UCI Gravel World Series – Toon Aerts and Tessa Neefjes take victory at Gravel Fondo Limburg

Toon Aerts claimed a tight sprint with Piotr Havik in the elite men's race at the Gravel Fondo Limburg, while Tessa Neefjes won the elite women's title at the UCI Gravel World Series.

Neefjes, who has won multiple rounds of the series the past two seasons, carved out a gap of just over two minutes on Irina Lützelschwab while Wendy Oosterwoud came over the line nearly a minute-and-a-half later to take third in the 123km race with around 1,300m of elevation gain. Femke de Vries, who just two weeks before had been racing the roads of Limburg in the Amstel Gold Race, came fourth while it was fifth for Marjet Groen.

The race, which starts and finishes in Valkenburg and takes in the Cauberg and Keutenberg, came down to the wire in the men's elite category with Aerts not only winning a close sprint with Havik, but the top ten finishers in the packed field were all well within four minutes of the cyclocross powerhouse who first returned to racing in February to take fourth in Exact Cross in Sint Niklaas after the expiration of his two-year doping suspension. Adne Koster came third, 21 seconds back from Aerts.

"Opening the summer campaign with a bang at Gravel Fondo Limburg," said Aerts in an Instagram post adding that he was, "hungry for more!"

Jasper Ockeloen and Johnny Hoogerland came in together to take fourth and fifth, then there was a group of five led over the line - in the city that also provides the finish line for the Amstel Gold Race - by newly retired road professional Greg Van Avermaet.

"It wasn’t my first race around Valkenburg but it was the first one with a gravel bike," said Van Avermaet in an Instagram post. "Managed to secure a solid sixth place despite the challenging wind. I guess this race put some extra tension on the legs for the next ones."

The Limburg event was one of four rounds of the UCI Gravel World series to take place over the weekend of 27th April, with the rounds of the series taking place across the globe acting as qualifiers for the UCI Gravel World Championships, which will be held in Belgium in October.

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