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Mathieu Van der Poel ended his 2024 season on a high with a resounding victory in the UCI gravel world championships on Sunday, soloing in well clear after a virtuoso display.
The Dutchman attacked early in the race and while that didn’t work out, he bided his time and then pushed forward in a group of seven heading onto the final 47km circuit. Van der Poel drove the pace heading towards 41km to go, lining things out on a narrow, leaf-littered tarmac path.
Florian Vermeersch then launched a big attack with 40.3km to go and was immediately joined by the race favorite, with the gap rising continuously from that point.
Van der Poel put in a huge move on a climb with 13.4km remaining and tore clear. He raced in 1:03 ahead of Vermeersch, with Quinten Hermans taking third ahead of Jasper Stuyven at 3:47. Gianni Vermeersch beat Conor Swift (Great Britain) and defending champion Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) for fifth.
“It was a big goal for me,” said Van der Poel of his first gravel world championship title. “It is super nice to add another rainbow to the collection in another discipline as well. I am super happy with this one.
“For sure it is super nice also to finish the season like this. It is amazing.”
He said that his surge early in the race was intended to soften things up, with the large number of Belgian riders in the event a concern.
“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,” he said. “So I tried to put everybody on the limit. When Florian Vermeersch went and there were the two of us, we had a good cooperation.”
Vermeersch said things went to plan in terms of getting into the final move. From there, though, Van der Poel was always the big favorite.
“It was a super hard race from the beginning. The pace was super high and when we arrived on the local lap we were immediately with a group of ten, 15 guys,” he explained.
MATHIEU VAN DER POEL EST CHAMPION DU MONDE DE GRAVEL après avoir distancé le Belge Florian Vermeersch à 13km pour décrocher son 8e maillot arc-en-ciel après 6 titres en cyclo-cross et 1 sur route. #Leuven2024 pic.twitter.com/zecCfEAFAM
— Les Rois du Peloton (@LRoisDuPeloton) October 6, 2024
“I knew when we were only about six or seven guys I had to be one of the first to get away. Ideally to get Mathieu or someone else with me, and that’s what happened. Then it came down to who was strongest.
“I think everybody saw clearly who that was,” he said, laughing.
One big race favorite, many strong rivals
The 182km race began in Halle and included two laps of the same 47km circuit that featured in Saturday’s women’s championship.
All eyes were on Van der Poel, the best cyclocross rider in the world, and third last Sunday in the road world championships. Defending champion Matej Mohoric was also present, the Slovenian having recovered from the hand injury suffered in buildup to Sea Otter Girona.
Early on a group of approximately 30 riders forced clear, with a very high Belgian contingent. This was further reduced to Mohoric, Van der Poel, plus the Belgian quintet of Tiesj Benoot, Jasper Stuyven, Kevin Panhuyzen, Gianni Vermeersch and Florian Vermeersch.
Van der Poel was feeling good and raced clear, holding an advantage of half a minute at the checkpoint 70.6 kilometers in. The chase group grew in size and dragged him back, with a new group of ten riders forming.
Mathieu van der Poel already in the attack. #Leuven2024
@GregIenco pic.twitter.com/HYvr98w2rs— Cyclocross24.com (@cyclocross24) October 6, 2024
Van der Poel, Mohoric, Stuyven, Florian and Gianni Vermeersch were there, as were Quinten Hermans, Toon Aerts, Xandro Meurisse, and Timo Kielich (all Belgium) plus the Briton Connor Swift.
Six chasers got across, namely Panhuyzen, Jonas Lindberg (Denmark), Matevz Govekar (Slovenia), Rick Ottema (Netherlands), plus Belgium’s Tim Merlier and Lawrence Naesen.
Van der Poel surged on a drag with 60km remaining and was joined by Swift. Stuyven, Mohoric, Hermans, Florian and Gianni Vermeersch were also able to get back up. However the list of contenders was continuously being gradually reduced, primarily by Van der Poel.
Florian Vermeersch made the decisive move with 40.3km remaining, with his attack on a flat road being immediately answered by Van der Poel. They rapidly gained time on the others, with their advantage growing to a minute with 25km remaining.
Making sure of gold
Van der Poel put in the race-winning attack with 13.4km left and from there the rainbow jersey was never in question. He raced in just over a minute ahead of Vermeersch, who appeared satisfied with bronze. Hermans was best of the five chasers in the tussle for bronze, judging things just right inside the final kilometer.
“It was a super hard race but I enjoyed it. And of course I am super happy with the title,” said Van der Poel.
He had hoped to retain his road race rainbow jersey last Sunday but couldn’t matchTadej Pogačar. He didn’t take any chances in this race, gradually eliminating his rivals and then dispatching Vermeersch well before the finish.
“I have to say my legs were hurting,” he said, explaining his tactics. “You never know in the sprint, especially on the gravel bike as well. So I tried one last time on the hardest part of the course and found myself alone.
“It is always nice to celebrate like this.”
Vermeersch was aware that the gold medal was a remote possibility.
“I knew I would get dropped when he accelerated, but I just tried to do the best I could. In the end it was the strongest who won. You could see it already when he did the turns on the front. It was always a bit longer than me and a bit harder. Then you could feel who was the strongest.”
