Results Gravel World Championships women | Lorena Wiebes takes world title in Dutch-dominated race

In 2024 the Dutch conquered both world titles in the gravel World Championships and this time around, in the Netherlands itself, the home team has dominated the women's race and have crowned a new world champion. The fourth rider to put on the rainbow stripes in the women's field is Lorena Wiebes, the world's best sprinter.

The Dutchwoman rode a very strong race and benefited from a few tactical choices that led to a sprint finish deciding the race amongst riders of a small group.

Throughout the 131-kilometer long race the peloton slowly split throughout the day, with many of the Dutch in a majority in the head of the race. This didn't come as a surprise, but in a race where individual tactics rule, it was always going to be interesting to see how riders of the same nation would race against each other. A small group going up the road in the final section of the race threatened to go ahead and fight for the win including defending champion Marianne Vos and Lorena Wiebes but a few riders would jump across the gap.

One of them was van Anrooij, together with Silvia Persico and with just over 10 kilometers to go the 23-year old attacked and looked set for victory. However the long stints in the chasing group from both Yara Kastelijn and Julia Kopecky who didn't stand a chance in the sprint saw the gap closed down right before the final sprint, where Wiebes beat the veteran Vos to take a big win. Silvia Persico sprinted to third.