After competing in three events at the road world championships in Zurich, Lauren Stephan made the short trip to Leuven to represent Team USA in the women's elite event at the UCI Gravel World Championships this weekend.

Stefan was scheduled to compete in a series of world championships, including newly crowned road race world champion Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and under-23 road race world champion and elite mountain bike world champion Pak Peterse (Netherlands) She was one of several riders. However, she took time between competitions to recover, previewing off-road parkour with her teammates and preparing for Saturday's race.

“After the road race I will go straight to Belgium, where I will spend a week recovering and scouting the Gravel Worlds course,” Stefan told Cycling News before competing in the individual time trial, mixed team relay, and road race in Zurich.

The elite women will ride a 133-km route between Halle and Leuven on Saturday, a day before Sunday's elite men's 182-km race.

Stefan often lines up for mass start gravel events of the same distance held in the US, such as the Unbound Gravel 100, which she won this year, although race distance and event rules are part of a larger discussion when it comes to gravel races, With the shorter women's race and the split categories in the World Championships, he said he expects great racing in Leuven.

“I don't race against men and I don't think it's important to compare them to men,” she said. She said, “The best distance for the women should be set based on the fact that the women's race is great and has nothing to do with which distance is better in the men's race. There are many factors that make our races different, but that is a larger discussion.”

One thing Stephens supports in the UCI Gravel World Championship rules is the starting grid procedure. This was changed last year to a points system, whereby the points earned in Gravel World Series events and the previous year's Gravel World Championships are accumulated, plus “UCI ranking road, mountain bike cross-country (XCO), mountain bike marathon (XCM), and cyclo-cross points”, the ranking will be assigned based on ”50% of the points.

“The field has grown and become more competitive each year.

“The biggest improvement has been the starting grid procedure, something I think many races could learn from.

Stephens is familiar with some of the courses used in last year's European Championships. But otherwise, most of the course will be a new challenge for her, and with limited climbing, she expects a fast race that will gradually fall apart en route to Leuven.

“Parts of the course were used in last year's European Belgian Gravel Champs, but much of the course is still new to me. There are no big climbs like last year, so the race will develop slowly,” Stéphane said. [The race will be similar to a classic race, with a battle for the lead in each off-road sector; I envision a four-hour cyclo-cross race.”

The event will feature 137 starters, and Stéphane, who won the national title for the second year in a row, will be one of the favorites to win. Team USA had initially announced a lineup that included 10 players. However, due to the lack of financial and racing support from the federation for the event, several riders, including Paige Onweller and Lauren DeCrescenzo, opted not to travel abroad and remain in the United States to compete in the final Lifetime Grand Prix event.

Stephens did not comment on why her compatriots chose not to compete in this UCI Gravel World Championship, but did confirm that there is a difference in the level of support from USA Cycling between competing in the Road World Championship and the Gravel World Championship.

Stevens won her second consecutive national title at the USA Cycling Gravel Championships in September, as well as the Rattlesnake Gravel Grind, SBT GRVL, and defended her women's title at the Garmin Gravel Worlds in Nebraska.

She is not competing in the UCI Gravel World Series this year, but will be looking for a podium finish in Leuven; she has competed in the UCI Gravel World Championships twice before, finishing 6th in 2023 and 15th in 2022.

“It's very difficult to know where you stand with the other top riders in the World Championships, because the UCI gravel races are held several times a year, each with several top riders. And then there are those like me who have never raced a (UCI) gravel event that year. This is Stéphane's third time competing in the Gravel Worlds, and when asked what he thinks he will do, he replied, “I think I will do very well.

“To say I have no idea is a roundabout way of saying, my goal is to be on the podium.

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