While Tiffany Cromwell's road appearances from Canyon-SRAM are often in support of other riders, she is one of the key riders in Saturday's UCI Gravel World Championships, where the competing riders are a clear danger.

The Australian rider is one of the rare riders who can step into both camps in a race that is called the Gravel Championships but also has much in common with the Road Classics, as is the recent pattern with the UCI's new rainbow jersey race in gravel. The event will draw a strong roster of World Tour road riders, rubbing shoulders with year-round gravel enthusiasts.

However, few are as adept at crossing disciplines as Cromwell, and the palmares of World Tour riders are filled with gravel podiums and wins. At the road world championships in Zurich, he gave it his all early on to ensure that his teammates were in the best possible position going into the final stage, but ended up retiring.

“For me, it's a chance to go for the rainbow jersey,” Cromwell told Cycling News ahead of the world championships. But the World Championships are always tricky because they are different from other gravel races. All roadies will be competing.”

“It's nice to get on the map with the big names competing, but the best riders in the world are going to be competing. ...... I'd love to take home the rainbow jersey.”

That event in which Cromwell beat them was the European Gravel Championships, held in the same area and on a similar course to the 134km women's elite gravel world championships from Halle to Leuven. And she finished ahead of Dutch SD-Worx sprint powerhouse Lorena Wiebes and cyclocross world champion Femme van Empel.

The 36-year-old Australian rider heads into the race with a confidence boost from her tenacious victory at Sea Otter Girona, one of the final rounds of the Gravel World Series.

Cromwell has also consistently placed high in the two Gravel World Championships, finishing 6th and 10th.

“The course is similar to the classics, so I think it will be very road oriented this year,” he said.

“It's a very fast course, but there are some rough cobblestones, some fast gravel, and some urban sections.

There are a number of reasons why it's tricky. First, a course like the Classic is suitable for many other riders, such as Belgian dual road world champion Lotte Kopecky.

In other words, when it comes to moving as a country, the Netherlands will have a clear advantage, as they always do on the road, as they will be lined up with the likes of Wiebes, Van Empel, Marianne Vos and Puck Pieterse, who are all favourites to win. If it were to be decided by trade team affiliation, SD Volks Pro Time would be favored, with Wiebes, SD Volks Pro Time gravel specialist Gehrke Schloos, and Kopecky on the starting line.

The Australian team includes gravel and road powerhouses such as gravel national champion Courtney Sherwell, Neve Bradbury, Sarah Gigante, and Nicole Frayne alongside Cromwell, but none of them boast the overall strength of the Dutch team.

Still, the addition of Bradbury, especially his Australian Canyon Slam teammate who just won a silver medal in the U23 category at the Road World Championships, is a welcome bonus for Cromwell this year.

All access to all coverage of the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships - including breaking news and analysis reported by journalists on the ground from the women's elite and men's elite events. Details.

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