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Paul Double wins Guangxi Queen Stage and takes overall lead with one day to go
Jayco-AlUla's Paul Double did the double on Saturday's stage 5 at the Tour of Guangxi, attacking the elite group that remained towards the top of the Cat.1 Nongla climb to win the Queen Stage by nine seconds over a resurgent Victor Lafay. A small group of favourites, including UAE's Jhonatan Narváez who's been busy collecting bonus seconds all week, finished a couple of seconds after the Frenchman.
With his first-ever WorldTour stage win, the 29-year-old Brit took over the race lead from sprinting wunderkind Paul Magnier who'd won all four previous stages, and Double will carry a lead of 15 seconds into the flat Nanning stage that ends the WorldTour season.
Stage 5 results
Paul Double (Jayco-AlUla) 3:41:38
Victor Lafay (Decathlon-AG2R) +0:09
Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:11
Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) "
Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) "
GC after stage 5
Paul Double (Jayco-AlUla) 19:41:13
Victor Lafay (Decathlon-AG2R) +0:15
Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +0:16
Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:19
Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) +0:23
Van Empel returns to CX this weekend after long break from all competition
Reigning cyclocross world champion Fem van Empel is making her return to competition on Sunday at Superprestige Ruddervoorde, ending several months away from racing since the Visma-Lease a Bike rider announced she was taking a break from the road "for my mental health and well-being."
"It feels really good to return. I’m genuinely excited to race again and, most of all, to enjoy it,” Van Empel said in quotes included in her team's announcement. “That’s the most important thing for me right now – to have fun competing in the rainbow jersey and to feel that race rhythm again."
At Ruddervoorde, the 23-year-old begins her new chapter as a fully-dedicated cyclocross rider. From here, it's full steam ahead with four races crammed in before her first big goal at Koppenbergcross on 1 November.
Belgium loses another ProTeam as Wagner Bazin WB ends sponsor hunt
Belgian ProTeam Wagner Bazin WB is folding at the end of the season, ending 15 years in the peloton that began in 2011 as then-Continental team Wallonie Bruxelles. General manager Christophe Brandt confirmed the news in an interview with La Dernière Heure on Friday, revealing that title sponsor Philippe Wagner (and his eponymous charcuterie company) had withdrawn sponsorship, and the search for a replacement had failed.
"It hurts, of course," Brandt said. "Nearly 40 riders moved up to the next level thanks to our structure for supporting young riders. That has always been our punchline when going to see a sponsor: we aren't the biggest team, but we are a bridge to the highest level. I think we could make a living from it. But the last few years have been more complicated."
Among the riders that Brandt and his team have seen graduate to the top levels of the sport are Baptiste Planckaert, Stanisław Aniołkowski, Milan Menten, Laurens Huys, Matteo Malucelli, Alex Kirsch and Emils Liepiņš. But the team now fizzles out after something of a falling-out with Wagner who had begun to express his disappointment more publicly, leading to what Brandt described as a spiralling of morale.
"I should have stopped the team last year and not brought people along in this complicated 2025 season," he went on. "What disappoints me the most is that."
Vaast recalls A/1 all-road magnesium frames due to cracks
Magnesium framebuilder Vaast is recalling nearly 2,000 of its A/1 all-road models sold in North America due reports of cracks in welds. The company sold 1,860 units in the United States and four in Canada between 2020 and August of 2025. Vaast has received reports of 22 owners whose bikes sustained a weld fracture and three who experienced full tube separation.
In conjunction with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, Vaast has issued a full stop-ride order for owners of the affected frames. Owners should contact Vaast's parent company, Super Wheels, for a free replacement frame and up to $200 to cover the cost of swapping parts at a shop. More information about affected models and contact info for the recall is on Vaast's web site. [Vaast]
Four in a row for Magnier at the Tour of Guangxi
Paul Magnier continued his unbeatable run at the Tour of Guangxi on stage 4, roaring to victory in Jinchengjiang ahead Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), the latter also scoring his third podium of the race.
