Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), winner of the first UCI Gravel World Championship event in 2022, will head back to the discipline after a busy spring road season, racing the first German UCI Gravel race, 3RIDES in Aachen on May 13.
The Belgian will be part of a 1,100-rider start list along with retired pro André Greipel, Unbound winner Ivar Slik, top cyclo-cross riders Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout, Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) - the #2 ranked women's road racer - and former German champion Mieke Kröger.
The event's Managing Director, Björn Müller, announced the start list for the race, which takes place on an 18.5-kilometre circuit with a mix of amateurs and professional riders from various disciplines.
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"What's particularly cool about the Gravel discipline is that top stars from all parts of cycling are competing in a race with non-professional riders," Müller said.
The race is part of the UCI Gravel World Series and a qualifying event for the UCI Gravel World Championships, which will take place again in Italy this fall.
Marcel Meisen, a seven-time German cyclocross champion, says the course will favour riders of that discipline.
"Technically, the cyclocrossers will have an advantage. The clear favourite is definitely Gianni Vermeersch, who brings everything you need to have here - he is a good crosser and strong on the road," says Meisen. "It will be interesting to see how the different disciplines perform here."
The UCI Gravel World Series started in Berja, Spain, in April. 3RIDES is the fifth of 16 events after the Swartberg 100 in South Africa, the Gran Fondo Limburg in the Netherlands and Gravel Challenge Blaavands Huk in Denmark.
Also on Saturday is the Seven gravel race in Nannup, Australia. The series includes events in Scotland, Canada, the USA, France, Poland, Sweden and Belgium before the final qualifier in Italy.
The UCI Gravel World Championships take place on September 7-8, 2023, in Veneto, Italy.
