The town of Maastricht was the epicentre for all things gravel this weekend, as riders of all age categories and nationalities descended on the southernmost city in the Netherlands for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships. With a route comprising a mix of tarmac, steep climbs, gravel bike path, and forest trails, the tech on offer was naturally going to be diverse and experimental, and we saw some intriguing setups across both the pro men’s and women’s fields.
As expected, aerodynamics played a massive role in this year’s addition, and owing to the non-technical terrain on offer, riders played around with tyre width and tread patterns in an effort to save as much weight and watts as possible.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Florian Vermeersch’s Colnago G4-X PIGR
After finishing runner-up in the past two editions of the UCI Gravel World Championships, Belgian Florian Vermeersch finally secured his rainbow bands in a hard-fought day in the breakaway.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider had access to a Colnago G4-X gravel bike, adorned in a stunning off-the-shelf ‘PIGR’ metallic-green paint job. The components were all team issue and cannot be specified on the Colnago website. This includes the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, pictured here in 54/40T, 11-34T configuration with 170mm cranks – the gearing of which afforded the 81kg Vermeersch enough of a bailout for some of the steeper pitches.
The handlebars and rolling stock were handled by Enve, including the 4.5 SES wheels wrapped in 40mm Continental Terra Speed TR tan wall tyres. The build is finished off with a Fizik Argo Adaptive R1 saddle.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Dogma F GR
Florian Vermeersch might have secured the rainbow bands, but it was Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Dogma F GR that stole the show. While some of our readers will rightfully question why Tom was on a Pinarello instead of a team-issue Scott Addict gravel bike, it’s due to an ongoing three-year deal he has with the Italian bike brand. (The primary financial backer and holding company owner behind Q36.5, Ivan Glasenberg, also happens to own a controlling interest in Pinarello, which could see the team switch bikes in the coming seasons). Anyway, back to Tom’s Pinarello Dogma F GR…
While we didn’t notice any hidden tech bits on his Dogma F GR, we were drawn to the bike’s incredible use of colour and contrast. The striking red and gold paintwork stood out amid the muted and earthy colours dominating the peloton, as did the unique full tan tyres. These unreleased Vittoria Terreno T30 35mm tyres are made entirely from 92% recycled materials and feature a completely new construction, while retaining the Terreno’s trademark fast-rolling centre tread and knobbed shoulder line. Why so narrow? Well, not only does Pidcock possess one of the best skillsets in the peloton, the route wasn’t very technical and, as an aero-focussed bike, only has tyre clearance provision for 45mm front/42mm rear.
The balance of his build comprised an SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset outfitted with the 10-46T cassette and a single 50T chainring. A Wolf Tooth chain guide was fitted to prevent chain drops. Like most of the field, he opted to use Shimano Dura-Ace road pedals as opposed to MTB/gravel-specific SPD-style options.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Marianne Vos Cervelo
We love the modified Cervelo Aspero-5 Marianne Vos used on the weekend. It represents what got us all into racing in the first place and shows gravel racing is still in a state of experimentation – something we hope stays around for a while still.
Marianne’s Aspero-5 caught our attention initially for what looked like a mismatched tyre sidewall. Closer inspection revealed something more intriguing: a gravel/road tyre mullet setup comprising a 45mm Vittoria Terrano T70 front tyre and 40mm Corsa Pro Control at the rear – another nod to the course’s lack of technical terrain.
Another standout tech highlight, but something we’ve seen employed before by the Dutch rider, was the self-inflating/deflating Gravaa Kaps system hubs, laced to Reserve wheels. These special hubs allow the rider to adjust pressure on the fly, nullifying the effects of corrugated surfaces and reducing puncture risk entirely. Like Pidcock, Vos elected an SRAM Red XPLR AXS 1x setup, but paired a smaller 48T ring to the 10-46T cassette.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lorena Wiebes’ Specialized S-Works Crux
Lorena Wiebes held off a charging Marianne Vos to clinch elite women’s race at the UCI Gravel World Championships, aboard a Specialized S-Works Crux. Perhaps the most straightforward setup in the field, Lorena’s race bike was built for pure speed, and she admitted she’s not the most tech-savvy rider in the gravel bunch, citing road racing tech as more of her forte.
Lorena’s S-Works Crux is far from an off-the-shelf option, as it features a custom, silver camo-like pattern. The silver forms a reflective base, and then black is added on top, which is then moved around under cling film to achieve the desired effect. It looks superb and stands out among some of the more ordinary-looking bikes in the women’s pro field.
One of the trends at this year’s race was the propensity for narrower tyres, something which goes against the current grain of riders using rubber as wide as 2.1in. As a result, Weibes elected to wrap her Roval Terra CLX II in 40mm Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss Ready tyres complete with ‘transparent’ tan wall.
Other than that, her bike was fairly standard, utilising Tacx Deva bottle cages, a Specialized S-Works Power saddle, the newly released Roval Alpinist Cockpit II bar arrangement, and SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset.
(Image credit: Merida)
Matej Mohoric’s Merida Silex prototype
Matej Mohoric is no stranger to starting UCI Gravel World Championships aboard unreleased Merida gravel bikes. The Slovenian won the 2023 edition using the second-generation Merida Silex, a week before it was unveiled to the press in Scandiano, Italy. In a similar move, Mohoric entered this year’s race in the hope of repeating his heroics of two years ago on a prototype Merida Silex gravel bike.
The new bike was painted in a custom, multi-coloured design with green accents referencing his national jersey. From what we can see, the new Silex features a beefier headtube, fork, and downtube, while the seat-tube junction ditches the previously kinked angling for a new, smoothed-off profile.
Mohoric elected to use a complete, road groupset – in this case, a sponsor-specific 2x Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 chainset, likely in a 54/40T, 11-34T gearing configuration. Component supplier Vision provided the Metron integrated cockpit and what appeared to be unmarked prototype gravel wheels.
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