Marianne Vos' year of challenges has at last come to a perfect end with a second world title, claimed at the UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup.
The Dutch rider had earmarked the race and was excited about it long before it was on most people's radar, as she had a history in Nannup, having come to the Margaret River Tour several times in the last decade. Now she has also made history there, with the world title she claimed in the small town in the south of Western Australia, her 15th across several disciplines and her second in gravel. That makes her the first rider ever to double up at Gravel Worlds, which is in its fifth edition.
Vos, who lost her father earlier this year, had understandably come into the event relatively low on season race days. In her last gravel race before Saturday, she was dropped by the German 2024 Unbound winner, Rosa Klöser. Vos was determined not to let the same thing happen again when the pair led in the last section of the race.
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"That was a great position going into the final kilometres, but I also knew that it was going to be hard to beat Rosa," said Vos, having warned in a pre-race interview with Cyclingnews that the repeated ascents "will be a challenge".
Vos and Klöser got away after the lead group caught an attacking Tiffany Cromwell (Australia) on the Folly climb with around 25km to go. When Klöser attacked, the only rider she couldn't budge was Vos, who had also been steadfast at the front throughout the 125.6km race with 3179m of elevation gain.
"I knew I had a chance when I was able to follow, but also the downhill was a tricky one, the last one," Vos told the media after the win as she referred to the final descent to the line. "I wanted to go in front and unfortunately Rosa crashed, so then I didn't know what advantage I had.
"I tried to push until the finish, and then of course I was very happy to be crossing the line first."
Even with the long list of world titles to her name, it was clear that this one meant a lot as she celebrated while crossing the line. After a mud-spattered hug for her girlfriend, she was quick to go to her rival Klöser with a sympathetic embrace for the rider who was wearing the marks of her crash, which came with just under 4km to go and left her with bloody wounds on her thigh and arm.
"I was sad that she crashed because that's not a nice way to beat the competition, but unfortunately that happened," said Vos. The German rider came down as she took an inside line while trying to come to terms with Vos after she had forced the pace to get to the front for the final downhill run to the line.
As Vos crossed the finish line, the cheers from those on the sidelines were undoubtedly enthusiastic, with a Vos victory probably only second on the wish list for the local crowd to an Australian one. It was also something of a mutual appreciation society.
"It was a fantastic course here in Australia," said Vos in a statement from her Visma-Lease a Bike team. "I’m really happy to have been able to secure the rainbow jersey here."
It's an outcome she was far from certain of when she committed to the target, but that perhaps makes it even more special.
"It hasn't been the easiest year, and actually coming here I didn't really know what to expect. I also wasn't my best over the last month, so I tried to do everything I could to get ready and get in the best possible shape to be ready for the start.
"And, yeah, I think that all worked out pretty well," said Vos, who is now heading into her end-of-season break with a new rainbow jersey in her luggage.
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