The Slovenian cyclist Matej Mohoric has been proclaimed gravel world champion after completing in first position a 169-kilometer distance route starting and finishing in the Italian region of Veneto that the Spanish Alejandro Valverde finished in fourth position.
Belgian Wout Van Aert, one of the main candidates for victory, was soon ruled out from being at the top when he punctured and suffered a fall; The race was very open until a leading group of six riders was formed to fight for the title.
Mohoric, the Belgian Florian Vermeersch and the British Connor Swift distanced themselves from him to close a shortlist of candidates to which other fellow escapees such as Valverde, the Italian Alessandro De Marchi or the American Keegan Swenson could not join.
The first of the leading trio to give in was Swift, who dropped out with 24 kilometers to go. And six later Vermeersch paid the pace, which seemed to leave everything facing Mohoric. However, the Belgian recovered and put up a fight, although shortly after he suffered a chain problem that gave the Slovenian more peace of mind. This one, despite suffering a fall with 3 kilometers to go, ended up crossing the finish line first.
Vermeersch entered 43 seconds behind him and Swift entered at 3:40. After this, Alejandro Valverde did it, who at 43 years old won the final sprint against the American Swenson, measuring his times well.
