Lorena Wiebes earns first-ever World Championship medal in Leuven
'It's a good day out,' as Dutch score gꦇold wit🦩h Vos and bronze with Wiebes

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) doesn't have many milestones remaining to have a robust resume as a Women's WorldTour rider. However, after eight full seasons, she had not earned a medal at a world championships until she tried her hand at gravel Saturday at the UCI 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Gravel World Championships.
The 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:reigning European road champion has 35 podiums on the road this season with her SD Worx-Protime team. She won a fourth Ronde van Drenthe on home soil, captured the vi⛎ctory at Gent-Wevelgem, swept all three stages for the GC win at RideLondon Classique, won five of six stages for the GC title at Baloise Ladies Tour and was second in the points classification at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Rarely does she compete on gravel, but her skills in one-day Classics, and proven finishing speed, have given her an advantage in select off-road outings, which𒅌 landed her the European Gravel Championships tit♓le last year. Now in her second appearance at the Gravel Worlds, Wiebes finally earned a trip to the podium for a medal, this one a hard-earned bronze.
"It's actually my first medal ever on the World Championships, so I'm happy with that. And I'm happy that 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Marianna [Vos] won. So yeah, it's a good day out," Wiebes told Cyclingnews in the media mixed zone after her finish ༺Satur꧑day.
Last year Wiebes was part of a trio of Dutch riders who finished in the top five at the Gravel Worlds in Italy, Demi Vollering taking the bronze with Yara Kastelijn and Wiebes following. This time Wiebes was again in the mix, on a 134km mixed-terrai🌱n outing with sharp cobbled climbs completed with a long paved straightaway of the Bondgenotenlaan for the finish.
An early selection of 11 riders included the Dutch contingency of Wiebes, Puck Pieterse, Marianne Vos and Lucinda Brand. Italy was represented by Letizia Borghesi and Soraya Paladin (Italy), Luxembourg had Marie Schreiber and Christine Majerus, and the trio of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), Romy Kasper (Germany) and Emma Norsgaard 🐈(Denmark) rounded out the break.
Passing the halfway mark o🐼f the race, Wiebes remained in the front with Vos, Kopecky and Paladin. Nar𓃲row paths passing by farms and forests provided little opportunities for attacks.
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"I had quite a bad one moment when Lotte was in front on a climb. So I dropped, and then I tried to chase back again with Paladin🅺, but then I was in between the groups. I came back to the group with [Puck] Pieterse, and then we just kept a bit of the speed in so the girls at the back didn꧋'t came back.
"We dropped still some girls from our group, and Puck was attacking on the last cobble climb, and I f♛elt still quite good, so I went just over it and gave a try," she explained about finding her legs again a🔴nd sustaining her momentum with the front chase group in Leuven.
Vos and Kopecky were well away and 🌱rode in tandem to fight for the rainbow jersey. Wiebes would take the three-rider sprint for the final medal ahead of mountain bike world champion Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) and Kasper.
She said after the race that she did not do a recon ride of the Leuven finish lap because she had expected the loop to be similar to what used for last year's European Championships, bꦺut "it was completely different".
"The first lap towards Leuven, it was completely different. I didn't do a recon. It was at the ꦇend, I was li🥂ke, I remember this part from the Europeans, but it was also a lot different."
Wiebes was crowned Dutch gravel champion for another year la♔st week, using her outing at NK Gravel + Merida, the ♔Netherlands Gravel Series off-road race, as a tuneup for the Gravel Worlds.
“I do it more often, but there is not always the same amount of time. Sometimes it is also a bit of a risk. But I like it, so if there is room, I will continue doing it next year," she told Wielerflits about gravitating to gravel, now 🦋and more in the future.
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from the elite women's and elite men's events as it happens and more. 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Find out more.

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharet🔯ta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have 🤡worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).