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The UCI Gravel World Championships could have solely simply performed out weeks in the past, however already riders are lining up in rapidly-growing numbers to safe a spot for 2024, with the Beechworth Gravelista spherical of the qualifying sequence set to unfold in Australia on Saturday.
The Trek UCI Gravel World Collection race units off from the previous gold-rush city in Victoria’s excessive nation and is likely one of the first of 18 qualifying occasions for 2024 – with each the European Championships in Belgium firstly of October counting amongst these.
There are many high finishers from 2022 returning together with a wholesome dose of newcomers. The boys’s begin record contains Australian gravel champion Connor Sens, Alpecin Deceuninck’s Jensen Plowright and Jack Aitken – who got here third final 12 months.
Within the ladies’s race Courtney Sherwell, who got here third final 12 months, is among the many riders to look at so long as she is totally recovered from a crash on a reconnaissance journey a few weeks in the past. Then there may be additionally Cassia Boglio, who has confirmed gravel kind after coming second behind Tiffany Cromwell within the SEVEN spherical of the Gravel World Collection in Nannup earlier this 12 months and likewise lined up the European and World Gravel Championships earlier this month.
Final 12 months, riders within the Beechworth occasion had solely round a month to rearrange the lengthy and costly journey to Italy for the Worlds, however the shift from the early September date to October 28 has seemingly helped improve the attraction for members, a extra manageable planning window for subsequent 12 months.
“We’re gearing up for a good larger occasion this 12 months, and are excited to welcome each new and returning guests to Beechworth,” Indigo Shire Mayor, Sophie Worth, commented to Cyclingnews. “There are distinctive driving alternatives surrounding Beechworth, completely suited to a UCI-level occasion.”
Within the first of the stand-alone World Collection occasions for 2024, greater than 500 riders are anticipated to line up for the race, with the headline race going down on a course replete with 85% unpaved roads, field-fragmenting climbs and serene vistas.
Taking over the 120km occasion, which delivers round 1,800 metres of elevation achieve because it loops out from Beechworth towards the Chiltern-Mt Pilot Nationwide Park, are a mixture of high riders from the street, cyclocross and mountain bike scene.
Different riders amongst these to look at embody gravel newcomer Dan McConnell, with it clear that the mountain bike rider is carrying robust kind into the occasion as he’s contemporary from victory on the Cape to Cape earlier this month. Then there may be additionally Luke Cridland, who got here fourth on the occasion final 12 months and was additionally within the high ten at SEVEN earlier this 12 months, together with Mark O’Brien, an ever highly effective drive on the home street scene who additionally got here sixth at Gravelista final 12 months. Chris Jongewaard, the winner of 4 Australian Cyclocross Championships, can be lining up together with podium common Garry Millburn.
The 2022 males’s winner Adam Blazevic will not be on the beginning record given his lengthy European season, nor will ladies’s winner Justine Barrow, with the Australian champion’s season stymied by damage. Nevertheless, Peta Mullens, who has swept up 12 Australian championships throughout the disciplines, might be on the beginning line once more. Then there may be the all the time fierce competitor Matilda Raynolds, who began the season with a stage win on the Bay Crits however had a tricky run abroad between the late cancellation of her key street purpose, the Lotto Belgium Tour, after which a bout of COVID on the lead into her US gravel stint.
The occasion in Beechworth is one among two 2024 qualifying rounds to be held in Australia, with the opposite being SEVEN on Could 18, which is greater than 3,000km away throughout the opposite aspect of the continent in Nannup, Western Australia. Each have been fast to hitch the brand new sequence when it began in 2022, with SEVEN already well-established and Gravelista delivering a profitable debut 12 months.
“Final 12 months’s occasion introduced in a substantial variety of guests, leading to a powerful financial influence,” stated Mayor Worth of Gravelista. “Throughout Beechworth, this translated to only below $600,000, with the broader native area benefiting from a complete inflow of $1.3 million.”
Beechworth would be the last spherical of the sequence run this 12 months, with the qualifying rounds for the following Gravel World Championships getting underway as soon as once more on April 20, 2024 in Spain.
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