The provinces of Vicenza and Padua will host the first Gravel cycling world championship, set up by the UCI managing board and entrusted to the organization of PP Sport Events. The inaugural edition of the world championship of the specialty will take place on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 October 2022.
Source: press release
The races that will assign the first world championship jerseys of the Gravel specialists will start from Vicenza and will end in Cittadella after having lapped the city of Padua.
To design the courses PP Sport Events relied on the experience of Angelo Furlan and Marco Menin. Over 50 women and men will compete on Saturday 8 October over a distance of 140 kilometers, with an active altitude difference of 700 meters, while the professionals will compete the next day on a course of about 190 kilometers and 800 meters of altitude difference, which also includes two final laps of almost 27 kilometers. Men in the 19-49 age groups, on the other hand, will do just one lap of the final circuit for a total distance of 165 kilometers. The unpaved part of the routes corresponds to about 75% of the total.
The Gravel World Championship promises selection right from the initial kilometers, in which the main altitude difficulties are concentrated. After the start in Campo Marzo in Vicenza, the competitors will face the steep ascent of the sanctuary of Monte Berico and the subsequent gradients of Valle dei Vicari, Sant'Agostino, la Pilla and Arcugnano, before skirting the lake of Fimon and continuing towards Montegaldella. .
The next 80 kilometers, all flat, are in the province of Padua: Selvazzano, Tancarola, Padua, Noventa and, along the right bank of the Brenta river, Limena, Piazzola sul Brenta and Cittadella. At this point, the elite men and the competitors of the Under 49 men's categories will enter a large circuit that crosses the municipalities of Cittadella and Tezze sul Brenta, therefore straddling the provinces of Padua and Vicenza. The finish line will be placed in Piazza Pierobon, the heart of the walled city.
The various categories will have separate starts. The athletes of the registered national teams and those who qualified during the UCI Gravel World Series can participate in the Gravel World Championship.
The Gravel World Championship is organized by PP Sport Events with the support of the Veneto Region and in collaboration with the Municipality of Vicenza and the Municipality of Cittadella.
The categories competing on Saturday 8 October:
Elite Women, Women 19-34, Women 35-39, Men 50-54, Men 55-59, Men Over 60 and Women Over 40
The categories competing on Sunday 9 October:
Elite Men, Men 19-34, Men 35-39, Men 40-44, Men 45-49.
UCI GRAVEL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUTE
