Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease A Bike) claimed the UCI Gravel World Championships again in October, however she hasn’t but taken her rainbow stripes for a spin.
The multi-discipline star, who has received world titles in highway, cyclocross, gravel and monitor, will make her debut within the gravel world champion’s jersey at 3RIDES Aachen on the finish of this month.
Vos, who beat highway world champion Lotte Kopecky to the highest spot in a two-up dash in Leuven, is ready to line up on the Might 31 Gravel World Collection occasion in Germany, to taking over a discipline that features a number of key rivals from throughout disciplines.
“Now we have all the time had sturdy elite starter fields, particularly within the gravel space. This has continued this 12 months,” mentioned Björn Müller, CEO of 3RIDES Aachen, declaring in a media convention put out on the race’s Instagram story that this was significantly the case within the girls’s discipline.
“We’re completely happy to welcome the earlier winner, Lucinda Model (Lidl-Trek), and on the German aspect, we’ve one other WorldTour skilled rider, Romy Kasper (Human Powered Well being), who was fifth final 12 months on the Gravel World Championships in Leuven.
“We’re significantly proud to have the present world champion in gravel, Marianne Vos,” mentioned Müller, including that it was anticipated to be her solely look at a UCI Gravel World Collection race this season.
In October, Vos claimed her 14th world title throughout disciplines on a course that resembled a one-day Belgian Traditional, and continued a pattern of WorldTour riders claiming the gravel rainbow stripes, which suggests they’re not often seen in competitors.
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The victory concluded her 2024 season, at the least till she made a late-year return to cyclocross earlier than having to chop that season brief when an harm prevented her from racing the World Championships within the muddy self-discipline.
It was then onto the highway in March at Trofeo Alfredo Binda along with her most up-to-date outing being the Vuelta Femenina earlier this month, the place she swept up two stage wins, two runner-up spots and the factors jersey.
It is a string of type that’s sure to make her a formidable rival as she heads again to the gravel, even with a strong discipline lined up in opposition to her that not solely contains the 2021 cyclocross world champion and defending champion Model but additionally 2023 winner Tessa Neefjes (Liv Racing), who simply claimed victory at The Gralloch.
The lads’s discipline contains Sebastian Breuer, who got here second at The Traka Journey earlier this month, together with Jonas Koch (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and former skilled highway bicycle owner Jan Bakelants.
The 122km race, which is ready to run on the identical day as Unbound Gravel in the USA, will play out on a 61km loop that includes 65% gravel and 790m of elevation achieve on every circuit.
Lucinda Model (Lidl-Trek) racing to the win at 3RIDES Aachen in 2024 (Picture credit score: Leon van Bon/3RIDES)
