Gianni Vermeersch will defend his title in Veneto on Sunday on
Gravel World Championships. The Belgian rider won the rainbow jersey last year after a long breakawa ywith Daniel Oss, whom he beat in the final. Vermeersch was thus able to enjoy being world champion jersey for a year.
"I have actually been able to race far too little as world champion. Unfortunately, most of the gravel races of the Gravel World Series always coincided with road races. That's a shame," he said about the limited number of gravel races in his program in an interview for WielerFlits.