Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Saturday October 5, 2024 at 4:20 p.m.
Marianne Vos added a gravel world champion title to her immense record this Saturday after a duel with Lotte Kopecky.
Marianne Vos adds a new line to her list of achievements. Already crowned world champion on the road, on the track and in cyclo-cross, the Dutchwoman has added gravel to this list of rainbow jerseys. Contested over 135 kilometers in the heart of the forests of Flemish Brabant but without Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who withdrew this Friday when she could hope to do well in a discipline of which she will remain the first world champion, this third edition very quickly saw the main candidates for the podium take action. Indeed, a quarter of the distance, eleven runners including Marianne Vos, Lotte Kopecky, Puck Pieterse, Lucinda Brand, Lorena Wiebes, Soraya Paladin and Christine Majerus were able to gain a little margin over the rest of the peloton. After a regrouping allowing around fifty runners to be at the forefront, it was an absolutely royal quartet who were able to stand out. However, if the European road champion Lorena Wiebes and the Italian Soraya Paladin were able to take the wheel for a while, they had to let Lotte Kopecky and Marianne Vos leave with a little more than 50 kilometers still to go to reach the line arrival route traced in Louvain.
Vos had the last word
The Dutchwoman tried to isolate herself for the first time as she approached the last 20 kilometers but the Belgian did not give in. A scenario which repeated itself at the foot of the last difficulty with Marianne Vos who made a powerful start but who was perfectly absorbed by the recent world champion on the road. With a margin of more than four minutes on their pursuers, the two candidates for the rainbow jersey were able to return to their track habits once they entered the final straight. It was 200 meters from the finish that Marianne Vos launched the sprint and, although Lotte Kopecky was able to take the wheel, the Belgian had to admit defeat. The Dutchwoman thus won a fourteenth world champion title in a fourth different discipline and deprived the Belgian of a road-gravel double. Almost four minutes later, Lorena Wiebes was able to get rid of her compatriot Puck Pieterse to win the bronze medal. On the French side, the best result went to Axelle Dubau-Prévot, half-sister of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who finished in 29th position with a delay of almost nine minutes.
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