The races in the gravel discipline also attract the world's best professional cyclists. A few weeks after the last road race of his career, Romain Bardet also gave it a go - with great success. The 34-year-old Frenchman won the Monsterrando in Piedmont, Italy. The race is part of the UCI Gravel World Series. After a long solo ride, he crossed the finish line after 120 kilometres 28 seconds ahead of last year's Czech winner Petr Vakoc, who used to ride road races for the Alpecin and Quick-Step teams. The best German was Tim Wollenberg in ninth place, 4:12 minutes back.
New rival for Mathieu van der Poel?
It was only the second start in a gravel race for the 2016 Tour de France runner-up. Bardet had only competed in the Grit'n'Grind in Sweden a week earlier, where he finished in tenth place. With his successful start in the gravel races, he could also be among the favourites for the next Gravel World Championships, which will take place on 12 October 2025 in Limburg, the Netherlands, close to the German border near Aachen. The previous winners of the title were Gianni Vermeersch (Belgium), Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) and most recently the Dutch former road world champion Mathieu van der Poel. According to the French website lequipe.fr, Bardet is planning to start in Limburg if he receives an invitation or is nominated for the French team.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