Magnier leads the last WorldTour race of the year by 26 seconds over Meeus ahead of the final weekend, which includes the only uphill finish of the week on the Cat.1 climb to the Nongla Scenic Spot (3.2 km at 7.3%, with the final third averaging 14.8%).
Stage 4 top 5
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) 4:04:54
Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) "
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) "
Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) "
Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) "
GC after stage 4
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) 15:59:07
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +0:26
Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) +0:28
Max Kanter (XDS Astana) +0:30
Stan Dewulf (Decathlon-AG2R) +0:33
Giant will reimburse workers' recruitment fees
Giant Bicycles, which is at the heart of a controversy over forced-labor allegations in Taiwan including in the bike industry, announced this week that it will reimburse recruitment fees for existing workers. Giant is the subject of a withhold release order from the US Customs and Border Protection unit over the allegations, which were reported on in 2024 and 2025 by independent journalist Peter Bengtsen in Le Monde Diplomatique.
In response to Bengtsen's reporting, Giant had pledged several changes, including an end to recruitment fees. Those are fees paid by workers to labor brokerages in exchange for jobs. The amounts are often several months' wages and can be compounded with interest and other fees, which amount to debt bondage, a form of forced labor. Giant ended that practice on January 1, 2025 but until this week it had declined to extend that policy retroactively to workers.
The change means existing workers who paid fees will have those debts erased. The move follows an announcement by Merida, which was also named in the reports, that it would end recruitment fees and reimburse workers. Giant plans to ask the CBP to lift the withhold release order, which effectively prevents Giant from importing products made in Taiwan to the US.
Magnier secures the hat trick in Guangxi
Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quick Step) took his third straight victory at the Tour of Guangxi on Thursday's stage 3. This time, the Frenchman outsprinted Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) in the town of Bama.
The win extends Magnier's GC lead to 20 seconds over Kanter heading into stage 4, where Magnier and the other fast finishers will try to overcome another set of small climbs en route to the finish in Jinchengjiang.
Brief results
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) 4:50:06
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) "
Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) "
Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) "
Daniel Skerl (Bahrain Victorious) "
Talbot wins third and final stage of Tour of Chongming Island, Knijnenburg wins overall
Lotto and Intermarché-Wanty merger documents have been filed with the UCI
After a convoluted journey towards a merger, the Belgian squads Intermarché-Wanty and Lotto have reportedly presented a formal application to the UCI, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
A letter of intent related to the merger first surfaced during the Tour de France, which proposed the joining of forces of the WorldTeam (Intermarché) and ProTeam (Lotto). The planned merger was complicated by the revelation last week of a substantial debt incurred by Continuum Sports NV, the owner of the Intermarché license, which ended last season some €2 million in the red.
How this has been resolved is unclear, but sponsor confirmations and a bank guarantee have reportedly been included with the team's application. The UCI will now move to approve it (or not), with a verdict expected by the end of this week.
The merger of the two teams seems set to exacerbate an already challenging landscape for out-of-contract riders. For a thirty rider maximum for the new team, seven riders will need their contracts paid out; another eight from the combined cohort are without teams for next year. Arkéa-B&B Hotels is also set to shut down at the end of the season, making for a high-stakes game of musical chairs with not enough seats for the unsecured riders of the peloton.
Del Toro takes UAE's 95th win of the season at the Giro del Veneto
Isaac del Toro closed out his season with yet another victory in an Italian one-day race, marking UAE-Team Emirates XRG's 95th win of the season.
The rising Mexican star soloed clear in the finale and held on to take the win 22 seconds ahead of a chase group, where his own teammate Pavel Sivakov led the way over the line to take runner-up honors ahead of Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) in third.
Brief results
Isaac del Toro (UAE-Team Emirates XRG) 3:24:29
Pavel Sivakov (UAE-Team Emirates XRG) 0:22
Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) "
Eric Antonio Fagúndez (Burgos Burpellet BH) "
Simone Velasco (XDS Astana Team) "
Magnier doubles up in Guangxi
Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quick Step) followed up his stage 1 victory at the Tour of Guangxi with another win on stage 2. This time, the fast-finishing Frenchman outsprinted Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) and Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) in the city of Jingxi.
