Marianne Vos won the Gravel World Championships in Australia on Saturday and now has fifteen world titles (NRC, NOS). It was her second title on unpaved terrain, after 2024. She told NOS that the title is ‘special’ after a ‘difficult year’. In Italy, Paul Seixas (20) won the Tour of Lombardy solo and is thereby the youngest winner ever (NU.nl, NOS, AD, Telegraaf). Bauke Mollema (39) rode his last race as a pro, crossed the line last and said ‘Glad it’s over’. Five minutes before the start the peloton protested with the slogan ‘We do not accept deaths’, according to NU.nl a statement against unsafe races (De Telegraaf, NU.nl). We did not confirm details of how the race unfolded at the Gravel World Championships.
Vos has been the face of women’s cycling for years and is extending a unique run across four disciplines. For the men’s peloton, Lombardy marks a changing of the generations: one of the greatest Dutch riders of his generation retires, while a twenty-year-old wins a monument. The protest at the start shows that safety remains an open wound.
If you love cycling, you can keep following the Gravel World Championships on Sunday. For recreational cyclists it shows that gravel is growing as a discipline: long rides over unpaved roads without traffic.
The beauty of this day is the contrast: a 39-year-old who still wins, a 39-year-old who retires and a 20-year-old who begins. In the coming days, watch for a response from the UCI and the Lombardy organizers to the peloton’s protest.
NOS · NRC · NU.nl · AD · De Telegraaf · Wielerflits · Newcastle Herald (Oct. 10)
Marianne Vos (39) becomes world champion for the fifteenth time. Same day: Mollema says farewell and Seixas (20) wins Lombardy
Vos won the Gravel World Championships in Australia on Saturday, her second world title on unpaved terrain. In Italy, Bauke Mollema rode his last race as a pro; Frenchman Paul Seixas became the youngest winner ever of the Tour of Lombardy.
Marianne Vos won her fifteenth world title on Saturday. The 39-year-old rider became world champion in Australia at the Gravel World Championships, a race over unpaved roads, gravel and sand tracks. World championships in this discipline have existed since 2022; Vos won the world title in 2024 with a sprint against Lotte Kopecky. It is her second title in this discipline, after her win in 2024 in Leuven, Belgium (NRC, NOS). According to the Newcastle Herald, this year’s championships are held in Nannup and run through Sunday. After the race Vos told NOS that the title is ‘special’ after a ‘difficult year’; what made that year so difficult was not spelled out in the reports we saw. Back in 2024, NOS wrote that she held world titles in four cycling disciplines: road, cyclo-cross, track and gravel. That a 39-year-old rider stays at the top for so long made her a cycling icon in Saturday’s reports. Details of how the race unfolded, such as the distance and who finished second and third, we did not confirm in the reports we saw and therefore leave out.
On the same day, the last of the year’s five monuments was ridden in Italy. The Tour of Lombardy counts as one of the monuments, the biggest one-day races. Paul Seixas won solo and at 20 is the youngest winner ever (NU.nl, NOS, AD, Telegraaf). For the Frenchman it is his first monument (Wielerflits, AD). For the Netherlands the day belonged mostly to Bauke Mollema (39). He won Lombardy himself in 2019 and now, after almost two decades in the peloton (NRC), rode his last race as a pro; Wielerflits wrote that he suffered ‘more than ever’ in ‘his’ Lombardy. He crossed the line last, in tears, and said ‘Glad it’s over’ (NU.nl, NOS, Telegraaf). Remco Evenepoel finished off the podium; according to Wielerflits he said he has not found his top form since the Tour, a claim we did not see confirmed.
The start was less festive. Five minutes before the departure the peloton protested: ‘We do not accept deaths’ was the message (De Telegraaf, with reports in several outlets). According to NU.nl it was a statement against unsafe races. We have not yet seen the UCI, the international cycling union, or the race organizers respond on the substance. It ties in with the discussion about rider safety, on which the peloton clearly spoke out on Saturday. For anyone who wants to watch on Sunday: the Gravel World Championships go on, according to the Newcastle Herald through Sunday. Whether Dutch riders are also fighting for the title there, we have not seen confirmed.