“World Championships are for nations, not for trade teams” – UCI rejects revolutionary change to gravel cycling after 2025 controversy

What should have been a showcase of gravel racing’s explosive growth has turned into a heated debate about the sport’s future. The 2025 Gravel World Championships descended into controversy when Dutch rider Yara Kastelijn chased down compatriot Shirin van Anrooij in the final kilometres, allowing a different Dutch rider - Lorena Wiebes - to claim the title and inadvertently sparking a wider discussion over whether national teams still make sense in a discipline so deeply rooted in trade team structures.

The scene was remarkable: seven of the top ten finishers in the elite women’s race wore the Dutch national jersey, but they weren’t working together. Instead, it was Czech rider Julia Kopecky — a trade teammate of the eventual winner at Team SD Worx-ProTime — who proved to be the most effective ally.

The spectacle prompted calls to rethink the very concept of the event. Should gravel Worlds be raced in trade team kits rather than national colours?

“These are growing pains of a discipline that has evolved very quickly,” said the UCI's Peter Van Den Abeele in an interview with Sporza. “We’ll certainly discuss it during the Gravel Worlds debriefing. But World Championships are for nations, not for trade teams.”

The Dutch situation was unique: almost 30 riders from the Netherlands started the women’s elite race, qualifying individually rather than being selected. That’s because, unlike the road Worlds, national selectors do not choose their squads — riders earn their place through qualifying events or via wildcards.

With such a large number of riders under one flag but no coherent tactical plan, the race dynamic fractured, opening the door to confusion and criticism. “It’s up to the national coach to set the strategy,” Van Den Abeele added. “Italy did come with a proper national team and followed the coach’s orders.”

Dutch national coach Laurens ten Dam has admitted that the current model makes cohesive tactics nearly impossible to implement. “I can’t impose a race strategy,” he said. “All I told them was not to work against each other — and to make sure a Dutchwoman won.”

Ten Dam suggested a potential compromise: limiting each country to ten elite starters selected by the national coach. Those who don’t make the cut could still race in age-group categories, preserving the mass-participation ethos that has defined gravel since its inception. “I would completely understand if the Gravel Worlds were raced in trade team kits rather than national jerseys in the future,” Ten Dam said.

For the UCI, however, the balance between elite competition and gravel’s open, accessible identity remains the key issue. “We definitely want to preserve the mass-participation element,” Van Den Abeele emphasised. “The stars racing in the same peloton as hundreds of amateur riders is part of what makes these Worlds so special.”

That sentiment appears to rule out a wholesale shift to trade teams — at least for now. But with tensions rising between the traditional World Championships format and the commercial and competitive realities of gravel racing, this year’s events have almost certainly ensured the issue won’t disappear after the debrief.