Gianni Vermeersch is the very first gravel bike world champion

The day after the victory of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot in the women’s race, the elite men were given a 194 kilometer course between the starting place Vicenza and the finish in Cittadella. About seventy percent of it was unpaved, but it remained mostly flat. In addition, the gravel lanes were not of the most demanding kind. The two biggest eye-catchers, Mathieu van der Poel and Peter Sagan, therefore even chose to start on a road bike equipped with gravel tires.

It was two (brand) teammates of Van der Poel and Sagan who dominated the game with a long attack, which in the end turned out to be successful: Gianni Vermeersch and the Italian Daniel Oss made a gap of more than five minutes early in the game. In the back few riders had reason to chase, in front the escapees turned around well. And so the battle for profit was waged up front. That pulled Vermeersch towards him in the final kilometers: he opened a gap and rode solo to the world title. At the finish, he was three quarters of a minute ahead of Oss.

In the battle for the third podium spot, an elite group withdrew in the final, including Mathieu van der Poel and ex-Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet. Van der Poel eventually won the sprint for the bronze medal ahead of Van Avermaet.