Dn a formidable duel with Lotte Kopecky, Marianne Vos ended up winning the 134 km race between Hal and Louvain to win the title of world champion as part of the Gravel Worlds on Saturday.
A week after her second consecutive world road title, Kopecky was beaten to the wire in Belgium. The 28-year-old from Antwerp finished second ahead of Dutchwoman Lorena Wiebes who completed the podium in third place.
Kopecky and Vos left behind Wiebes, European gravel and road champion, and the Italian Soraya Paladin just over 50 km from the finish. The two runners tried several times to break away from each other in the last kilometers, but they stayed together. It therefore came down to a sprint in Louvain, at the end of which Vos was the strongest.
Vos succeeds the Polish Katarzyna ‘Kasia’ Niewiadoma, winner of the Tour de France. The latter did not start this year. Lotte Kopecky was participating in her first gravel race.
The previous Saturday, she won her second consecutive world road title in Zurich, Switzerland. In a sprint between six runners, she beat the American Chloé Dygert and the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini.
On Sunday, it will be the men’s turn to take part in the Gravel World Championships race. They will cover 181 km, also between Halle and Leuven. The reigning champion, Slovenian Matej Mohoric, will face opponents such as Mathieu van der Poel, the European gravel champion, Jasper Stuyven, the Belgian gravel champion Gianni Vermeersch, as well as Tim Merlier, Tiesj Benoot and Florian Vermeersch.
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