If there was a question mark over whether any of the big-name road riders who have taken to the podium in years past would make the trip to the first UCI Gravel World Championships outside Europe, the announcement that Marianne Vos would be chasing the rainbow stripes in Nannup has provided the answer.
The multi-discipline giant who, as well as claiming the 2024 gravel world title, has another 13 elite world championships to her name, has chased the rainbow jersey in Australia before, coming close to capturing it on the road in Geelong in 2010 when she took silver, and she was 14th in Wollongong in 2022.
Her first time pursuing the gravel title in the nation will unfold in a familiar area, with the 39-year-old Dutch cyclist having come out to Australia multiple times to ride the Tour of Margaret River, which has passed through Nannup in the south of Western Australia.
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"I want to go for the best possible result. Of course I'm dreaming of something beautiful, but I'm also realistic that it will be a challenge. I’ll give it everything I have and see what the day brings," said Vos in a statement from race organisers.
"I have such good and special memories of Western Australia, especially from the Tour of Margaret River, so it feels really nice to be going back."
The confirmation that Vos will attend adds another element to what has already been shaping up as a strong gravel field, with Sofia Gomez Villafañe among the early starters announcement, which sets up the potential for an intriguing competition between the dominant gravel specialist and the currently road-focussed master of multiple disciplines.
The women's elite race on October 10 will play out across 123.1km on a course that is more than 80% gravel and will deliver 3,100m of climbing spread across climbs race director Stephen Gallagher describes as Liège-Bastogne-Liège style – and that's a race where Vos has finished within the top 10 the last three times she has ridden it. The last of the climbs tops out at just 3.5km from the finish line.
"The landscapes look beautiful, and with so much elevation, I'm expecting a challenging and selective race. I'm looking forward to exploring the course myself," Vos said.
Her competitors will without doubt be trying to shed the Visma-Lease a Bike rider on the uphill sections as she's the type of rider that they won't want to be sprinting against should it come down to a small group. If Vos did manage to claim the victory, she would be the first rider to have claimed two elite victories at the event, which first ran in 2022.
Among the other riders who have already been named as expected starters are 2025 European gravel champion Erica Magnaldi, Oceania Champion Nicole Frain, a retiring Australian champion Tiffany Cromwell, 2023 Unbound 200 winner Carolin Schiff and fellow German rider Nele Laing who has only recently stepped into gravel racing but has made her presence felt with multiple UCI Gravel World Series wins and a third place at the Traka 200.
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