Tom Pidcock misses out on a medal: Review of the fourth Gravel World Championships
Andreas Kublik
· 21.12.2025
The hero was very tired, exhausted and probably a little sad. Tom Pidcock had just reached the finish line at the Gravel World Championships on the Koningsplein in Maastricht. With a minimal but decisive delay. The Brit was a whole 18 seconds short of a medal - after 181 kilometres and more than 1,600 metres of ups and downs over many gravel paths and nature trails. With his face covered in dust, he leaned against a container, his wet eyes signalling his disappointment. A kiss for his girlfriend and a few minutes of cuddles with his two dachshunds - afterwards, the all-rounder was still tired after the last working day of the season, but he was reasonably upright again.
Monster trip for the World Cup opportunity
The 26-year-old Briton, double Olympic champion on the mountain bike, world champion in cyclocross, recently third in the Vuelta a España, was keen to take part in the officially most important gravel race of the year for the first time. Although the date of the fourth edition of the Gravel World Championships was only postponed during the current year and moved from Nice to the Netherlands. Pidcock had set his sights on the start, and he wanted to keep his word. The day before, he had ridden the most topographically difficult road classic of the year in Italy, the Tour of Lombardy, over 241 kilometres and 4,600 metres in altitude, had boarded a private plane in Bergamo immediately after the finish in sixth place and landed at Maastricht airport later that evening. According to the original schedule, he would have had a week to recover between the Tour of Lombardy and the Gravel World Championships.
Pidcock was the star guest of the race. Defending champion Mathieu van der Poel had cancelled early after an exhausting season and top star Tadej Pogačar has so far left success in the new discipline to his rivals without a fight. For now. "It was okay, I delivered a decent race. I think I lacked the preparation. I didn't really know the course. Everyone thought I could win here. Bloody hell, that's a bit ambitious," summarised Pidcock after the exhausting weekend. He had been travelling as a kind of lone fighter against a huge superiority in Belgian national jerseys. Weakened from the previous day, without having inspected the course, he quickly switched from the Scott road racer to the Pinarello gravel bike. Given the circumstances, he rode strongly, but ultimately had no chance.
The strongest becomes world champion
It would also have been too easy if he had just driven past this title on his World Championship debut. Others had already laboured several times on the rocky road to the title. And so the Belgian Florian Vermeersch was a deserving new world champion at the fourth edition. In previous years, he had lost out to the title winners Matej Mohorič and van der Poel and had to make do with silver. This time he delivered a successful test of strength: initially left behind after a defect, the professional cyclist from UAE Team Emirates-XRG roared through the peloton from behind, following an attack by his compatriot Floris Van Tricht, who was also joined by Dutchman Frits Biesterbos and Nils Politt. The chasers were never able to get close, wearing down the fired-up frequent starter Pidcock with their combined strength, while Vermeersch visibly wore down his riders at the front. The last to go was Dutchman Biesterbos, whom he left behind on one of the steepest sections of the circuit.
On the Koningsplein, he had enough of a lead to celebrate the world title in style. Vermeersch clicked off, pointing gesticulously to his left thigh. This success at the end of the season meant a lot to the 26-year-old Belgian - it marked the end of a period of suffering. He had broken his thigh in February 2024 and the road back to success was difficult. It was the first victory after the mishap for the man who had already risen to the role of challenger to the great classics specialists with his second place at Paris-Roubaix 2021, but who recently seemed to be trapped in a helper role for Tadej Pogačar in his day-to-day work. "For me, the victory means the end of the injury story. Hopefully I can continue winning next year," he said to the journalists as the new wearer of the rainbow jersey.
