Romain Bardet (Factor) and Sophie Wright (Ribble Outliers) rode away from their rivals on the challenging alpine terrain of Monaco Gravel Race to claim victory at Sunday's UCI Gravel World Series race.
Bardet claimed the elite men's race with a gap of more than three minutes to his nearest rival, describing it as a "very demanding course" and "a good test before tackling longer distances". It was Bardet's second series win of the season, with the French rider also having won Spain's Castellon in February.
Paul Voß (Autsaid x Rose Bikes) was second, with the German gravel champion coming over the line 18 seconds ahead of Sascha Weber.
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In the elite women's race, Wright broke Nicole Frain's (Factor Racing) winning streak, with the Australian, who has won three UCI Gravel World Series races in the past month, falling short of making it four, despite a valiant attempt. Frain took off out the front early, but Wright then made the catch and charged off ahead, carving out a gap of nearly eight minutes by the time she had crossed the finish line.
"Loads of climbing, technical, loose, rocky, up, down, up, down, hot, SUPER tough... just how I like it," said Wright in an Instagram post. "V happy with this one."
Behind the rider who came second at the European gravel championships and the Oceania gravel champion, it was road professional Jade Wiel (FDJ United-SUEZ) in third, nearly 20 minutes back from Wright.
The 116km race with 2,500 metres of elevation gain started in Peille, a scenic mountainside medieval village, and the course took in views of both the Mediterranean Sea and snow-capped peaks. The climbs included the Col de Braus, Col du Castillon and Col des Banquettes.
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The event is part of a rapidly expanding UCI Gravel World Series calendar, with each of the 47 races providing the opportunity to qualify for the UCI Gravel World Championships, this year being held in Nannup, Western Australia, on October 10 and 11.
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
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