Sina Frei captures women's elite title with solo victory at European Gravel Championships

Sina Frei (Switzerland) won the women's elite title at the 2024 UEC Gravel European Championships on Sunday, claiming the 102km race in Asiago, Italy. Frei broke away on a climb on the second lap of the race and crossed the finish line solo to take victory ahead of a sprint for second place between Italian teammates Silvia Persico and Alice Maria Arzuffi.

The competition for the European title played out the week after the race for the rainbow jersey at Worlds in Belgium was won by Marianne Vos (Netherlands). 

Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands), who is now clad in the European road race champion jersey, won the first women's elite European gravel title race in Belgium last year, however, she was not on the start line in Asiago as she was competing at the Simac Ladies Tour with her trade team SD Worx-Protime.

The European Championships race played out over two laps of a 51km, 70% gravel loop starting and finishing in Asiago and delivered the first qualifying round for the 2025 Gravel World Championships to be held in Nice. Her Dutch compatriot, Pauliena Rooijakkers, who was third overall at the Tour de France in August, was also a favourite but was forced to drop out on the eve of the event due to illness.

The 102km course was well-suited to the specialists due to the amount of gravel sectors on hand. 

The Italian Squadra Azzurra dominated the opening kilometres of the elite women's race with Persico and Arzuffi along with Elena Cecchini, Soraya Paladin and Letizia Borghesi forming part of the lead group on the course. Also in the emerging front group were Frei, Tessa Neefjes (Netherlands) and Nathalie Eklund (Sweden).

After completing the first of two laps, the front group whittled down to just five riders but the Italian team still held the upper hand with four riders including Cecchini, Persico, Arzuffi and Paladin, outnumbering an isolated Frei.

A multi-discipline champion, Frei used her off-road experience and strength to launch a winning attack over a climb with 67km to go on the last lap and soloed across the finish line to win the 2024 UEC Gravel European Championships.

Although Persico and Arzuffi chased, they could not close the gap and the pair sprinted for the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Frei's victory adds to her long list of career highlights that include a silver medal earned at the Gravel World Championships in 2022, two gold and one bronze in the team relay and short track at the Mountain Bike World Championships between 2018 and 2021, silver medal in the elite women's cross country event at the Tokyo Olympic Games and silver medal in the cross-country marathon at the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships.

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