No Mathieu van der Poel, no Wout Van Aert on start of the Gravel European Championships

Last year, Mathieu van der Poel participated in the World Championships in the discipline and the organization of the Circuit Franco-Belge also announced him for Sunday's Gravel European Championships a few weeks ago. However, that turned out to be premature, Erwin Vervecken confirms in an interview for In de Leiderstrui.

"Mathieu may have thought about it, but that was never formally confirmed to us. We don't know where that information comes from, because we have had no contact to that extent. Things are gradually coming to an end at Mathieu after a long road season. Wout van Aert will ride gravel races, but will only do the World Championships, one week later," the race organiser points out.

Vervecken admits that the big names from road make a great advertisment for the dusty discipline. "They are putting it on the map, which is very important. But that's not just Wout and Mathieu. Alejandro Valverde, Petr Vakoc, Niki Terpstra, Connor Swift… there are no small names who have won gravel races this year," Vervecken adds.

"It's also just fun, between the goals of the road races. I don't see that there are any risks involved. You also have that on the road, for example in Strade Bianche. Riders also want a new challenge, and if a top rider comes along every now and then, that's just a great thing for us. That only provides promotion and media attention."