It has taken five years, but finally a gravel specialist has taken victory at the UCI Gravel World Championships and it came in the form of an unexpected winner, even for that winner himself.
The big gravel names that everyone were expecting would be the best chance to take the mantle in the event dominated by road pros since its inception in 2022 were the likes of three-time Life Time Grand Prix winner and 2023 Unbound Gravel champion Keegan Swenson (United States), or this year’s Unbound and The Traka 360 winner Mads Würtz Schmidt (Denmark).
The stars, however, aligned for a different Danish gravel specialist, Magnus Bak Klaris, who isn’t such a prolific winner but crossed the line first when it mattered most.
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“I said before the start that I wanted to to risk it and go for a big result and it was the podium I was thinking about,” Bak Klaris told reporters as he stood in his new rainbow jersey after the podium ceremony.
“So there where a few times where we were in a front group with four, and I was like, ‘This is a pretty good chance of going on the podium’. So I was always having the podium in my mind.”
He was, after all, charging toward the line in a group of four which included one of the big pre-race favourites, his compatriot Würtz Schmidt, plus two WorldTour riders in UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Florian Vermeersch (Belgium), the defending champion, and Netcompany Ineos rider Connor Swift (Great Britain), who was on the podium at the event in 2023.
Even though there were two Danish riders in the lead group, there was no guarantee that this would play to either rider’s advantage as while gravel riders are racing in national colours, it is generally a more individual pursuit with national federations most often not funding the title chase. In the case Würtz Schmidt was out in Australia supported by his Specialized Off-Road squad, while Bak Klaris had paid his own way out to Nannup.
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“To be honest, Mads and I talked before the start, and we were racing individually because we both – I don’t know who paid his trip, but I paid my own trip and I qualified myself to come here – and we said, ‘Of course, we want to help each other if we can benefit ourselves’, but we were not like someone is a domestique rider for another,” said Bak Klaris. “So we were racing each our race, and if it could turn out, we could also help each other.”
It actually did turn out that the national affiliation played into Bak Klaris’ hands, not perhaps in the way he expected because it was a most unfortunate turn of events for Würtz Schmidt in a corner with just over 3km to go.
“Then Mads crashed and I was like, ‘I need to try to take advantage of this. So I tried to wait for him and let the others work,” said Bak Klaris. “So I think that was also the nice move, to wait for your countryman, but also a smart move where we could take advantage of being two from the same country and on the same team.”
Würtz Schmidt rejoined, so it was four charging toward the line but Bak Klaris certainly wasn’t the one anyone expected to come out on top in a sprint scenario, not even the rider himself, though gravel often proves to be an unpredictable beast and such was the case again in Nannup.
Swift lead out and went early and Bak Klaris was in his wheel, and in the tight sprint that unfolded with the two WorldTour pros and his well-credentialed country man.
“I usually don’t have a really good sprint, so I just tried to find the wheel, and I think I was pretty lucky with how Connor Swift did the final,” Bak Klaris said in an interview with broadcaster SBS. “I could just stay in the wheel, pretty much the last kick, and then have a small last kick.”
That was the final piece in the puzzle, as Bak Klaris turned a course that suited him and strong form, which he put on display by winning the UCI Gravel World Series race of Gravel Grit n Grind in the lead in, into an unexpected world title victory. And even better it was with friends and family that had travelled out with him also on the sidelines watching.
“Worlds is a race where you think it’s almost too big, it’s so difficult to make a good result here, but it’s it’s also a big chance,” said Bak Klaris.
So with the rainbow jersey now in the hands of a gravel specialist who plans to put it regularly on show in UCI Gravel World Series races, the Gravel Earth Series and also in the US at events like Unbound, what does this win actually mean for Bak Klaris?
“I have no idea,” he said with a chuckle. “I have to to find out what it means. I’ve never tried it before, so yeah, we will see.”
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