After road, cyclocross and track; Marianne Vos has become Gravel World Champion - "I didn’t trust my sprint" against Lotte Kopecky
Gravel
At 37 years of age Marianne Vos continued to excel within cycling. The most successful female rider of all time continues to win and has for the first time conquered a world title in the gravel discipline, after beating none other than Lotte Kopecky this Saturday in Leuven.
“It was of course great to be in the lead together with Lotte. But you know that it will be tough. She is so fast that it is not perfect, but when you ride around with such a top athlete – who has just become world champion on the road and is in good shape – then that is great. It is great to race here together, especially with this audience," Vos said in a post-race interview. Recently, she performed strongly in the road worlds, but uphill she has many riders above.
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However, off-road and on mostly flat terrain, the veteran still has it! She took full advantage of her form and technique on the bike to put in a masterful performance this afternoon. “Before that we also rode for quite a long time with a fairly large group. On a tougher section, Lotte set the pace very high. We were then four at first, with Lorena Wiebes and Soraya Paladin still there. But on another tough section we were left with two.”
Just the two of them were left, and it was ultimately going to come down to a sprint. “I didn’t trust my sprint, but I also knew it would be difficult to escape. When I saw that it wasn’t going to work, I decided to wait.” Eventually that proved to be the best option for Vos, who actually proved to be quite superior to the road world champion in the dash to the line, bringing in another big victory for the women's Team Visma | Lease a Bike team.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- A great route aswell. Col D'Arcy is a toughie
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - Let Torito have a shot at it
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - A great route, much more exciting than the Tour de France. Monte Livata is an interesting one, because they experimented with it at the 2026 Baby Giro, and it was fantastic. 4 km at 10%, then 10 km at 6.5% made for a great spectacle. The stage 16 is horrible
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - I remember when Mark went through that. He was really experiencing lows and thought about quiting many times. It took him a long time to recover. I, like many others were overjoyed when he came back. I hope Lafay has been tested. I wish him the best.Paggss03-11-2026
- That sucks for him. I've always wondered what guys like him do after retiring from cycling - go back to uni? He's still a very young manCrashjames03-11-2026
- Good Point, I wonder if he's been testedmhfrvz03-11-2026
- A busy boy!Lozza03-11-2026
- I hope 2027 is his year.mij03-11-2026
- why does he have to? many GT riders from Froome to Contador to Indurain didn't do them.mij03-11-2026
- I think Jonas would have lost the TDF by 4+ minutes (at the least) and might not have even been in the top 3. Too much talent in the younger riders to say anyone not named Pogačar would have been top 3md197503-11-2026
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🇧🇪 #GravelChampionships Greatness. 🐐
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