After 182km of racing along the gravel roads of the Flemish Brabant around Leuven, Mathieu van der Poel emerged victorious with a dominant performance to seal the Gravel World Championship title.
The Dutchman was part of an elite early breakaway that quickly cemented an advantage over the rest of the field at the start of the race. He then whittled down the leading group with an attack, before going clear in a decisive move instigated by Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) with 40km to go.
The pair worked well together to extend their lead at the front until Van der Poel launched his inevitable attack with 14km to go, with the Belgian rider dropping instantly as he was unable to follow.
Van der Poel then soloed to victory in Leuven, lifting his bike aloft as he crossed the finish line as he claimed his first Gravel World Championships title. The Alpecin-Deceuninck adds this to his road race and cyclocross World titles from the last few years, further cementing him as one of the best multi-discipline riders that the sport has ever seen.
Behind him, Vermeersch crossed the line around a minute later to take second place, whilst in the fight for the bronze medal, Quinten Hermans (Belgium) won the sprint from the chasing group of five riders to complete the podium.
Speaking in his post-race interview, Van der Poel said “it was a big goal for me. It’s super nice to add another rainbow [jersey] to the collection, in another discipline as well, so I’m super happy with this one”.
On his strategy in the race, the Dutchman went on to say “I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible. I knew on the local lap with a big group it could be a difficult situation for me, so I tried to put everybody on the limit. When Florian Vermeersch went and we were with the two of us, we had good cooperation. It was a super hard race, but I enjoyed it and of course I’m super happy with the title”.
When asked why he opted to attack and go solo instead of waiting for the sprint, the new World Champion said “my legs were also hurting, so you never know in the sprints, especially on a gravel bike. I tried one last time on the hardest part of the course and found myself alone, so it’s always nicer to celebrate like this”.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gravel World Championships are a rare occasion during the season where we see a mix of riders from WorldTour pros to top level amateurs together on the start list. However, despite all of them wearing their various national team jerseys, the difference between the two sets of riders was made clear very early on.
In the opening stages of the race, a group of ten riders formed at the front, with race favourites Matej Mohorič (Slovenia), Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and Connor Swift (Great Britain) among those involved. Joining them was a large collective of Belgian riders, including the likes of Jasper Stuyven, Florian Vermeersch, Quinten Hermans and former winner Gianni Vermeersch.
Having been witness to the exploits of Tadej Pogačar at the World Championships road race a couple of weeks ago, Van der Poel thought that he would try his hand at his own long-range move, as he went on the attack with around 110km to go.
He had very little in the way of support though, with nobody either willing or able to go with Dutchman and he quickly rejoined the group again. A further six riders then joined the front group, with Tim Merlier (Belgium), Matevž Govekar (Slovenia) and Lawrence Naesen (Belgium) among them.
The group worked well together to extend their advantage over those behind them until 60km to go, when Van der Poel went on the attack again through a narrow forested section. Swift was the only one able to follow the move, with the Belgian team of Stuyven, Hermans and both Vermeerschs working hard alongside Mohorič to bring them back.
Those chasers made it back on with 57km to go, but the damage done to the group was clear to see, as it had been reduced to just seven riders with much of the large Belgian contingent dropped.
The next attack came from Florian Vermeersch with 40km to go, which was immediately followed by Van der Poel. The Belgians would not help to close down the move though with one of their men up the road, leaving much of the work to Swift and Mohorič.
There were various attempts to go clear from that chasing group, but they were all brought back one after the other. Meanwhile, Vermeersch and Van der Poel worked well together to extend their gap over the chasers to well over a minute.
It was not until 14km to go that Van der Poel made his inevitable move, as he went on the attack in the same place that he had done earlier on in the race, dropping Vermeersch instantly as the Belgian could not match the Dutchman’s acceleration.
Van der Poel then soloed to the finish in Leuven, further extending his gap over those behind him. Crossing the line, he lifted his bike above his head in celebration as he did at the Tour of Flanders earlier this year, marking another great achievement in an already incredible career.
A minute later, Vermeersch reached the finish to take second place and a well-earned silver medal, having instigated the winning move before holding on after being dropped in the closing kilometres.
In the battle for the bronze medal, the chasing group had continued to attack each other in the closing kilometres, but all moves were shut down and they were all together by the time they reached the finish.
The six-man group entered the final straight tentatively, all of them waiting and looking at each other to see who would make a move. Mohorič was the first to launch his sprint, with Swift quick to try and get on his wheel. However, the Slovenian had gone far too early and both riders were swamped by the three Belgian riders, with Quinten Hermans completing the podium ahead of Jasper Stuyven and Gianni Vermeersch.
RESULTS: UCI GRAVEL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ELITE MEN’S RACE 2024, HALLE > LEUVEN (182KM)
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned), in 4:01:08
2. Florian Vermeersch (Bel), +1:03
3. Quinten Hermans (Bel), +2:44
4. Jasper Stuyven (Bel)
5. Gianni Vermeersch (Bel)
6. Connor Swift (GBr)
7. Matej Mohorič (Slo), all at same time
8. Tim Merlier (Bel), +3:12
9. Timo Kielich (Bel)
10. Toon Aerts (Bel), all at same time
