{"id":194664,"date":"2025-10-12T10:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/194664\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T10:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:02:10","slug":"uci-gravel-world-championships-live-pidcock-merlier-wurtz-schmidt-and-vakoc-among-names-in-action-in-elite-mens-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/194664\/","title":{"rendered":"UCI Gravel World Championships LIVE \u2013 Pidcock, Merlier, W\u00fcrtz Schmidt and Vako\u010d among names in action in elite men’s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Refresh <\/p>\n

2025-10-12T10:01:17.823Z<\/p>\n

Here was Laurens Sweeck, a gravel specialist riding for Belgium, at the start today.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Laurens\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:56:35.730Z<\/p>\n

The skies are blue and the temperature pleasant in Limburg today.<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:52:40.944Z<\/p>\n

Pidcock might be the headline name starting today, but he\u2019s also coming into this race as a novice of the format – as he admitted before the start.<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:49:03.928Z<\/p>\n

Here was Mads W\u00fcrtz Schmidt before the start, one of the gravel specialists hoping to be in the mix today.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Mads\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:46:37.653Z<\/p>\n

And they’re off!<\/p>\n

OFFICIAL START<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:40:16.726Z<\/p>\n

The race is set to get underway in just five minutes.<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:37:08.728Z<\/p>\n

Here’s the bike Pidcock will be riding today – one he’s only used a few times.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Tom\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:34:23.576Z<\/p>\n

Tom Pidcock is perhaps the biggest name competing today. In theory he has everything it takes to excel here, but is coming into these championships with little experience of riding gravel races.<\/p>\n

Tom Pidcock starting Gravel World Championships without seeing course and only riding new Pinarello bike ‘a little bit’<\/a><\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:27:24.890Z<\/p>\n

Here are the details of the course the riders will be taking on today.<\/p>\n

UCI Gravel World Championships 2025 route includes pass of Wijnandsrade Castle, Bronsdalweg climb and finish on gravel path<\/a><\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:15:18.350Z<\/p>\n

Lots of big names will be on the start line this morning, including some WorldTour stars, but the startlist is also missing some key figures in gravel, like Keegan Swenson and Lachlan Morton.<\/p>\n

Our colleague Jackie Tyson is on the ground in the Netherlands and has been talking to European riders about the absence of certain stars.<\/p>\n

‘To race the highest level of the year, they should come here’ \u2013 Dutch rider Jasper Ockeloen disappointed by absence of top US racers at UCI Gravel World Championships<\/a><\/p>\n

2025-10-12T09:03:28.082Z<\/p>\n

The men’s race starts in Beek in just under 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T08:59:43.059Z<\/p>\n

The women’s race wasn’t without its drama, of course. Will we see more of that today?<\/p>\n

Shirin van Anrooij feels ‘my chance at the world title was taken away’ as another Dutch rider helped close her solo lead at Gravel World Championships<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Shirin\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

2025-10-12T08:54:37.881Z<\/p>\n

The World Champs already kicked off yesterday with the women’s race. You can catch up here.<\/p>\n

UCI Gravel World Championships: Lorena Wiebes claims elite women’s world title with sprint victory for dominant Dutch team<\/a><\/p>\n

2025-10-08T20:58:29.538Z<\/p>\n

Good morning and welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of the men’s race at the UCI Gravel World Championships 2025!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Refresh 2025-10-12T10:01:17.823Z Here was Laurens Sweeck, a gravel specialist riding for Belgium, at the start today. (Image credit:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-194664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}