The Gravel World Championship as a casting show
The Gravel World Championships were not only a kind of last chance race for Vermeersch - at least for this cycling year. It was also for Pidcock, who was able to celebrate five victories in the jersey of his new employer Q36.5, but only in smaller races. And for some of the second-tier riders, too, it was a kind of bidding round through Limburg, for example for the silver medallist Biesterbos, who was almost unknown until the day of the race and who stayed on the back wheel of the eventual world champion until 20 kilometres before the finish (and worked hard during the race) or the Swiss Felix Stehli, another surprise of the day as fifth in the world championships. Mountain biker Biesterbos had written an e-mail to the BEAT Cycling Club about a year ago, informing the boss of the small team, Geert Broekhuizen, that he wanted to try his hand as a road pro. With his strong performance at the World Championships, he made his presence felt - few other races offer such a good opportunity to recommend himself for a professional career as an individualist without a large team.
It is quite possible that the lean, moustachioed Biesterbos will soon receive a well-paid contract with a top team - just like Stehli, who is currently still earning his bread and butter with the third-class Conti Team Vorarlberg in Austria. "It's a big surprise for me. I would never have expected second place today. We'll see what that means for the future. I don't know yet," said Biesterbos with a mischievous smile to the journalists at the finish line. And then gave a short application speech about what the day meant as proof of performance. "It looks like gravel is a bit fairer, a bit less tactical than road cycling. So if you're strong, you're at the front. And if you're not good, you're at the back. A fair affair," he emphasised. And others see it that way too. Romain Bardet, who abandoned early on after a tyre puncture, likes the gravel scene because the races are not as controlled as at World Tour level in road cycling. "There's simply less structure in the races," emphasises the 35-year-old Frenchman, who uses competitions on gravel for a measured workout from the professional level and loves individuality.
One against all?
No structure - but lots of surprises, lots of action, little to expect. That is the fascination of gravel. This was already evident in the women's race the day before. Defending champion Marianne Vos had repeatedly tried to shake off compatriot Lorena Wiebes, who is currently considered unbeatable in the sprint. While the two of them fought to a draw for a long time to gain a competitive advantage over the 131-kilometre distance, another Dutchwoman looked like the smiling third: Shirin van Anrooij had escaped from the six-strong leading group on the largely flat finish to Maastricht after the long, up to 20 per cent steep and supposedly decisive climb on the Bronsdalweg and looked like the new world champion until a few hundred metres before the finish arch. What happened next triggered a medium-sized diplomatic crisis in Dutch women's cycling. First of all, the Czech Julia Kopecky pulled ahead of the chasing group, sacrificing her own chances and clearly in the service of Lorena Wiebes, who will be something like her boss for the rest of the year at Team SD Worx-Protime. And in the final kilometre, Yara Kastelijn surged to the front and closed the gap to the leader. Dutch women had joined forces and, thanks to a Czech ally, snatched the title from a Dutch woman at the last moment - van Anrooij crossed the finish line in fifth place with her head hanging down. Wiebes celebrated the title she thought she had lost. "Fortunately, I had my team-mate Julia Kopecky with me. I think she played a big part in winning this rainbow jersey," praised Wiebes.
"I only saw orange," reported van Anrooij as she looked back down the home straight - pursued by her own national team colleagues. "I don't understand it," she said about the behaviour of the compatriots behind her, who were only teammates in colour. Van Anrooijn and Kastelijn had chatted amicably at the start and the two had recently shared a room at international championships. Kastelijn later apologised for her fourth-place finish and for her manoeuvre that allowed Italy's Silvia Persico to win the bronze medal. In tenth place: German Romy Kasper, a road pro who loves gravel racing. "Everyone rides for themselves. Gravel races are a bit more honest because everyone has to ride," said the rider from Lusatia at the finish - even if this view didn't quite match the course of the day's racing. Kasper had long harboured hopes of a medal as part of the leading group around Vos and Wiebes, but was no longer within sight of the memorable finale. The Dutch national coach Laurens Ten Dam, who had expressly not enforced a team hierarchy in advance, was in need of an explanation. "It's a difficult sport, of course, because everyone registers individually but still rides in an orange jersey. That also makes it difficult for spectators to understand. And it's also a difficult position for me as a coach," the ex-pro told Dutch TV station NOS. After all, he will have to work with the same athletes again in road races in the future - preferably as a real team, together instead of against each other.