Magnier leads Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) in the general classification by 14 seconds heading into Thursday's stage 3.
Brief results
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) 3:45:10
Pavel Bittner (Picnic-PostNL) "
Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) "
Daniel Skerl (Bahrain Victorious) "
Arne Marit (Intermarché-Wanty) "
Campagnolo introduces Ultra upgrades for Super Record 13
Today, Campagnolo launched a small handful of premium component upgrades under the Ultra branding. Designed to add a little extra to its newest Super Record 13 groupset, these parts are for those who would otherwise seek aftermarket upgrades.
First up is the combined carbon fibre and aluminium big rings (50 and 52T sizes only), designed to increase stiffness while saving 28-34 grams. At €330 a piece, they offer a more premium and arguably integrated aesthetic than the stock aluminium ring.
There’s also a new Ultra cassette that has the largest four cogs on the 10-33T size, or largest five cogs on the 11-36T size, machined from a single block of titanium. The 10-33T size is claimed to weigh 215 g, saving 30 g from the regular Super Record option. Meanwhile, the 11-36T cassette is claimed to be 238 g, a 44 g saving over the regular model. Expect to pay €620 for one of these Ultra cassettes.
Finally, there is a USB ceramic bearing upgrade for Ultra Torque cranks (€164). Historically, these bearings were supplied with Super Record cranks, but that changed in this latest generation, with Campagnolo looking to better align its features and prices to the competition.
Revel enlists Industry Nine to cover CSS rim warranties
Revel Bikes has announced it's partnering with Industry Nine to keep lifetime coverage in place for Revel carbon wheels manufactured by CSS/Forge+Bond. This follows CSS Composites' September shutdown, which ended factory support for the thermoplastic rims it produced for several brands and left warranty obligations in question. Revel had already stopped producing wheels with CSS but continued to offer a warranty on any existing products.
Revel said it is subsidising most of the cost to keep riders covered, and noted the warranty applies only to Revel wheels produced by CSS/Forge+Bond.
The owners can get a rim-only replacement for US$175 or a full rebuild by Industry Nine for US$250, which includes a new rim, spokes, nipples, and labour. Revel supplies shipping labels and instructions, and the typical rebuild turnaround, according to Revel, is one to two weeks. [revelbikes.com]
Silca introduces Ultimate TPU tubes
Silca has released TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) inner tubes built from clear, unpigmented thermoplastic elastomer with a mechanically bonded aluminum valve to address stress failures in the area.
The American brand said the 24-43 mm tube with a 50 mm valve weighs 45 g and saves two to four watts compared to a butyl inner tube, and is within 0.2 W of latex. There are two tube widths and accompanying valve lengths on offer: 700×24-43 mm with 50 mm or 70 mm valves and 700×44-64 mm with a 50 mm valve (62 g claimed). The tubes are disc and rim brake compatible.
The tubes are made in Germany, and in addition to their aluminium valve comes with a removable core and valve extender compatibility, and each box contains a basic patch kit. And the price, it's US$39/£37 per tube.
Sofie van Rooijen wins Tour of Chongming Island stage 2
Burgos rider Aparicio kicked out of race in bizarre emoji incident
Burgos-Burpellet-BH may have swept the podium of the Tour of Mentougou, but it wasn't all good news for the Spanish ProTeam at the UCI 2.2-rated event in China. Mario Aparicio was kicked out of the race after a bizarre incident in which he used a pig emoji next to the Chinese flag in the title of the ride he posted to Strava for the day. The post has since been taken down.
According to local media reports, the emojis were taken by some to be derogatory, perhaps even as a stand-in for the Spanish-language term "cochino," which can translate as "filthy pig." Organizers disqualified Aparicio, who even received death threats on social media.
Burgos-Burpellet-BH, however, told El Mundo that the pig emoji was used as part of an in-joke with Aparicio's teammate who had won the opening stage, Carlos García Pierna, which was "unrelated to the Chinese people." The team communicated to organizers "that it was just an unfortunate coincidence." In any case, the race has since ended and Aparicio and his teammates have gone home. [El Mundo]
Magnier wins Guangxi stage 1
Paul Magnier has resumed his winning streak at the Tour of Guangxi, sprinting to victory ahead of Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) and Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) in Fangchenggang, after a big crash split the bunch in the finishing straight.
