Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) and Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Premier Tech) scored wins at Eislek Gravel in Luxembourg on Sunday, with the gravel World Champion winning the elite women's race solo. The Belgian National Champion grabbed his first gravel victory of the year at the UCI Gravel World Series race in a sprint showdown.
Wiebes finished ahead of last week's Wish One winner Sophie Wright (Ribble Outliers) while SD Worx Protime teammate Femke Gerritse was third in the race. It was the second GWS victory of the season for Wiebes.
In the elite men's category, which began in the heart of Vianden and then climbed to the castle, Joris Nieuwenhuis took the runner-up spot while Petr Vakoč (Factor Racing) was third. Five riders went to the line on the cobbled climb to the finish, Hugo Drechou and Magnus Bak Klaris rounding out the top five behind the podium trio.
The 109km race presented tough conditions through the Vianden Forest, with high temperatures that soared to 31°C and 2350m of vertical gain over the three loops of the course.
The second edition of Eislek Gravel was one of four qualifiers across the globe on busy gravel weekend, with Devils Cardigan in Australia, the OG Classique in Canada and Grand Tour 3 Cime Lavaredo in Italy. The top 25% of competitors in each series race qualify for the Gravel World Championships in Nannup, Western Australian on October 10-11.
Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) wins 2026 Eislek Gravel Luxembourg in the rainbow jersey as Gravel World Champion (Image credit: UCI Gravel World Series)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women top 5
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time Gap
1
Lorena Wiebes (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
4:03:08
2
Sophie Wright (GBr) Ribble Outliers
0:01:16
3
Femke Gerritse (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
0:02:50
4
Hanne Van Loock (Bel)
0:05:58
5
Teuntje Beekhuis (Ned) Uno-X Mobility
0:09:11
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite men top 5
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time Gap
1
Niels Vandeputte (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech Development Team
3:25:24
2
Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Ridley Racing Team
0:00:01
3
Petr Vakoč (Cze) Factor Racing
st
4
Hugo Drechou (Fra)
0:00:02
5
Magnus Bak Klaris (Den) Airtox- Carl Ras
st
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
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.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
