Jasper Ockeloen (Netherlands) is one of the veterans of global gravel now, and taking on his second entry in the UCI Gravel World Championships. Last year he finished as the top Dutch rider in 13th position at the 2023 event in Veneto.
While the Dutch rider sees the influx of professional road riders only a positive to elevate racing in gravel, he said he was disappointed many of the US riders did not make the trip to the Netherlands for racing this weekend. So with many of the gravel specialists absent, he has set his focus on managing a large Belgian contingency and a fast track where positioning will rule the day overall.
"To go for the rainbow is really challenging, but I like to be here again on the Gravel Worlds. And I also like that the competition is high, that the big stars from the world come. I think it makes the sport and the event bigger," Ockeloen told Cyclingnews before taking part in a 'Social Gravel Ride' at a SRAM event late Friday from OfftheMap Maastricht, a local adventure bike shop.
"For me, it's always a dream to race against guys like [Tom] Pidcock and and this year Tim Merlier, and it's cool to be able to really race with them on gravel, the sport that I do all year, and to see what I can do."
He was glad to see so many of the big names from the European gravel peloton who will match up against some of the highly-touted WorldTour-level riders, including Pidcock, Merlier, Belgian road race champion Tim Wellens (Belgium) and four-time Tour de France stage winner Romain Bardet (France), who retired from road racing in June.
Among the 260-plus starters for the elite men's 181km race on Sunday, some of the top off-road competitors will include Traka 200 winner Petr Vakoč (Czechia), Mads Wurtz Schmidt and Magnus Bak Klaris (Denmark), and a host of Belgians, among them Niels Vandeputte, Florian Vermeersch, Gianni Vermeersch, Greg Van Avermaet and Toon Aerts.
No matter who lines up at this year's UCI Gravel Worlds, the 35-year-old repeated the word used by so many other elite riders about this year's course - it's all about "positioning".
"If you look at it in pictures, in slow speed, it looks like double tracks and not technical. But if you race with a group of 270, people with 40k an hour average, some sections you go 50k an hour, it's way more tactical and a technical story," Ockeloen said about Sunday's course, with three full circuits that pass the start line in Beek, then climbs over the Bronsdalweg to leave 14km to a finish on a gravel path in Maastricht.
"So it's going to be a challenge, and positioning will be really important. We did a recon with the Dutch federation, a group of 35 riders, and we were not going for 100 per cent but like 80 to 90 per cent [effort]. Then already from place 10, people got dropped in a training ride because it's so hard in the group to follow the wheel, you get kicked back. You cannot really move up.
"If everybody loses two seconds, then you're in 10th position, it's already 20 seconds, and 20 is 40 seconds. So yeah, positioning is going to be really crucial."
Ockoloen comes into the race with more than 16 gravel events completed this year, including defence of his title at Heathland Gravel in August and third at The Hills, both races part of Gravel Earth Series. In the UCI Gravel World Series, he had top 10s at Turnhout Gravel and Worthersee Gravel. While he was 14th at The Traka 200, "I did a really good performance there, although the result was not what I hoped for".
He has traveled to the US each spring for the last five years to compete with a network of Dutch riders who travel to international off-road events, a focus on long-distance races Gravel Locos, where Ockeleon was fourth twice, and Unbound Gravel 200. At those races in particular, he enjoyed going head-to-head against the top US gravel racers, but said the absence of many of those notable riders at UCI Gravel Worlds was quite evident.
Riders such as Keegan Swenson, Alexey Vermeulen, Bradyn Lange, Cecily Decker, Alexis Skarda, Sarah Lange and Lauren De Crescenzo are all in the top 10 of the Life Time Grand Prix this year, with the Little Sugar MTB, the fifth race of the series, taking place October 12 in Arkansas. Combined with Big Sugar Gravel on October 18, there is $60,000 in individual prize purses and $200,000 in the Grand Prix overall purse on the line, the Grand Prix took priority for these riders over Worlds.
"A lot of the Americans didn't come here. I understand their decision, but I think if they want to race the highest level of the year, they should come here, because this is the highest level," Ockeloen told Cyclingnews.
"But I also understand that if they are in Life Time Grand Prix and they have to do the full [schedule], and with all the travel and everything, it's difficult to plan it, but I still think the highest level is here. So if they want to compete with the best, then it would be cool to have them here.
"I saw that Keegan [Swenson] won the Marathon Worlds, and that was really impressive performance to me, and really cool that he beat the best of the world in mountain bike marathons. That was like for me, really impressive performance from him."
Ockeloen has faced Swenson on gravel many times, including Unbound Gravel 200. This last edition the Dutch rider finished ninth, crossing the line in Emporia, Kansas just behind former winners Swenson and Ian Boswell. It was his third top 10 since making it a staple of his off-road programme in 2021.
"Yeah, I do look forward to it, although I always have, like everybody, a hate-love relationship, because the luck factor is so big. So every year you think, OK, I need to prepare better, and then I will have good luck, so you are not only reliant on your own preparation and your shape. This year I had the puncture, but still with the puncture I was top 10."
He noted that Swenson also had a mechanical, so in hindsight "I was the second with a mechanical problem to finish. So that's a result I'm really proud of, and that's what makes me look forward to come back to Unbound this next year."
