Remco Evenepoel makes top-10 in gravel debut at Belgian Waffle Ride Kansas

Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) finished in the top 10 in his debut gravel race at the Belgian Waffle Ride in Kansas on Sunday. 

The 21-year-old took on the medium-distance 111-kilometre route and completed it in four hours and three minutes, placing seventh, just over an hour down on the winner, Scott Jackson. 

Evenepoel's teammate Mattia Cattaneo also raced and finished in ninth place, a couple of minutes in arrears.

Organisers offered  three distances during the fourth and final Belgian Waffle Ride of the season that kicked off in Lawrence, Kansas.

American Tanner Ward was the first finisher in the main men's race, that was run over 111 miles (or 178 kilometres) and included 8,000ft of elevation gain and traversed throughout the northeast region of Kansas. 

Australia's Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) won the women's race.

Evenepoel and Cattaneo competed in the medium-distance event called the 'Wafer' that was 69 miles (111 kilometres) and featured 3,600ft of elevation gain. The 'Wanna' route was 33 miles (20km) with 1,500ft elevation gain.

Evenepoel, who won eight races on the road this season, was riding as part of the Deceunick-QuickStep team's partnership with Specialized but played down any notion of being competitive as he heads into the off-season.

Evenepoel raced on the new Specialized S-Works Crux, an out-and-out gravel racer. In its top-spec retail build, which comes with SRAM's Red eTap AXS groupset, the bike tips the scales at just 7.25kg. Find out more about Evenepoel's S-Works Crux used at the Belgian Waffle Ride here.