When we asked Matt Beers what he still wanted to achieve in his career, there was no hesitation: "A World Championship medal is the one thing that had alluded me'. The UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup has provided the perfect opportunity for the gravel rider and mountain biker to change that.
The South African hasn't been a regular at the UCI Gravel World Championships, which is usually dominated at the pointy end by road riders, last riding the event in the opening year of 2022 and instead keeping his focus on the Life Time Grand Prix.
This year, though, offered a compelling reason to change course, not just for Beers but in fact for the whole Specialized Off-Road team who had mapped out attending the race in Western Australia at the start of the season. So Beers made the trip, with a couple of weeks pre-race to get settled, a support team, plus fellow Life Time competitors and leaders Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe, and European-based Mads Würtz Schmidt and Geerike Schreurs.
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"Australia is kind of a level playing field for everyone," Beers told Cyclingnews at the Specialized team's Nannup base, a peaceful abode just out of town where they were relaxing after having been out riding the final loop.
"We all have to deal with jet lag, we all have to deal with the travel, the terrain is different to everyone, besides obviously the Australians with local knowledge, but I think that it really does level it out for the Europeans and the US riders, or myself as a South African, because you're always stronger on home turf. It's the same food, the climate," said Beers, adding that there was also that he had never been to Australia and "it looked awesome".
And Beers has committed fully to the task. Most of his fellow Life Time Grand Prix competitors at the race were using Little Sugar MTB as their one permitted drop round for the six-race series, Beers however decided to give the prior Chequamegon a miss as well, which meant he was out of the series which for many years has been a core of his season, along with the Cape Epic which he has won four times.
"I decided I had make a call on the Grand Prix, just because of travel and it was kind of 'Should I just be average at everything, or really put focus on the World Champs and try my best on a course that I think I can do quite well at'," said Beers. "And I chose that path. Whether it's the right one, we don't know. We'll see. But that's the bed I've made.
"You could question both ways of doing it, if I decided to do Life Time, I would maybe be like, 'Oh man, I could have had a World Champ by now'... I don't know, it can kind of be both ways."
However, with the decision made and the Life Time Grand Prix now waiting for next year, Sunday will be the arbiter when he lines up in the kit of South Africa on a course that is 85% gravel and 144km long with 3,713m of vertical gain.
Not riding for, nor against
It's a race that in many ways Beers says favour his style, with smaller numbers and no "crazy bunches" to deal with as the rider chases his target of a "medal of any kind", but what about all the climbing?
"It's a lot of climbing, but it's the kind of climbing I'm used to – five to eight minutes is the longest climb," said Beers. "I would say it's very mountain bike-esque, just the way the terrain is ... It's not climbing where it's accumulated in two climbs. It's just multiple.
"It's going to be hard on the longer climbs for me to hang on to the little 60 kilo whippets. But eight minutes, I would say, is kind of my max of what I can hang on. So I'm quite confident that I'll be able to follow most of the moves if I ride smart."
This year has been another strong one for Beers, who as well as winning at Cape Epic with partner Tristan Nortje, has come second at Unbound and third at The Traka, while also being an extraordinarily valuable teammate for winner Würtz Schmidt.
Even though it is Specialized Off-Road that is supporting the team riders to come out to this race, and it lines up with three key favourites in Beers, Swenson and Würtz Schmidt, the reality on Sunday is that they will all be wearing different jerseys – those of South Africa, the United States and Denmark.
How does that work on the gravel roads of the Blackwood Valley as all three chase a world title?
"I guess we don't really know, but I mean for sure, we're not going to ride for each other, but we're also not going to ruin each other's chances per se," said Beers. "If Mads or Keegan is off the front, I'm not going to sit on the front and pull them back."
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