photo credits @ UCI
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) stamped his authority at the UCI Gravel World Championships by winning the elite men’s title after he dropped breakaway companion Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) on the final lap of the circuit in Leuven.
The Dutch rider unleashed a brutal acceleration with 13km remaining, leaving Vermeersch behind to claim a solo victory and claim the eighth rainbow jersey of his career.
In the meantime, Vermeesch crossed the line 1:03 behind to claim the silver medal for the second year in a row.
Van der Poel was part of an early breakaway that quickly opened up an insurmountable over the rest of the field at the start of the race. From there, the Dutcham whittled down the leading group with a fierce attack, before going clear in a decisive move instigated by Vermeersch with 40km to go.
From there, the duo worked well together to extend their lead at the front until Van der Poel launched his inevitable attack with 14km to go, quickly distancing his Belgian rival.
Van der Poel later soloed to victory in Leuven, lifting his bike aloft as he crossed the finish line.
Earlier, Matej Mohorič (Slovenia), Van der Poel and Connor Swift (Great Britain) marked the day’s first breakaway effort, with the quartet later being joined by a large group of Belgian riders that included the likes of Jasper Stuyven, F. Vermeersch, Quinten Hermans and former winner Gianni Vermeersch.
With 110km to go, Van der Poel decided to launch a long-range attack, but with little help, he was forced to rejoin the group, with Tim Merlier (Belgium), Matevž Govekar (Slovenia) and Lawrence Naesen (Belgium) soon joining the bunch as well.
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.
In the battle for the bronze medal, the chasing group continued to attack each other in the closing kilometers, 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 Hermans completing the podium ahead of Stuyven and Gianni Vermeersch.
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