Organisers present courses for the 2024 Gravel World Championships
Belgium is set to host the next edition which will see a diverse course of off-road riding in the Leuven area of Flanders
Logan Jones-Wilkins
Junior Writer - North America
© Getty Images
The courses for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships will return to the forests of Belgium where the European Championships were held last year
Golazo, the organisers of the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships, have announced the first details of this year’s races which will take place in Belgium this October after the event’s first two editions in Italy.
The Flemish Brabant region will host the 133km elite women’s event on Saturday, 5 October and the 179km elite men’s event on Sunday, 6 October. The area has experience hosting the UCI World Championships with the 2021 Road World Championships in Leuven.
The courses will start in the town of Halle with a short starting lap before the courses take on an 80km traverse northeast around the southern outskirts of Brussels, before entering the final circuits which will take on the Forests of Brabant, one of four national parks in the country. The men will take on two laps of the final circuit while the women take on one, accounting for the different distances. Both races will finish in Leuven.
“This area is a true paradise for those who love gravel roads, monumental trees and tough climbs on roads that cut deep into the landscape,” the organisers said in a press release.
“Several viewing areas will also be set up along the course, in cooperation with the various municipalities involved. The aim is to centralise spectators as much as possible in the best spots for watching the riders while minimising the burden on the Forests of Brabant.”
While all the specifics of the courses have yet to be revealed due to the sensitivity of the terrain of some of the courses, the organisers have claimed that 61% of the course will be off-road on gravel, cobblestones or other unpaved surfaces. The organisers have also confirmed the races will take on some of the same terrain used in last year’s UEC European Gravel Championships and Belgian Gravel Championships.
Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Poland) won their respective World Championship titles last year in Italy. Qualification for the event is underway already, with automatic qualification being granted to national champions, continental championships and national team discretionary selections.
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