Niewiadoma celebrated a solo victory at the 2023 Gravel World Championships after breaking away from the competition with more than 20 kilometres to go. Behind her, Persico relegated Tour de France Femmes winner Vollering to third place in the sprint.
Gravel World Championship 2023: Katarzyna Niewiadoma ends dry spell
For Niewiadoma, winning the 2023 Gravel World Championships ends a long dry spell. The Polish rider celebrated her last victory on the road in 2019 at the Women's Tour. She is the successor to Pauline Ferrand-Prevot. The Frenchwoman did not compete after contracting coronavirus.
The 2023 Gravel World Championships were dominated by the women's road specialists, who claimed nine of the top 10 places. With Yara Kastelijn and European gravel champion Lorena Wiebes, two more Dutch women made it into the top five behind Vollering. The best German was Nele Laing in 25th place.
Gravel World Championship 2023 - Results: The top 10 of the women's race
- Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland) 4:49:44
- Silvia Persico (Italy) +0:33
- Demi Vollering (Netherlands) +0:33
- Yara Kastelijn (Netherlands) +1:29
- Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) +1:33
- Laura Stephens (USA) +4:02
- Simone Boilard (Canada) +5:19
- Niam Fisher-Black (New Zealand) +5:23
- Gaia Realini (Italy) +6:03
- Tiffany Cromwell (Australia) +6:47
On the course of the 2023 Gravel World Championships, the women had to complete 140 kilometres with 1660 metres of climbing. The first selection took place after around 40 kilometres, when a group of 25 riders broke away with all the favourites. The group got smaller and smaller. 63 kilometres before the finish there were only 13 riders at the front. On the climb to Ca' del Poggio, four more riders dropped back. Shortly afterwards, at kilometre 104, some riders came back and there were 15 riders at the front again.
Niewiadoma finally launched her winning attack on the Le Tenade climb. Four kilometres later, Niewiadoma had already opened up a gap of 45 seconds on the chasers and could no longer be caught.
No TV broadcast of the women's race
The cycling world federation UCI was much criticised before the event because there was no TV coverage of the women's race. The UCI expressed its regret in a press release on Saturday. "From the next edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships, the UCI will oblige the organisers to offer a TV production for both the men's elite race and the women's elite race," the statement reads.
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In contrast to the women's race, the men's race on Sunday will be streamed live on Discovery+ and GCN+ (both via paid subscription).