The Tour of Guangxi got underway without the UCI's planned gear restriction trial, much to the relief of the teams who made the trip. Magnier even told Escape Collective that he doubted whether he'd have won had his gearing been curtailed.
"With the 54 [-tooth chainring] there we couldn’t really do a sprint and I'm happy we can sprint with the 56 here," Magnier said after the race. "We’ll see in the future if there is a restriction again but for me it doesn’t make that much sense."
The Tour of Guangxi resumes on Wednesday with a slightly more hilly route and a false flat to the finish.
Brief results
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) 3:19:37
Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) "
Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) "
Rasmus Pedersen (Decathlon-AG2R) "
Oded Kogut (Israel-Premier Tech) "
Georgia Baker takes Chongming Island stage 1 after initial winner relegated
At the close of stage 1 of the Tour of Chongming Island WorldTour race, Kathrin Schweinberger (Human Powered Health) was initially called as the winner, but the Austrian national champion was then relegated for an irregular sprint. That upgraded Liv AlUla Jayco's Georgia Baker to victory, her first in three years, and at WorldTour level to boot.
The 108.6 km stage passed in relatively formulaic fashion on the pan-flat terrain, with a breakaway of five leading the way until about 10 km to go. With Baker in the leader's jersey after the first stage, the remainder of the race will continue to favour sprinters until its culmination on Thursday.
Brief results
Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) 2:30:55
Sofie van Rooijen (UAE Team ADQ) "
Mia Griffin (Roland La Dévoluy) "
Barbora Němcová (Dukla Praha) "
Lonneke Uneken (Volkerwessels) "
Pogačar says knee pain left him doubting whether he would finish the Tour
Tadej Pogačar said on RTV SLO's podcast Tour 202 that knee issues – assumedly in the aftermath of his crash on stage 11 – left him uncertain of whether he would finish the Tour de France earlier this year, a surprising revelation in light of the final result. The UAE-Team Emirates XRG star ultimately took his fourth career Tour win by a margin of more than four minutes.
"One day after Ventoux I had problems with my knee and there were doubts whether I would be able to continue at all. The weather was bad, it was very cold," he said.
"My body was in shock, I didn't feel my best. But a three-week race is not easy, every cyclist has problems. We are often tired after the first week, and then you have two more." [RTV SLO]
Mauro Vegni calls it a career
After more than a decade as the race director of the Giro d'Italia and other major events for Italian organizer RCS, Mauro Vegni is retiring. Il Lombardia was his final race as director, although the 2026 Giro d'Italia has already been planned under his direction.
"I'm happy to entrust the future to a team of capable people," Vegni told Bicisport this weekend, while also noting that RCS might divide his responsibilities among multiple people rather than replacing him directly. [Bicisport]
Pogačar beaten by 40-year-old British amateur at 'Pogi Challenge' exhibition event
The day after winning Il Lombardia, the last race of Tadej Pogačar's 2025 season, the world champion returned home to Slovenia for the 'Pogi Challenge'. It's both a fan event and an exhibition race, including a kind of mass-start TT or hill climb, starting with a short flat run-in to the Krvavec climb where Pogačar won his first youth race in 2009. The unique element here is that Pogačar himself sets off about five minutes after the amateurs.
The whole point is that the world champion passes all thousand-plus participants already up the road, but on Sunday, he failed to catch one man. Pogačar's time of 40:44 was still fastest on the day – he had trade teammate and compatriot Domen Novak's help for the flat section – but 40-year-old British lawyer and hill climb specialist Andrew Feather stayed away, finishing the event in a time of 44:15.
"I kept on looking over my shoulder thinking he was going to come up at some point, but he didn’t – he didn’t manage to catch me," Feather told Cycling Weekly. "There were literally thousands of people at the end… Everyone came out to watch him in action. He probably wanted to cross the line first, so I felt slightly guilty that I took that away from him."
