Elite Dutch riders dominated the rainbow jerseys and turned the town of Leuven orange at the UCI Gravel World Championships over the weekend. Marianne Vos won a two-up sprint with Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) on Saturday, and Mathieu van der Pol won solo on Sunday.

Van der Pol competed in the road world championships a week earlier, but lost the road race title he won in 2023 to Tadej Pogachar (Slovenia), who returned home with the bronze medal. The Dutch national team is not sure if the powerhouse will try again in Belgium for the world championships in the new discipline.

“There were 11 or 12 wild cards for the women. There was only one wild card for the men, and we gave it to Mathieu. That was Mathieu. Mathieu signed at the last minute and I was very happy,” Dutch gravel national coach Laurens ten Dam told Cycling News.

After the road world championships, Van der Pol exchanged the rainbow jersey with his coach, confirming his intention to switch from road to gravel.

“Yeah, it was a big goal for me. It's really hard to finish as a contender for the win. The pace was high all day,” Van der Pol told Cycling News and German media in the Leuven mixed zone late Sunday afternoon. [It was a] big goal for me, for the team, for the Canyon. So I'm really happy to have won today.”

Alpecin Deceuninck's teammate, Quinten Hermans (Belgium), won the bronze medal ahead of four other riders, including 2022 gravel champion Gianni Vermersch (Belgium) and 2023 gravel champion Matej Mohoric (Slovenia). He won the bronze medal ahead of four riders.

“I'm very happy to add another rainbow to my collection in another discipline.

“I just wanted to make the race as hard as possible. I knew that a big group on the local lap would make things difficult for me, so I pushed everyone to the limit. It was a super hard race but I enjoyed it.”

Van der Pol was active all day on the 173-km course from Halle to Leuven. He began his attack on the steep, forested section of the final circuit in Leuven, where he was pitted against Conor Swift (GBR). Five riders then competed for time. Van der Pol then passed the five with 21 km to go, this time followed by Florian Vermeersch (Belgium).

The lanky Dutchman dropped his breakaway mate Florian Vermeersch on a short climb with just under 13km to go, and then rode solo to the finish on the Martellalenplain, the city's largest square, filled with thousands of fans. Most of the fans were Belgian, but they cheered as the popular Dutch rider crossed the finish line and stopped to hoist his bike into the air.

Rain soaked the gravel course for several days while Van der Pol honed his road skills last week in Zurich. But on a sunny, warm day in October, when the Gravel World Championships were held, all the dirt roads and varied terrain were nearly dry. Van der Pol did not need to adjust his equipment.

“In fact, there was nothing special about my setup. I always ride at home on gravel. The only thing I change when it's muddy is the tires, and today was dry. So I just put on the tires I always wear at home. Vittoria Terreno Dry, size 38.”

What made him feel special was Vos' victory on Saturday. The development of Saturday's elite women's race was interesting to van der Pol, and he admitted to having watched the live broadcast.

“Yeah, I saw it yesterday. It was really cool to see Lotte and Marianne up front, their sprint was amazing, and I was really happy to see them win. So yeah, it was cool to watch.

And with two elite victories for the Netherlands at the Gravel World Championships, director ten Dam can enjoy the after-party.

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