A two-time men's under-23 world champion on the road just over a decade ago, Matej Mohorič rose to the top again in 2023 as the best elite men's rider at the UCI Gravel World Championship. In advance of his defence for an infrequently-displayed rainbow jersey due to a heavy WorldTour schedule with Bahrain-Victorious, he will flash the stripes at Sea Otter Europe's gravel race in Girona this Saturday.
The 29-year-old will also represent Slovenia to support teammate Tadej Pogačar at UCI Road Worlds in Switzerland on September 29 before he embarks on another conquest on gravel, this time in Leuven, Belgium on October 6 for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championship.
He recently competed for a third consecutive year in the Canadian pair of UCI races in Montréal and Québec and told Cyclingnews that he was prepared for "two good races" in back-to-back world championships.
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"I hope to finish the season on a high with the rest of my races, the gravel race in Girona and then both World Championships road and gravel. I have raced every weekend since the Tour, so it's something I am comfortable with. I know I can do it, I know what to do during the week, then to be ready for Sunday and yeah, I hope I will have two good races," Mohorič told Cyclingnews about his desire to win a second gravel title.
"I'm quite excited [about Gravel World Championships]. I like to race on gravel. It's a little bit different to race on the road, it's a little bit harder. But at the same time, it's also more fun because just the actual nature of riding on gravel, the technical side of it, makes time pass quicker."
This season Mohorič took part in his 12th Grand Tour and joined the club of riders who have won stages in all three events, last year winning his third Tour de France stage on a hilly day in the Haute-Alpes. But this year's Tour was not fruitful, even on stage 9 into Troyes with nine sectors of gravel on the route. He came away with only two stages with finishes in the top 60. At both Tour de Pologne and Renewi Tour he rebounded with top 10s in both GCs.
"I think my form has steadily been going back to normal after the disaster of the Tour, with not feeling well and not being at anywhere close to my normal level. I was well in Poland, but I've not recovered yet fully from the fatigue of the Tour. Then I was better at Renewi - I didn't end up with a top result, but still, I was in the mix," he admitted.
His appearance in June at Unbound Gravel was another disappointment, breaking the rim of a wheel and recording a DNF at his first appearance there. He was eager to ride the 107.2km gravel race at Sea Otter Europe, part of the Trek UCI Gravel World Series, as it could be his last day in the rainbow jersey.
"I liked the vibe of the event, like in general on gravel, all the age categories riders start just after the elite group and we met many, many fans there. We had great fun. It's not the perfect time slot for it because you're in the middle of training for the Tour de France. So it's not super compatible with the road season, but it's definitely something different and nice, I enjoyed it.
"Basically, the course was way gnarlier than what we expected, so we didn't come fully ready with our equipment," he said about the mechanical leading to him withdrawing at the second rest stop.
"I was able to avoid any damage to my bike for quite a long time, but just before halfway through the course, I didn't hit a stone but a rider next to me rode over a stone, and it catapulted, or bulleted, straight into my wheel and broke not just the tyre, but the wheel itself. So my race was pretty much done by then."
Would he go back to Emporia, Kansas? Mohorič laughed when he thought about what to say.
"I think probably on a physical level, I would be able to be in the final with the best riders there. But you never know until you are there. I also never did a race that's so long, so I don't know what happens with my body after seven hours, because I never spent more than seven hours in the saddle.
"So it's easy to be smart and [have a] big mouth about how good you could be in a race, but if you never did a race that long, you can't really know."
He was certain about was he needed to "stay out of trouble and out of mechanicals" to win a second world championship in the new off-road discipline, noting that the new course was set up like a spring Classics route.
"I haven't looked in detail but I was told it's also a nice course, not as hard as the one in Italy. It's basically like a big one-day Classic. It doesn't change much between a gravel race or a hard one-day WorldTour Classic.
"The [2023] World Championships was super hard and quite punchy in the final with long climbs. I actually don't think it [the 2024 course] suits me really well, but we will see," Mohorič said with a laugh when asked if the power profile this year could be an advantage.
"It depends, I think in gravel, you also need to be smooth on the bike and I don't have that much experience, to be honest."
