The 2023 Gravel World Championship route has already been confirmed

After weeks of uncertainty, with a change of venue and organizer included, the UCI finally sheds some light on the 2023 Gravel World Championships that will take place on October 7 and 8 with the Italian Veneto region again as the scenario, specifically between Lago le Bandie and Pieve di Soglio.

Green light for the Gravel World Championship 2023

At the end of August, with just over a month to go until the 2023 Gravel World Championship, all the alarms about this event were raised when it was confirmed that the UCI had decided not to hire the company in charge of the organization of the event and that, in addition, the venue of the event would be changed. Since then, the lack of news has maintained an aura of uncertainty as to whether this championship would finally be held.

In the meantime, the UCI Gravel Series races continued to take place and more and more riders, including some illustrious riders such as Wout van Aert, were getting their place to participate in the Italian event even without knowing if it would finally take place. For the professionals it was not too worrying but a real problem for the amateurs participating in the different Master categories, most of whom were waiting to buy tickets and prepare all the logistics of the trip.

Finally, a few days ago, with the publication of the route of this Gravel World Championship by the UCI, all ghosts seem to go away and everything seems perfectly on track for the second rainbow jersey of the specialty.

The dispute of this World Championship has moved to the north of the Veneto region, specifically north of the city of Treviso in a transition zone between the Po plains and the first foothills of the Dolomites, a territory that will undoubtedly give much more play to enjoy a good gravel show.

In the Elite category, the men will face a route of 168 kilometers in which 2,055 m of elevation gain are accumulated, mainly distributed between the first third and the end of the race with a relatively flat area between the two mountainous areas. Besides, the route is laid out in several loops so that the cyclists will pass 4 times through the finish line, including the final one that will put an end to the race so that, in the rest of the categories, the inclusion or not of the different loops is played with to adjust the distances.

In the Elite women's category, the route will consist of 140 km but, in comparison, it is almost harder than that of the men, having to climb 1,660 m of elevation gain. Similar distances to those faced in last year's edition but with the change of a significant increase in the cumulative elevation gain, although it remains to be known exactly how the terrain will be where it will be ridden, since one of the main criticisms of the previous edition was the total absence of technical difficulties, which led most professionals to opt for road bikes with tyres of higher balloon.