Longo Borghini leaves Reusser behind to take victory at Trofeo Tessile & Moda Donne
Elisa Longo Borghini showed once again that she's in a rich vein of late-season form with her second Italian one-day win of the week, soloing to victory at the Trofeo Tessile & Moda Donne.
The Italian national champion had gone clear with Marlen Reusser after a whittling down of the favourites group on the 6.7 km climb up to the Santuaria di Oropa, before finally going on the attack 3 km from the line. Longo Borghini won by 37 seconds to Reusser, who held off leading chaser Urška Žigart in third.
Florian Vermeersch wins Gravel world title after going on the attack early
Belgian Florian Vermeersch soloed to the elite men's Gravel World Championship title in Maastricht ahead of silver-medalist Frits Biesterbos (Netherlands), with former world champion Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) in third.
Two-time Gravel Worlds runner-up Vermeersch said himself that he "didn't see much of the peloton" having suffered an early puncture, then attacking soon after he regained contact. The Classics specialist who races for UAE Team Emirates-XRG on the road was on the attack from 120 km to go, gradually riding his companions off his wheel, Biesterbos the last to drop away 19 km from the line.
Mohorič, meanwhile, was one of the most determined chasers from the bunch, clawing his way through those dropped by Vermeersch to land among the medals. The likes of Tim Wellens (Belgium) and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain), however, left it a little too late, settling for a top 10 finish – the young Brit was racing a new Dogma GR less than 24 hours after finishing sixth at Il Lombardia.
Brief results
Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) 4:39:12
Frits Biesterbos (Netherlands) +0:40
Matej Mohorič (Slovenia) +1:23
Floris Van Tricht (Belgium) +1:40
Félix Stehli (Switzerland) +1:41
Trentin out-kicks defending champ Laporte to win Paris-Tours for third time
Matteo Trentin (Tudor) took his first win of 2025 at Paris-Tours, his third victory at the French mini-classic, outsprinting Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) and teenage sensation Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) to late-season victory.
It was an attritional finale on the wearing course, with multiple attacks firing in the last 50 km. The French duo of Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) established a decent advantage ahead of the splintering pack after attacking 35 km out, and they were only caught with 600 metres to go by a small chase group comprising Laporte, Trentin, Withen Philipsen and Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon-AG2R).
Gruel launched the sprint, and it was Trentin who emerged victorious, denying Laporte a win that would seal his comeback after much of his season was derailed by cytomegalovirus.
Brief results:
Matteo Trentin (Tudor) 4:18:50
Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) "
Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) "
Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R) "
Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) "
Adam Yates takes UAE Team's 94th win of 2025
Three weeks ago, UAE Team Emirates-XRG broke the record for the number of wins in one season, setting a new benchmark of 86. Since then, their dominance has taken on a new sheen as the question becomes: how high can they raise the ceiling? Even, could they reach 100?
Since then, they've kept winning, thanks to Brandon McNulty, Isaac Del Toro, Adam Yates and, of course, Tadej Pogačar. After the Slovenian took the team's 93rd win at Il Lombardia where Pogačar ended his season, Yates took up the gauntlet at Sunday's 1.1-ranked Trofeo Tessile & Moda-Valdenga Oropa, a curious Italian one-day that comprises four laps of a 37-kilometre circuit, before leaving the plains behind and climbing up to the Oropa summit finish (6.7 km at 7.9%) of Giro d'Italia fame. Tudor's Mathys Rondel finished second, with UAE's Jay Vine third, the Australian a last-minute replacement for a weary Del Toro.
The team has another nine opportunities to add to their tally, including at the six-day Tour of Guangxi (14-19 October), before the season wraps up with the Giro del Veneto and Veneto Classic.
Pogačar is reportedly contemplating skipping Paris-Roubaix and Amstel in 2026
Just hours into Tadej Pogačar's off-season, rumours were already swirling about his 2026 programme. And according to Het Laatste Nieuws, it may not include either Paris-Roubaix nor the Amstel Gold Race.
