Gravel bike world championship awarded to Italy. But it coincides with Lombardy!

The UCI, the world federation, today awarded Italy the first historic World Championship for gravel bikes: a bicycle that due to its versatility is spreading more and more, from off-road to dirt, from dirt roads to cross. Appointment in Veneto on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October, and the organization will be organized by Filippo Pozzato, the former Vicenza pro who in 2021 had launched “Ride the Dreamland” with four races in the region, including a gravel race. It was the Serenissima Gravel, starting from Lido di Jesolo and ending in Piazzola sul Brenta after 132 km: victory for Kazakh Lutsenko. But the world federation, in assigning this event, did not take into account that in Italy, on the same weekend, the Giro di Lombardia takes place: appointment on 8 October. The fifth and final classic Monument of the season deserved more respect, considering that so many professionals could compete in the two events. An unnecessary and counterproductive overlap for the very interests of cycling.

Announcements Where does this World Cup come from? In 2022 the Gravel World Series was born, sponsored by Trek until 2024, a circuit consisting of twelve gravel events around the world, confirming the great versatility and diffusion of this type of bicycle. At the end, 25% of the competitors will get the pass for the World Championships, divided according to age group: professionals can also participate in the world championship. The only Italian appointment is scheduled for 3 September in Piedmont with La Monsterrato-Strade Bianche Monferrato, Quattordio (Alessandria). The UCI has chosen not to make the regulation too rigid in the early years, allowing participants to compete on any type of bike, but without electric assistance: gravel, cyclocross, road or mountain bike. So much so that last week the Dutch Niki Terpstra, 38, who runs in the Total Energies of Sagan, won the French stage in Millau.