Marianne Vos (Netherlands) made history on Saturday, becoming the first rider to win a second elite women’s gravel world title with a solo victory at the UCI Gravel World Championships in Nannup, Western Australia.

The victory brought Vos’ tally to 15 rainbow jerseys across four disciplines: eight in cyclo-cross, two in gravel, plus world titles on the road and track.

After rolling with Rosa Klöser (Germany) for 21km, Vos launched a powerful attack in the final 4km in an attempt to drop the German. Klöser fought hard to regain her wheel, but she slid out after hitting a rut on the right-hand side of the road and watched the rainbow jersey ride away from her.

Vos and Klöser broke away from a lead group that had fluctuated in size throughout the race. Both had remained in contention as the front group dwindled to three riders before swelling again, with their attack coming after Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Argentina) and Tiffany Cromwell (Australia) each made impressive efforts to chase back to the leaders.

Getting back up quickly after her crash, Klöser crossed the line 27 seconds down to take second place, and immediately congratulated Vos.

Larissa Hartog (Netherlands) outsprinted Nele Laing (Germany) to take third place, making it two Dutch riders on the podium.

With 16 riders in the field, just one fewer than the host nation, the Dutch squad went to the front at the start, and consistently maintained at least two riders in all the splits at the front until the finale.

Vos, 39, seemed to be at a loss for words when asked what the win meant to her, simply answering “A lot. Yeah, a lot.”

“It was more muddy than expected, actually. We had to be careful and some really slippery parts. And Rosa was really, really strong, so on the uphills I had to dig deep to follow,” she said.

“I knew that that final corner around the top and then the descent were going to be tricky, so I wanted to be in front and take them my own lines. But of course it’s unfortunate that Rosa crashed there.

“I was really happy when the World Championships were announced here, and it’s a fantastic course here in Western Australia, and it’s great to take the rainbow jersey.”

Whittling down the peloton

For the fifth edition of the 2026 UCI Gravel World Championships, the elite women faced a 125.6km course with 3,179m of climbing centred around Nannup, Western Australia. With 85% of the route on gravel, the demanding course wound through the Blackwood Valley, pine plantations, rolling farmland and forested terrain before returning to the off-road cycling hub of Nannup.

51 riders took the start in chilly conditions, with temperatures forecast to reach a maximum of 16°C. Overnight rain had compacted the gravel roads, which helped reduce the slipperiness of the pea gravel.

Australia’s Ella Bloor made the first move, attacking after 3km with no reaction from the pack, still massed together, and rode on the opening paved section. After giving a few looks over her shoulders, Bloor has a 50-second lead as she hit the first muddy gravel section lined with puddles, 6km later.

As the sun peeked through the clouds, the first climb of the day, 5.4km Killarney Rd, caused the first selection, with around 12 riders shelled off the back of the Dutch-led pack. Bloor was reeled in with 105km to go.

A puncture for one of the pre-race favourites, Rosa Klöser, forced the German to stop to fix her tyre, and after spending minutes working on her sealant, she had a long solo chase on the horizon to the peloton, down to 25 riders.

Sophie Wright (Great Britain) upped the pace on the approach to Brockman Farm, with more riders being shelled off the back on the 2.4km climb with an 8.2% average gradient, as Klöser made her way through dropped riders to reconnect with the 15-rider lead group with 96km to go.

The lead group continued to whittle down, now at 10 riders, including the four Dutch riders Marianne Vos, Geerike Schreurs, Elisa Serné and Larissa Hartog. Also making the split were Nicole Frain (Australia), Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Argentina), Erica Magnaldi (Italy), Irina Lützelschwab (Switzerland), Nele Laing (Germany), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa) and Klöser. One rider who was not able to follow the pace was Wendy Oosterwood (Netherlands), winner of the 2026 Gravelking UCI Gravel World Series.

Staying on the undulating high roads after the climb, Klöser put in a little dig to try and reduce the Dutch number in the lead group. Behind, the chase group included Oosterwood, Wright, Tiffany Cromwell (Australia), Carolin Schiff (Germany), Maria Laurie (New Zealand), Haley Smith (Canada), Flora Johnson (Great Britain), Janni Spangsberg (Denmark), Joyce Vanderbeken (Belgium) sped down the descent and on flat roads and reconnected with the lead group with 84km to go.

Attack and regroup

Cromwell then attacked solo, dug deep to get a small gap as a heavily marked Vos gave up on chasing her twice, as the Australian gravel champion yo-yoed off the front, but not giving up, she slowly built up her gap.

Behind, inside of 73km to go, Schreurs and Moolman-Pasio went off the road on a descent, with the Dutch rider receiving medical attention after the hard crash.

As the rain fell, Cromwell’s 1:09 advantage evaporated on the Ellis Creek Climb (2km at 9.1%), where Vos, Laing and Klöser caught her with 500 metres remaining to the summit. The tough ascent had shattered the group, but Hartog and Magnaldi trailing by 22 seconds, and Gomez Villafañe was down two minutes, with the other riders scattered in between.

With around 57km to go, Magnaldi and Hartog bridged back to the leaders, swelling the front group to five riders: two Germans, two Dutch and one Italian.

The lead group worked well together, although Vos skipped a few turns to take on some gels. On the wide roads, they passed age-group competitors, some of whom tried to briefly latch onto the group.

With 40km to go, the chase group of Frain, Lützelschwab and Serne clawed their way back to the front, with Cromwell dangling solo behind on Glacier Climb (3.8km at 3.1%).

Hartog got a small gap on the descent, with her Dutch teammates sitting on, leaving the others to do the chasing while Frain countered on a paved section. Vos and Laing reacted immediately with 32km to go, but Magnaldi shut the move down as the pace increased.

With three Dutch and two German riders among the eight leaders, riders were watching each other as the pace eased with 28km to go. Meanwhile, Gomez Villafañe, with a new front wheel on her bike, made an impressive chase to the front group after losing two minutes on an earlier climb.

Cromwell caught back on and immediately attacked again in the final race of her career with 25km to go, and got big cheers from the fans lining the feed zone as she weaved her way through the age-group riders as she tackled Folly Climb (2.4km at 4.8%).

With Vos on her wheel, Klöser jumped from the group to chase down Cromwell. Laing tried to follow but could not keep up with the pace. The duo had a 37-second lead on Laing and Hartog as they crested the climb with 20km to go.

The pair worked well together, increasing their lead to over one minute with 7km to go.

With 4km to go, sitting on her rival’s wheel, Vos tightened her shoes and put in a massive acceleration. Klöser managed to get back on her wheel, but then slid out and hit the deck, and was out of contention for the victory, allowing Vos to solo away to the rainbow jersey.

Results

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