UCI Gravel World Series: Rosa Klöser and Hugo Drechou victorious on ‘one of the most technical UCI gravel courses you can find’ at Pyrénées Catalanes Gravel Tour

Klöser dominated the women’s race, crossing the line solo with a time of 3:21:48, finishing 14:37 ahead of her nearest rival, Nicole Frain (Factor Racing), in the elite women’s category.

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Teuntje Beekhuis (Uno-X Mobility) rounded out the podium, finishing in 3:43:25, over 21 minutes behind the winner. Chloe Schoenenberger (CAC Castelsarrasin) was fourth and Isabella Vianello (Lillehammer CK) finished fifth.

“Basically a home race only being a 1hr drive from Andorra – hence decided to go from full training load into the race and use a good opportunity to get some speed in the legs & was happy to see I felt good all day,” Klöser said in an Instagram post.

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“Probably one of the most technical UCI gravel courses that you can find racing up and down some ski slopes and technical trails in Font-Romeu, full race at proper altitude racing up to 2200m.”

Klöser has been on the upswing, since recovering from illness, first dropping Marianne Vos on her way to victory at Sea Otter Europe in Girona a week ago, and now adding another win, her third in the GWS.

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Centred around Font-Romeu, the 93km course challenged riders with high-altitude gravel roads, long climbs such as Col du Calvaire (1856m) and Pic de la Calma (2206m), and technical descents, with a total elevation gain of 2033 metres.

In the elite men’s race, Drechou made it one better than last year where he finished second to Romain Bardet. Racing on home roads, the French rider held off Thomas Champion to claim victory in 2:59:16, with Champion finishing 20 seconds behind. It was Drechou’s second win in the series, following his victory at Wish One Millau Grands Causses also in France in June.

Over two minutes later, Petr Vakoč (Factor Racing) claimed third in a three-way sprint ahead of Quentin Pacher and Aleksandr Grigorev (Efapel).

Last week, Drechou won his third French Marathon MTB, through the forests and open clearings of the Jura, at La Forestière.