UCI Gravel World Series – Tim Wellens and Lorena Wiebes go on attack to win Marly Gravel

Dutch Lorena Wiebes celebrates on the podium after winning the elite race at the European and Belgian Gravel Championships Sunday 01 October 2023 in Heverlee Leuven BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS Photo by JASPER JACOBS BELGA MAG Belga via AFP Photo by JASPER JACOBSBELGA MAGAFP via Getty Images

Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) after winning the European Gravel Championships in 2023 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime) both crossed the line solo to take the elite category victories at the Marly Grav Race, a round of the UCI Gravel World Series held in the same Zuid-Limburg region which will this year host the World Championships.

Wellens, who attacked on a climb at about 60km into the race, crossed the line in 4:21:17. The WorldTour rider was just over a minute ahead of his nearest rivals in the men's elite race, Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley Racing) and Kevin Panhuyzen (Giant Liv Benelux off-road) who decided second and third in a sprint.

Sprinter Wiebes decided not to wait and count on her fast finish, making her move in the last five kilometres and finishing the 155km race in 5:19:46. The rider, who in March added the revived women's Milan-San Remo to her already impressive victory tally for the season, finished just 15 seconds ahead of women's elite category runner up Quinty Ton (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) while Ilse Pluimers (AG Insurance-Soudal) was third, nearly a minute back.

"We had some problems in the first part of the race and had to wait almost 20 minutes for a single-track climb but we tried to make it as safe as possible and opened the race later again," said Wiebes in a post on Instagram. "Long race but good to get back in to racing rhythm and I think we made a nice race out of it. Enjoyed the home roads again!"

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Elite men's top 5
Position	Rider	Time
1	Tim Wellens	4:21:17
2	Joris Nieuwenhuis	+1:04
3	Kevin Panhuyzen	"
4	Daniel Geismayr	+1:05
5	Filippo Conca	+1:40

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Elite women's top 5
Position	Rider	Time
1	Lorena Wiebes	5:19:46
2	Quinty Ton	+15
3	Ilse Pluimers	+53
4	Hanne Van Loock	+3:28
5	Wendy Oosterwoud	+9:13

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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