For Tiffany Cromwell, who will be competing in the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships, this was the year when everything seemed to come together: experience, form, support, and terrain that had already proven its winning ability. Luck.

The Australian rider, who won a huge battle last year in the European Gravel Championships on a similar course, has finished in the top 10 in the last two Rainbow races. A podium finish, or even a dream win of the rainbow jersey, is not out of the question.

Nevertheless, in a discipline as unpredictable and brutal as gravel, it's not easy to break your best-laid plans.

“Cycling, especially gravel racing, requires not only leg strength, but also a bit of luck. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side today,” the Canyon-SRAM rider posted on Instagram. When the TV coverage began, the group of favorites for the win was already at the front, with the exception of Cromwell, who was chasing about a minute behind.

“I got off to a solid start and held a good position until 25km into the race when I got caught on a rock in the woods and suffered a front puncture,” Cromwell said.

Cromwell was so happy that Giro d'Italia Brockhaus stage winner Neve Bradbury, an experienced gravel player, gave up her wheel to give her a chance to save the race. Unfortunately, I lost time changing wheels and there was a strong group in front of me,” Bradbury said. “I definitely didn't have the 'superhuman legs' I needed to make up ground today. But I never gave up and pushed all the way to the finish.” Eleven minutes and 12 seconds after Marianne Vos (Netherlands) added the rainbow jersey to her collection, she crossed the finish line in 36th place in Leuven at km 134.

“I didn't want to finish the season,” she said. But this is bike racing. There were so many good races that I can look back on this season and be proud of.

Sara Gigante was the first Australian to finish, in 24th place. Australian gravel champion Courtney Sherwell was 28th and Nicole Frayne 33rd. Bradbury was 105th and was the last rider recorded on the results list. She said, “I'm very grateful ...... I may have had to drink a few cups of coffee to get her to take my wheel and get stuck, but she made it back in the end,” Cromwell said.

Access all coverage of the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships. Click here for more information.