European-based professionals road riders will take on the privateers and US-based gravel specialists at the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships this weekend in Italy.
The official entry list for the races name Mathieu van der Poel, Magnus Cort, Tiffany Cromwell, Greg van Avermaet, Peter Sagan, Rachel Neylan, and even Miguel Angel López for the elite races.
Van der Poel and Sagan confirmed they will end their 2022 seasons racing gravel but more names have emerged before a number of national federations confirmed their line-ups.
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48 women are on the elite entry list and a total 552 riders have registered for this first edition of the Gravel Worlds, representing 38 different nationalities.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is trying to win a fourth world title in 2022 in the elite women’s race on Saturday, while Lauren De Crescenzo and Sarah Sturm lead the US team.
They face competition from Tiffany Cromwell of Australia, Riejanne Markus of the Netherlands and Letizia Borghesi and Sofia Bertizzolo of Italy. Elisa Longo Borghini of Trek-Segafredo, who won the recent Giro dell’Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine road races, was also on the start list but said in a recent Twitter update that while it would have been nice to take part she is actually going to be racing the Tour de Romandie instead.
The men’s elite entry list includes 138 names, including Van der Poel, Sagan and Van Avermaet, as well as former cyclo-cross world champion and Classic winner Zdenek Stybar, his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl teammate Davide Ballerini, Sagan's lead out man Daniel Oss, Lilian Calmejane (AG2R Citroën), Movistar’s Carlos Verona and Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech).
Some may be riding just to please bike sponsors but other have serious ambitions thanks to their bike skills and love for gravel.
Nathan Haas and Alex Howes lead the gravel specialists, with Lachlan Morton also on the entry list but still to confirm his presence. Many of the US-based gravel riders are absent as they prepare for the Big Sugar Gravel race in Arkansas on October 22, the final event of the Life Time GP series.
Perhaps the biggest surprise on the Gravel World Championship entry list is the name of Colombian climber López.
He is due to ride Il Lombardia on Saturday and then may dash across to the Veneto for Sunday’s men’s race. His Astana Qazaqstan teammates Alexey Lutsenko, Leonardo Basso and new under 23 world road race champion Yevgeniy Fedorov are also set to ride on Sunday. Lutsenko won last year’s Serenissima Gravel race in the Veneto area.
The elite women, women’s age groups, and men’s 50+ categories will race on Saturday, October 8 on a 140km course between Vicenza and Cittadella that features 69% gravel.
The elite men and under-49 age groups will race on Sunday on the same route but the elite men will face an additional 25km final circuit completed twice for a total of 190km.
In the elite men’s contest, gravel represents 73% of the course, with the rest on connecting minor roads in the Veneto region of northern Italy.
UCI rules allow the use of any kind of bike – gravel, road, cyclo-cross or mountain bike – provided that it weighs at least 6.8kg. There are no restrictions on tyre width but considering the expected early autumnal weather, riders are expected to opt for fast 32mm tyres and some may even use road bikes, as they do at Strade Bianche.
Wheel changes are permitted at feed zones, but bike changes are not allowed – riders must finish aboard the same frame on which they started.
