Will Gravel put an end to Cyclocross? The Roodhooft brothers don't think so

For the owners of Alpecin-Deceuninck, gravel only adds another exciting discipline to cycling but, despite what has been heard these days, it is not a long-distance cyclocross or a specialty that will end up replacing the adrenaline-filled mud races.

For the owners of Alpecin-Deceuninck "Nothing can replace cyclocross"

During these three years that the Gravel World Championship has been taking place, many voices, less knowledgeable about what gravel really is and how its competitions are usually based on what they saw in these world championship tests, with long but contained distances, few technical difficulties, very fast routes... to launch different more or less fortunate opinions regarding gravel.

The comparison with cyclocross is inevitable, a discipline with which gravel has always been associated to a greater or lesser extent due to the external similarity of the bikes used despite having nothing to do with each other, mainly due to the tire limitation imposed in cyclocross and the super-aggressive geometries of the bikes in this specialty, necessary to be able to deal as quickly as possible with the tortuous layouts of the circuits.

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The latest to give their opinion on the matter have been the Roodhooft brothers, owners of Alpecin-Deceuninck and, therefore, well aware of both disciplines. They have won two of the three gravel world championships held, the first with Gianni Vermeersch and a few days ago with the one conquered by Mathieu van der Poel. And what to say about cyclocross where, in addition to Van der Poel, they have Puck Pieterse, one of the best cyclists in the world in the specialty.

"If there is a discipline in cycling capable of taking care of itself in terms of sponsors, television, and public interest, that is cyclocross" although on the other hand there is the lack of internationalization of this sport which, despite the attempts of the UCI, still has its epicenter in Belgium and the Netherlands and whose control is in very few hands, among them the Roodhooft brothers under whose umbrella we find not only Alpecin-Deceuninck but also other structures.

On the other hand, gravel is more focused on the practitioner of that modality and despite the boost that competitions are receiving with the creation of the Gravel World Series and the World Championship, it seems much more difficult to attract the same number of spectators as cyclocross or reach a similar level of professionalism.

They also took the opportunity to talk about the planning of their star cyclists Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse, although only to say that there is no defined cyclocross calendar for them. In the case of Mathieu, they continue to maintain the mystery about the participation of the Dutch genius in the next mud season indicating that the goal is spring and, from there, they will have to outline an approach plan "as there is no plan, it is also possible that he will not race".