With a spectacular solo win in Leuven, Mathieu van der Poel is the new Gravel World Championship. The victory further confirms his cycling versatility and multidisciplinarity, adding an eight World Champion title to his palmarès.
“It was a big goal for me. It’s super nice to add another rainbow to the collection, in another discipline as well, so I’m super happy with this one. It’s super nice also to finish the season like this. It’s amazing,” said Van der Poel in a post-race interview.
The Dutchman wrote aggressively throughout the Belgian course, attacking early and going briefly solo after 60 km and later again with 13.5 km before the finish line. “I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible because I knew on the local lap with a big group it could be a difficult situation for me. I tried to put everyone on the limit. When Florian (Vermeersch) went, we had a good cooperation. My legs were also hurting. You never know in a sprint, especially on a gravel bike, so I tried one last time on the hardest section of the course, and it’s always nice when you find yourself alone like this.”
The Gravel rainbow jersey is the last in a list of eight World Championships won by Van der Poel, including one on road (2023) and six in cyclo-cross (2015, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024).
