Vos becomes the first two-time gravel world champion as Bak Klaris wins a four-man sprint
At the first Gravel World Championships held outside Europe, Marianne Vos rode clear after Rosa Klöser crashed on a muddy course in Western Australia, and Denmark’s Magnus Bak Klaris beat the defending champion on the line.
Marianne Vos became the first woman to win the elite Gravel World Championship twice when she took the title in Nannup, Western Australia, on 10 October. A day later Denmark’s Magnus Bak Klaris won the men’s race in a four-rider sprint, beating the defending champion, Belgium’s Florian Vermeersch.
It was the first time the championships, now in their fifth edition, had been held outside Europe.
Vos and Klöser, then a rut
The women’s race covered 125.6 km with more than 3,000 m of climbing. About 84% of it was unpaved, much of it on loose local “pea gravel”, and rain turned parts of the course to mud.
With less than 20 km to go, Australia’s Tiffany Cromwell attacked in the last race of her professional career. The move was closed down when Germany’s Rosa Klöser accelerated on Folly Road, and only Vos could follow.
Klöser kept testing Vos on the climbs. Vos waited for the final technical section and attacked with less than 4 km left. Klöser stayed close until she lost control in a rut and crashed, and Vos rode the rest of the way alone to win by 27 seconds. The Netherlands’ Larissa Hartog was third, 2 minutes 15 seconds down, and Cromwell finished eighth.
“Rosa was really strong, so I had to give everything I had to stay with her,” Vos said, according to CyclingUpToDate. “I knew the final corner before the top of the climb was tricky, so I wanted to be in front and be able to choose my own line. It’s a shame Rosa crashed there.”
Vos first won the gravel title in 2024 and was second to her compatriot Lorena Wiebes last year. Before the championships, the Australian news agency AAP counted 14 world titles for her across four disciplines; Nannup makes it 15. The win came after a difficult period that included a broken collarbone and the death of her father, Henk. Asked what the win meant, she said: “A lot, so much.”
Four riders, one sprint
The men’s race, over 143.7 km on 11 October, was shaped by an early breakaway of Lukas Pöstlberger, Peter Schulting and Britain’s Jenson Young, who built a lead of more than three minutes.
As the favourites closed in, Bak Klaris’s compatriot Mads Würtz Schmidt repeatedly forced the pace. Vermeersch was briefly dropped but fought back, and Würtz Schmidt crashed on a loose corner of a technical descent before remounting and rejoining.
Four riders arrived together. Britain’s Connor Swift opened the sprint, and Bak Klaris came past him in the final metres.
