World Gravel Championships: Gianni Vermeersch in history, Daniel Oss also on the podium

Vermeersch is the first rainbow winner in the discipline

Gianni Vermeersch writes an important page in cycling by conquering the first edition of the Gravel World Championships: the Dutchman in fact arrived arms to the sky at the finish line in Cittadella after a 194.8-kilometer route (starting in Vicenza) made up mostly of dirt roads and hard gravel (only 27 percent of the route was paved).

Second position for an Italian athlete, veteran Daniel Oss, who thus held high the tricolor flag by finishing on the podium. Third position for one of the eve’s favorites, Mathieu van der Poel, who ruled the small group of pursuers in a sprint.

Vermeersch thus becomes the first men’s world champion on dedicated bikes, while the first rainbow winner among women is France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.