallist Quinten Hermans
"It was a plan to ride together as a team and I think we did it quite well but when Mathieu attacked already with 120km to go, you felt it was going to be a tough race. We had a split with a couple of good riders and we went into the last lap with 7 strong riders, then it's hard to keep the group together. Then Mathieu attacked and you know it's going to be hard. I'm happy with third.
"In gravel it's really everyone is fighting for their own, there are almost no team tactics, it's just the legs who speak."
Here's the bike-above-the-head shot
The rainbow jersey shot
And the podium shot
So there you have it. Mathieu van der Poel is the new gravel world champion, collecting the eighth rainbow jersey of his career, in his third different discipline, capping a season that has also seen him do the Tour of Flanders - Paris-Roubaix double.
Van der Poel was aggressive throughout, launching his first solo bid from all of 120km out and then attacking a 16-man group to cut it down to seven. When Florian Vermeersch attacked on the last lap he went with him and the pair combined until the final off-road climb where Van der Poel said thank you very much and sailed away into the sunset. Questions will be asked of the Belgians, who had the overwhelming numbers but never really used them - whether that was down to gravel being more of an 'every man for himself' discipline or to a breakdown in teamwork remains to be seen and indeed discussed.
Anyway, it's been a good one. Keep an eye on the site for more reaction from our reporters on the ground in Leuven.
