Gravel World Championships 2024: On top of the worlds!

With a blur of pedal strokes and a flash of shining white, Mathieu van der Poel attacked his way to the holy grail of gravel racing at the world championships in Flanders this October.  

His new title – the eighth elite rainbow jersey of his career – gave Canyon its third in a row at gravel worlds, after Kasia Niewiadoma (2023) and Gianni Vermeersch (2022). 

The men’s elite road race on Sunday was a case of Mathieu van der Poel versus the world, or more specifically, Belgium. With an enormous roster of 65 riders on the start list, the home nation were hungry to grab gold in front of their fans. 

Within 60 km, however, MVDP had launched his first big attack, forming an initial lead group of 16 riders, of which seven were Belgian. Another move by the Canyon rider cut the group to seven, with four Belgians left. 

“I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible, because I knew on the local lap, with a big group, it could be a difficult situation for me,” he said to Cycling News afterwards. “I tried to put everybody on the limit. It was a super hard race, but I enjoyed it.” 

As is often the case in cyclocross races and the likes of Paris-Roubaix and Ronde van Vlaanderen, Mathieu’s superior skills saw him float through the course’s technical sections, pedalling where his rivals couldn’t, and cornering with his customary bravado. The TV motorbike struggled to even keep up with him at times. 

When Florian Vermeersch of Belgian attacked with 45km to go, MVDP was straight onto the wheel. The duo gapped the group behind, and the Dutchman went solo with 13km left to win by more than a minute. 

“It was a big goal for me. It's super nice to add another rainbow to the collection in another discipline as well, so I'm super happy with this one,” said MVDP, who also has six cyclocross and one road title in his trophy cabinet. 

Behind the champion, fellow Canyon rider Quinten Hermans took an impressive bronze, while Gianni Vermeersch and Timo Kielich also finished in the top ten. 

The latest components. Benchmark stiffness-to-weight. Class-leading carbon. The Grail CFR is an all-out gravel race bike crafted to win at the very highest level of the sport – and it was the bike of choice for all our pros at Gravel Worlds 2024. 

Big races call for special bikes, and Canyon delivered at Gravel Worlds. 

Mathieu van der Poel raced a new custom Grail CFR boasting an eye-catching pearlescent paint job. 

“MVDP always wants a white bike, he’s a clean guy.” said senior graphic designer Lukas Beck, the man behind many of Canyon’s custom frame designs.  

“This time, I wanted to try to scale it up a bit with a high-level paint technique and style, and our paint shop suggested this oil slick-like colour. It’s still white but has all the colours in there.” 

On the other hand, Formula 1 superstar Valtteri Bottas raced his first gravel world championships on an eye-catching Grail CFR that matched his Finland national team jersey to perfection.  

“We worked together with Zipp on that to make matching decals for the rims,” said Lukas. “I think the whole thing is a nice fit.” 

While the gravel world championships remain a relatively ‘Worldtour road pro’ affair in terms of elite competition, the event brings together a huge array of different athletes from around the world, many competing in the age group categories. 

One such rider was Valtteri Bottas, who was proud to represent Finland in the men’s 35-39 age group and described his day “as hard as expected!”. 

The course, while not featuring the same long gravel sectors as are customary in US events, did nonetheless have long woodland and park tracks, cobbled sectors, and pastoral farmland gravel stretches, along with interlinking paved roads.  

The more technical sections ruined the races of several athletes, including CANYON//SRAM racer Tiffany Cromwell: "In cycling, but especially gravel racing, you need not only the legs but also a little bit of luck. Unfortunately, Lady Luck was not on my side today,” she said. “After a solid start and feeling decent 25km into the race I managed to catch a rock on a forest descent and suffered a front puncture."  

The Australian gamely chased behind all the way for 36th place, while at the front of the race, Canyon’s Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) and Soraya Paladin (Italy) were on the offensive all day, finishing 4th and 6th respectively. Emma Norsgaard (Denmark) finished ninth to complete another solid Canyon top ten. 

Canyon was on the ground all weekend in Flanders to provide athlete support and fan fun, showing our commitment to gravel as the fastest-growing discipline in the sport.  

A pop-up service course was open to all Canyon-sponsored riders, with two mechanics on hand for servicing and accommodation if needed. Neve Bradbury, Petr Vakoč, and Jasper Ockeloen were a few of the riders who stayed over at the Canyon hub. 

On the fans’ side, Canyon was at hand to bring the gravel ‘spirit’ to the worlds party, with a takeover of a bar in the centre of Leuven’s main square, just 100 metres from the finish line. 

Café Sport became ‘Café Gravel’, with a theme of ‘Almighty Gravel’ that included Kasia Niewiadoma’s 2023 race winning Grail bike on show, stain glass gravel windows, a gravel rainbow, and collectible stickers and beer matts. The Puncheur collective also produced a huge ground mural celebrating ‘Queen Kasia’ outside the bar.