Matej Mohorič Clinches Rainbow Jersey With Gravel World Championship Victory

Vermeersch and Swift second and third, Valverde beats U.S. specialist Swenson for fourth.

Published
Shane Stokes

Matej Mohorič took the third rainbow jersey of his career in Veneto, Italy, on Sunday, adding the gravel world championships to the road world titles he took as a junior and under 23 rider.

The Slovenian rider beat survived a crash with 3.5km to go, going down on a tight right hand bend over a bridge but quickly remounting. He was already clear of Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) and got back up to speed, crossing the finish line 42 seconds clear for the win.

British rider Connor Swift had been with the three-man move until the final 25km, being dropped on the San Vigilio climb, but held on to scoop bronze, 3:39 back.

Veteran professional Alejandro Valverde (Spain) outsprinted the strong American rider Keegan Swenson for fourth place, 6:47 behind. Swenson was the best-placed of the gravel specialists in a field dominated by road pros.

“The feeling is great,” Mohorič said. “The parcours today was beautiful. I had one of the best days on the bike. I enjoyed it so much. As a kid I always wanted to start mountain biking, but then I started to practice road cycling because my friends did. Today I really enjoyed it. It hurt my legs, but my mind was super happy.

“Congrats also to Florian and Connor. I think they were also super, super strong, but I used the weight advantage on the climbs in my favor. I am super proud of this achievement.”

Mohorič is fresh off a road season where he won a Tour stage and took several other big wins. He said that he went into the race convinced he could take gold.

“I always believed since the very start. I did my best to try. The more I was getting through selections, the more I felt I had good legs. I knew the final, I reconed the last 40k, and if I tried to design it myself I couldn’t do a better parcours. It was super technical, super sharp and steep climbs, so that suits me perfectly. I just wanted to give my best.

“I knew I had to hurt myself and the others would also suffer. In the end I managed to hold on all the way to the finish.”

The elite men fought it out on a course 169km in distance and subjecting the riders to 1890 meters of climbing. There were nine main climbs in all, the average gradient ranging from 4.8 percent to 15.5 percent. None of those were particularly long, but the gravel surface added greatly to the difficulty.

There was a gradual thinning down in the first hour of racing, although things regrouped slightly to see 60 riders together going through the 46km point. Wout Van Aert was unfortunately involved in a crash and lost several minutes, missing out on a six man break which pushed ahead and had a clear gap with 74km remaining.

Present were Mohorič, Vermeersch, Swift, Valverde, Paul Voss (Germany) and Cameron Mason (Great Britain), with the first three of those then gapping the others.

With 30km remaining they were 3’50 ahead of five chasers, namely Swenson, Valverde, Voss, Sebastian Schönberger (Austria) and Alessandro de Marchi (Italy), making it clear the medals would be fought out between them.

Mohorič has had a superb season with results including a stage win in the Tour de France plus overall victory in the Tour de Pologne and was, on paper at least, set to be the strongest. He turned the screw on the San Vigilio climb with 24.4km to go, putting Swift out the back, then opened a slight gap over Vermeersch on the descent.

While the Belgian got back to him he faded on the Le Serre climb with 18.5km to go, dropping to 20 seconds back. He chased hard but lost further time when he dropped his chain heading into the final 15km.

Mohorič looked set for the win but needed to avoid any big crash or mechanical issue. He had a scare inside the final 4km but the slideout was not serious, his derailleur fortunately not being damaged, and he was able to ride on to the third rainbow jersey of his career.

“In the recon I went around on the path,” he explained of his fall. “Then in the race I saw it [the route] was cut, so I figured it was better to cut [in]. But it was not a great idea, and I slipped out. I stayed calm. I knew I had a small gap over Florian so I didn’t panic.”

He will now head into the road off-season with this big morale boost. “This is an elite title. I think this discipline has a great, great future ahead of it,” he smiled. “I think it is going to be very popular in the future, so I am super proud of this achievement.”

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