Rosa Klöser (Canyon Factory Racing) and Mathijs Loman (Swatt Club) claimed victory at Eislek Gravel on Saturday, with Loman claiming his first big gravel victory after a tight sprint at the new Luxembourg round of the UCI Gravel World Series, while 2024 Unbound winner Klöser went solo to snare the top step.
Klöser, who had made a last minute decision to take on the event less than a week after wrapping up the Tour de Suisse on the road, had joined Wish One winner Axelle Dubau-Prévot (Numero 31 Par Cafe du Cycliste) and Marie Schreiber (SD Worx-Protime) out the front to form a leading trio in the women's race though Schreiber then punctured and Klöser took off alone. Larissa Hartog (ZZPR NL Orange Babies) caught and passed Dubau-Prévot to take second while the French rider held on for third.
"I wanted to have an active race so I pushed hard from the gun and it paid off," said Klöser in an Instagram post. "I committed and managed to pull out around a 6 min gap to the finish line."
In the men's race, Loman, Petr Vakoč (Canyon) and Mees Hendrikx (Heizomat Herrrmann) broke away from what started out as a lead group of 20, working together to keep the gap and setting up a tight three-way sprint on the line to decide the podium spots. Loman claimed the victory ahead of The Gralloch winner Vakoč, who also came second in the last round at Wish One, and then Hendrikx.
The 115km race played out over two-and-a-half laps of a 46.8km circuit, with the Luxembourg loop taking in cobbles to the Vianden Castle, forest trails and paved roads. The German loop then gives way to long gravel paths where riders can pick up speed before crossing the border again in the forest and heading back to central Vianden.
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.
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