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Marianne Vos (Netherlands) added to her intensive assortment of rainbow jerseys by successful the third elite girls’s UCI Gravel World Championships after beating Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) in a two-up dash in Leuven.
The former multi-discipline world champion Vos shined on the 133km course that resembled a one-day Belgian Classic with a lot of flat, quick sections and brief, punchy hills and claimed her fourteenth world title.
Vos and Kopecky broke away from a choose lead group within the closing 50 kilometres, working collectively and alternating on the entrance to widen the hole over a five-rider chase group to over three minutes as they crossed residence straight on the tarmac in Leuven initially of the 47km end circuit. With two Dutch riders within the chase group, there was little cooperation on who would lead the pursuit.
With 10km remaining, the main pair continued to alternate on the entrance, whereas Kopecky—driving a distinct bike than the one she had used all through the street season— stretched her decrease again quite a few occasions.
The truce was off with 5km to go, when Vos was compelled to return to the entrance after Kopecky went vast after the Dutch rider refused to return by means of when the Belgian flicked her elbow,
Vos’s acceleration within the brief cobbled climb with 1.6km to go was answered by Kopecky who took over the entrance within the closing straight on the tarmac. Kopecky edged near the limitations, watching behind her till Vos kicked once more within the closing 100 meters to take the victory.
More to return...
How it Unfolded
The city of Halle was bustling with riders and crowds on Saturday morning, as a number of the hundreds of age group World Championships racers cantered by means of race registration to seek out their spot on the race begin. The elite girls took centre stage, although, greeted by an unseasonably sunny and heat Belgium autumn day as they departed from the Flemish city.
Ahead of the riders was 134km of blended terrain, full with lengthy gravel sectors of sharp cobbled climbs.
The first 20km handed by means of picturesque fields and forests largely with out incident, as the primary timing verify – 16km in – noticed the entire peloton nonetheless along with no indicators of breakaways or splits within the group.
With solely piecemeal slices of data flowing in earlier than stay protection commenced, the 40km checkpoint confirmed an early choice, with a bunch of 11 riders out entrance – compelled out by an aggressive transfer from Lotte Kopecky (Belgium).
And fairly the group it was, compiled of Puck Pieterse (Netherlands), Marianne Vos (Netherlands), Lucinda Brand (Netherlands), Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands), Letizia Borghesi (Italy), Soraya Paladin (Italy), Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg), Christine Majerus (Luxembourg), Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), Romy Kasper (Germany) and Emma Norsgaard (Denmark).
With pictures fired for the overall area, the main group of 11 was reeled in exactly 10km later by a big chase containing many of the race’s main contenders – albeit other than veteran of the gravel motion Tiffany Cromwell (Australia) who discovered herself one minute off the transfer.
The group stayed collectively towards the 50km ending circuit which might take the race to the Forests of Brabant south of the Leuven, the place an explosive assault got here from the all-star quartet of Kopecky, Vos, Wiebes, and Paladin.
Battle of the titans
The 4 riders shortly opened up a 20-second hole over a chasing trio of Puck Pieterse (Netherlands), Romy Kasper (Germany), and Nicole Frain (Australia).
Kopecky and Vos gave Paladin and Wiebes solely a brief stint within the main pack, although, as the 2 juggernauts attacked and rode clear, leaving Wiebes to tear away from the Italian and chase solo from as a spot of 45 seconds had opened because the breakaway duo rode into Leuven.
The hole merely grew and grew, with the two-up effort from Vos and Kopeky carving out over 4 minutes over the chasing group of Puck Pieterse (Netherlands), Wiebes and Romy Kasper (Germany) with 15km remaining. It was clear that the chasers have been racing for third.
Up entrance, assaults went forwards and backwards between the 2 all-time greats Kopecky and Vos, with one then the opposite often breaking free on stretches of farmland gravel or brief sharp ascents of woodland paths. Neither was robust sufficient to drop the opposite, although, they usually rode into the ultimate 10km collectively.
The closing 10km would supply primarily flat and paved roads punctuated by the 300m cobbled – and painfully slender – Ramberg climb only one.8km from the end. With 4 minutes comfortably in hand, the 2 rode with reserve and a way {that a} decisive strike could be issued at any second.
However, with 5km remaining, it appeared all too possible that the Ramberg could be the location of the successful transfer.
Vos struck, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to interrupt the elastic together with her Belgian rival, as cobble climb gave strategy to gravel observe, and it was now clear the race could be received within the closing dash.
So the stage was set for a dash between two generational abilities, the place it was Vos who received the battle of the titans.
Results
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