Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) would not have many milestones remaining to have a sturdy resume as a Women’s WorldTour rider. However, after eight full seasons, she had not earned a medal at a world championships till she tried her hand at gravel Saturday on the UCI Gravel World Championships.
The reigning European street champion has 35 podiums on the street this season along with her SD Worx-Protime group. She gained a fourth Ronde van Drenthe on dwelling soil, captured the victory at Gent-Wevelgem, swept all three phases for the GC win at RideLondon Classique, gained 5 of six phases for the GC title at Baloise Ladies Tour and was second within the factors classification on the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Rarely does she compete on gravel, however her expertise in one-day Classics, and confirmed ending velocity, have given her a bonus in choose off-road outings, which landed her the European Gravel Championships title final yr. Now in her second look on the Gravel Worlds, Wiebes lastly earned a visit to the rostrum for a medal, this one a hard-earned bronze.
“It’s truly my first medal ever on the World Championships, so I’m proud of that. And I’m completely happy that Marianna [Vos] gained. So yeah, it is a good day trip,” Wiebes advised Cyclingnews within the media combined zone after her end Saturday.
Last yr Wiebes was a part of a trio of Dutch riders who completed within the prime 5 on the Gravel Worlds in Italy, Demi Vollering taking the bronze with Yara Kastelijn and Wiebes following. This time Wiebes was once more within the combine, on a 134km mixed-terrain outing with sharp cobbled climbs accomplished with a protracted paved straightaway of the Bondgenotenlaan for the end.
An early collection of 11 riders included the Dutch contingency of Wiebes, Puck Pieterse, Marianne Vos and Lucinda Brand. Italy was represented by Letizia Borghesi and Soraya Paladin (Italy), Luxembourg had Marie Schreiber and Christine Majerus, and the trio of Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), Romy Kasper (Germany) and Emma Norsgaard (Denmark) rounded out the break.
Passing the midway mark of the race, Wiebes remained within the entrance with Vos, Kopecky and Paladin. Narrow paths passing by farms and forests supplied little alternatives for assaults.
“I had fairly a nasty one second when Lotte was in entrance on a climb. So I dropped, after which I attempted to chase again once more with Paladin, however then I used to be in between the teams. I got here again to the group with [Puck] Pieterse, after which we simply saved a little bit of the velocity in so the ladies on the again did not got here again.
“We dropped nonetheless some ladies from our group, and Puck was attacking on the final cobble climb, and I felt nonetheless fairly good, so I went simply over it and gave a attempt,” she defined about discovering her legs once more and sustaining her momentum with the entrance chase group in Leuven.
Vos and Kopecky had been effectively away and rode in tandem to struggle for the rainbow jersey. Wiebes would take the three-rider dash for the ultimate medal forward of mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) and Kasper.
She mentioned after the race that she didn’t do a recon trip of the Leuven end lap as a result of she had anticipated the loop to be much like what used for final yr’s European Championships, however “it was fully totally different”.
“The first lap in the direction of Leuven, it was fully totally different. I did not do a recon. It was on the finish, I used to be like, I bear in mind this half from the Europeans, but it surely was additionally rather a lot totally different.”
Wiebes was topped Dutch gravel champion for one more yr final week, utilizing her outing at NK Gravel + Merida, the Netherlands Gravel Series off-road race, as a tuneup for the Gravel Worlds.
“I do it extra typically, however there’s not at all times the identical period of time. Sometimes it is usually a little bit of a threat. But I prefer it, so if there’s room, I’ll proceed doing it subsequent yr,” she advised Wielerflits about gravitating to gravel, now and extra sooner or later.
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