In fact, it would have better explained many of the tactical manoeuvres in the World Championship races if the riders had worn the jerseys of their professional teams instead of supposedly colour-blindly wandering through the Limburg hills. Christoph Roodhooft, team manager of the co-favoured riders such as the 2022 world champion Gianni Vermeersch, Quinten Hermanns and Kastelijn, had already told TOUR before the start that they would rather go into the race with a team tactic in the sense of their own racing team, less in the sense of a national task. Nils Politt, the most conspicuous German in the race, who was part of the leading group around the eventual world champion until a crash and gear problems, also admitted that he had his employer in the Emirates rather than black-red-gold in mind with his riding style due to the lack of support from the German Cycling Federation (formerly BDR). Like Florian Vermeersch, Politt earns his money with UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Politt best German
Gravel World Championship debutant Politt ended up as the best German in 16th place after his strength had visibly waned, and had no regrets. "It was nice. A cool, extremely tough race," he said, still exhausted, at the finish. And also saw a new field of work for the pros. "The gravel scene is getting extremely big at the moment. You can see how many people are at the start of the races. You can see in the woods how many people are riding gravel bikes." While the pros gathered behind the finish line to share their experiences and have an end-of-season chat, a number of amateurs from the age group races also arrived - over the course of the weekend, around 1,000 amateur cyclists had taken the opportunity to compete in the World Championships. Very close to the world's best, on the same course, albeit a little slower.
Growing interest
Paul Voß, once a pro with Team Bora and most recently something of a mouthpiece for the German gravel scene, said exhaustedly, three weeks after collarbone surgery: "It was brutally hard. We rode like in a road classic. The level is rising, the interest is increasing. You can see how many people are there, how much media. I'm glad that the gravel scene is continuing to grow and I'm excited to see how it develops next year in Australia, when it's far away for everyone." The trip down under will be an expensive affair, especially for the Germans, who received little support from the federation and had to buy their national jerseys themselves. Despite all the criticism about the course being too easy, too little support from the national federations and, for once, too little regulation from the UCI - the athletes enjoyed the sport and the event.
In the mixed zone, the new world champion Vermeersch went on to praise the young discipline and its most important event. "I hope it remains an event that runs somewhat under the radar and will continue to offer starting opportunities for age group athletes in the future." And Pidcock has also got an appetite for more. "I think I will focus more on this race in the future and try to win the title." The World Championships in Limburg have whetted many appetites for more.
Results Gravel-WM Limburg
Women Elite, 131 km
- 1st Lorena Wiebes (NED), 3:58:16 hrs.
- 2. Marianne Vos (NED), gl. time
- 3rd Silvia Persico (ITA), +0:02 min.
- 4th Yara Kastelijn (NED), +0:04 min.
- 5th Shirin van Anrooij (NED), +0:10 min.
- 6th Julia Kopecký (CZE), +0:19 min.
- 7th Femke Markus (NED), +0:43 min.
- 8th Femke de Vries (NED), gl. time
- 9th Larissa Hartog (NED), +1:36 min.
- 10th Romy Kasper (GER), +1:38 min.
The previous world champions
- 2022 Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA)
- 2023 Kasia Niewiadoma (POL)
- 2024 Marianne Vos (NED)
Men Elite, 181 km
- 1st Florian Vermeersch (BEL), 4:39:12 hrs.
- 2nd Frits Biesterbos (NED), +0:40 min.
- 3rd Matej Mohorič (SLO), +1:23 min.
- 4th Floris Van Tricht (BEL), +1:40 min.
- 5th Felix Stehli (SUI), +1:41 min.
- 6th Thomas Pidcock (GBR), gl. time
- 7th Tim Wellens (BEL), +1:46 min.
- 8th Rick Ottema (NED), +2:46 min.
- 9th Timo Kielich (BEL), gl. time
- 10th Magnus Bak Klaris (DEN), +3:59 min.
- ...
- 16th Nils Politt (GER), +4:03 min.
The previous world champions
- 2022 Gianni Vermeersch (BEL)
- 2023 Matej Mohorič (SLO)
- 2024 Mathieu van der Poel (NED)
Andreas Kublik
Editor
