Lorena Wiebes earns first-ever World Championship medal in Leuven

Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) doesn't have many milestones remaining to have a robust resume as a Women's WorldTour rider. However, after eight full seasons, she had not earned a medal at a world championships until she tried her hand at gravel Saturday at the UCI Gravel World Championships.

The reigning European road champion has 35 podiums on the road this season with her SD Worx-Protime team. She won a fourth Ronde van Drenthe on home soil, captured the victory at Gent-Wevelgem, swept all three stages for the GC win at RideLondon Classique, won five of six stages for the GC title at Baloise Ladies Tour and was second in the points classification at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. 

Rarely does she compete on gravel, but her skills in one-day Classics, and proven finishing speed, have given her an advantage in select off-road outings, which landed her the European Gravel Championships title last year. Now in her second appearance at the Gravel Worlds, Wiebes finally earned a trip to the podium for a medal, this one a hard-earned bronze.

"It's actually my first medal ever on the World Championships, so I'm happy with that. And I'm happy that Marianna [Vos] won. So yeah, it's a good day out," Wiebes told Cyclingnews in the media mixed zone after her finish Saturday.

Last year Wiebes was part of a trio of Dutch riders who finished in the top five at the Gravel Worlds in Italy, Demi Vollering taking the bronze with Yara Kastelijn and Wiebes following. This time Wiebes was again in the mix, on a 134km mixed-terrain outing with sharp cobbled climbs completed with a long paved straightaway of the Bondgenotenlaan for the finish.

An early selection of 11 riders included the Dutch contingency of Wiebes, Puck Pieterse, Marianne Vos and Lucinda Brand. Italy was represented by Letizia Borghesi and Soraya Paladin (Italy), Luxembourg had Marie Schreiber and Christine Majerus, and the trio of Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), Romy Kasper (Germany) and Emma Norsgaard (Denmark) rounded out the break. 

Passing the halfway mark of the race, Wiebes remained in the front with Vos, Kopecky and Paladin. Narrow paths passing by farms and forests provided little opportunities for attacks.

"I had quite a bad one moment when Lotte was in front on a climb. So I dropped, and then I tried to chase back again with Paladin, but then I was in between the groups. I came back to the group with [Puck] Pieterse, and then we just kept a bit of the speed in so the girls at the back didn't came back.

"We dropped still some girls from our group, and Puck was attacking on the last cobble climb, and I felt still quite good, so I went just over it and gave a try," she explained about finding her legs again and sustaining her momentum with the front chase group in Leuven.

Vos and Kopecky were well away and rode in tandem to fight for the rainbow jersey. Wiebes would take the three-rider sprint for the final medal ahead of mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) and Kasper.

She said after the race that she did not do a recon ride of the Leuven finish lap because she had expected the loop to be similar to what used for last year's European Championships, but "it was completely different".

"The first lap towards Leuven, it was completely different. I didn't do a recon. It was at the end, I was like, I remember this part from the Europeans, but it was also a lot different."

Wiebes was crowned Dutch gravel champion for another year last week, using her outing at NK Gravel + Merida, the Netherlands Gravel Series off-road race, as a tuneup for the Gravel Worlds.

“I do it more often, but there is not always the same amount of time. Sometimes it is also a bit of a risk. But I like it, so if there is room, I will continue doing it next year," she told Wielerflits about gravitating to gravel, now and more in the future.

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