Florian Vermeersch exchanges silver for the rainbow at the 2025 Gravel World Championship

More victories for cyclists from UAE Team Emirates XRG although this time, whether it be in the Gravel World Championship or in a competition between national teams, it does not count towards the challenge of the team's 100 victories. Florian Vermeersch managed to improve on last year's silver and win the Gravel World Championship in a race of pure attrition, taking advantage of being in the breakaway of the day.

Belgium asserts its powerful team and wins the Gravel World Championship Florian Vermeersch

The powerful Belgian team was the one to watch, both in terms of the number of participants and the quality of its members, and they knew how to live up to their role as favorites to win the Gravel World Championship, albeit in a somewhat unexpected way.

Indeed, the eventual winner, Florian Vermeersch, despite winning the silver medal at last year's World Championship behind Mathieu van der Poel, probably wasn't on many people's radar, but he has shown that he excels in gravel racing. This was evident in how he managed to infiltrate a group of 4 riders, where he was the most relevant cyclist alongside Nils Pollit. The other two, also Belgian Floris Van Tricht and Dutch Frits Biesterbos, built up a generous lead while being monitored by the majority of the Belgian team in the main group.

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In fact, Tom Pidcock tried several times to break away but always had a Belgian rider on his wheel, leading to regrouping. Matej Mohoric took advantage of this surveillance and managed to break away in pursuit of the leaders. Swiss rider Felix Stehli joined him. Pidcock initially tried to close the gap, but when he saw that he was bringing Tim Wellens with him, he stopped, a decision that likely left him without a chance at a medal.

Behind them, the Belgians were not content with neutralizing Pidcock, and seeing that the gaps were not closing, they made moves, the most productive of which was by Quinten Hermans, who also managed to break away.

With 40 km to go, the front group began to thin out, leaving only Florian Vermeersch and Dutch rider Frits Biesterbos at the front, while Pidcock, through persistence, had managed to reach the group of Quinten Hermans, where Tim Wellens had also joined after attacking from behind. However, the race had already slipped away from them with differences of more than minutes and forty seconds. Matej Mohoric faced a similar situation, having to lead the chase due to the lack of strength from the Swiss rider, and not only did he not close the gap, but the differences continued to grow, a clear sign that the victory would be up front.

With 19 km to go, Florian Vermeersch made the decision to attack and managed to drop his companion. The Dutch rider did not give up and kept pace for several kilometers, coming close to closing the gap, but ultimately could not catch up to the Belgian and had to settle for an unexpected silver medal. The bronze ultimately went to Matej Mohoric.

2025 Gravel World Championship Classification

1. Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) 4h39'13
2. Frits Biesterbos (Netherlands) +40''
3. Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) +1'23''
4. Floris Van Tricht (Belgium) +1'40''
5. Felix Stehli (Switzerland) +1'41''
6. Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) +1'41''
7. Tim Wellens (Belgium) +1'46''
8. Rick Ottema (Netherlands) +2'46''
9. Timo Kielich (Belgium) +2'46''
10. Magnus Bak Klaris (Denmark) +3h59''