Valkenburg city council weighs in on gravel worlds rumours

After an Instagram post seemed to link Valkenburg, The Netherlands, to the gravel worlds, the city council has responded. First reported by Cycloworld.cc, after Nice abruptly pulled out from the event, a post that quickly disappeared fuelled rumours the Dutch city would host it. This was following all sorts of other rumours linking Belgium, Kenya, and Austria.

However, the town has spoken, and it sounds like those rumours were unfounded. In a piece from Wielerflits, Valkenburg has decided not to host the gravel world championship on October 4-5. After Nice pulled out of the event in February, Valkenburg expressed interest in bringing it to the South Limburg town. However, the municipality feels there isn’t enough time to organize it properly. Valkenburg has previously hosted several world championships, including Road (1938, 1948, 1979, 1998, 2012) and ‘cross (2018). Despite strong support from the Province of Limburg and the UCI’s indication that Valkenburg was the favourite, the municipality felt the timeline was too tight.

The UCI will decide soon just where the gravel worlds will take place. There are seven candidates in all, including Villach in Austria, which hosted the 1987 road worlds, being a strong contender. Mathieu van der Poel dominated the 2024 edition in Leuven, Belgium, attacking with 100 km to go before making the decisive move with Florian Vermeersch. He dropped Vermeersch with 25 km remaining to take a solo victory. Vermeersch finished second, while Quinten Hermans won the sprint for third.

Marianne Vos won the women’s gravel world championship, outsprinting Lotte Kopecky after a two-rider battle. The race saw an early split, a crash, and a reduced lead group before Vos and Kopecky pulled away. They finished nearly four minutes ahead of Lorena Wiebes, who took third. Canadian riders included Alison Jackson in 37th, Pénélope Primeau in 68th, Lucy Hempstead in 70th, Anna Gabrielle Traxler in 88th and Kaitlyn Rauwerda in 100th.