This would leave a two-week break between the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, two races he's won at least twice. In fact, should he defend his Flanders title, he would join the seven riders who have won it thrice (including Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Johan Museeuw and Matthieu van der Poel, the only other active rider on the list), setting up another record-breaking ride in the future. At Liège, meanwhile, Pogačar would be going after his fourth career win, and third in a row, something only two others have ever done: Moreno Argentin and Eddy Merckx – the Belgian legend holds the record total of five.
While it makes some sense that Pogačar might be minded to skip Amstel, which he's raced three times and won once in 2023 (DNF 2019, second in 2025), but missing Paris-Roubaix after his runner-up finish on debut this past spring seems rather less likely, unless he's considering a return to the Giro d'Italia. So, we'll take this news with a pinch handful of salt; it's one of the dwindling number of races he's yet to win, after all.
Seixas 'disappointed' to be dropped, but still 7th in his first Monument
Decathlon-AG2R's Paul Seixas has been one of the revelations of 2025 with strong performances throughout the season, including eighth at the Critérium du Dauphiné, third in the elite European Championships last weekend, and of course, overall victory at the Tour de l'Avenir. He was also part of the French Mixed Relay team that won World Championship silver on his 19th birthday.
This weekend marked his first ever Monument, and just like last weekend, he was among the very best at the climax of Il Lombardia. The 19-year-old stuck with Remco Evenepoel and Michael Storer until 33 km to go, eventually finishing 7th, a remarkable result but, for Seixas, disappointing all the same.
"A top-ten finish in my first Monument is fantastic, but it could have been even better," Seixas said at the finish. "I still have some physical and mental progress to make to get into the group that's fighting for the win. But I'm still learning. That's a positive for the coming years. It's a fantastic result, but I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't compete for a podium finish. But that's just the way it is."
Carapaz left with no lasting injuries after nasty crash at Il Lombardia
Richard Carapaz was in the large chase group contesting top-20 finishes at Il Lombardia when he crashed hard on the descent off the Passo di Ganda. TV coverage showed him on his back against the rock face, clearly moving but not rushing to stand back up.
He abandoned the race and was sent for medical checks, which revealed no fractures nor head injury.
"Richie suffered road rash but escaped bony injuries in his crash," read the EF Education-EasyPost update on Saturday evening. "Initial tests cleared him of concussion, but our medical team will continue to monitor him in the coming days."
Evenepoel inspired to challenge Pogačar: 'it's good motivation'
Remco Evenepoel has suffered his third defeat in as many weekends to Tadej Pogačar, at the World and European Championships, then at Saturday's Il Lombardia. But while Pogačar has been head and shoulders above the whole peloton, Evenepoel has also been a distant victor over everyone else.
"It all happened very quickly when Pogačar attacked," Evenepoel said after the race. "I was the only one still making preparations; the rest were at their limit. It was just the story of the past races. When the pace is very high, Pogačar can accelerate a bit. The rest have to do their own thing. In the end, I finished second again, but I'm happy with how I did it."
Evenepoel was racing his last race for Soudal-QuickStep, ending seven seasons with the Belgian team before his move to Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe this winter, during which he's hoping to elevate himself closer to his rival.
"It's just good motivation to work towards his level. I've been fighting for it these past few weeks. We'll take that into account, and in the winter we'll work on getting closer to him."
Wiebes wins World gravel title after controversial late catch of Van Anrooij
Lorena Wiebes added the Gravel World Championship title to her phenomenal 2025 season on Saturday, outsprinting Marianne Vos and Silvia Persico, who joined her on the podium in that order.
It was a controversial finale, however, as fellow Dutch rider Shirin van Anrooij was still leading solo going into the last kilometre. The Gravel Worlds are often raced slightly differently compared to, say, the road Worlds, in that, it's every rider for themself, a dynamic that didn't stop Yara Kastelijn, Wiebes, et al. from crushing the hopes of Van Anrooij with just a few hundred metres to go.
"[I understand Van Anrooij's disappointment] one hundred percent," Wiebes said at the finish, after paying tribute to trade teammate Julia Kopecký (Czechia) who'd helped her out in the run-in to the finish. "I hope I can give something back to Shirin someday at a world or European road championship."
However, she also said, "You're not going to give away the world title."
