UCI Gravel World Championships route revealed

UCI has revealed the Gravel World Championships route. The routes begin in Vicenza and ends in Cittadella. It is scheduled to take place on the white gravel roads of Italy’s Veneto region.

Former professional cyclists Angelo Furlan and Marco Menin designed the courses. The route will include Italian white gravel sections for the most part, and the remaining will be made up of asphalt roads.

Elite women's group and men’s 50-plus categories will race on October 8 on a 140-kilometer course with 69 percent gravel and 700 meters of elevation gain. On October 9, The elite men's group will also use the same route with a small addition of a 25-kilometer circuit in the end. The elite men’s course will also have an altitude gain of 100 meters than the Women’s group and 73 percent gravel.

According to Erwin Vervecken, the three-time cyclocross world champion, the route “From a tactical point of view, it will be interesting for riders,” he said. He continues, “The first 20k is real hard gravel with a 1k steep uphill start on gravel, then a very technical descent, which is wide enough, but still you want to be in front. After 20k, to me, it looks like the full peloton will be spread out in small groups because it’s been up and down. Then it’s totally flat.”