USA Cycling has announced its stacked roster of 23 elite cyclists to take on the world’s best at the UCI Gravel World Championship in Veneto, Italy on October 7 and 8.
This is the second year of the Gravel World Championships, which last year were also held in Veneto in October. Belgium’s Gianni Vermeersch won the first-ever gravel rainbow jersey in the elite men’s race, and France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claimed gold on the women’s side.
This year, Team USA hopes to find itself on the elite and age group podiums with top-contender such the season's unbeatable Keegan Swenson; three-time US criterium champ Luke Lamperti, the freshly crowned US national gravel champ Lauren Stephens, former WorldTour riders Alexey Vermeulen and Emily Newsom, and Hutchinson Ranxo UCI Gravel World Series race winner Heidi Franz.
Riders had multiple ways to qualify for the Gravel World Championships thanks to the UCI’s Cycling for All initiative. These qualifications included a finish in the top 25% of one of the Trek UCI Gravel World Series events, a win in their National Championship category, or a successful petition to be one of USA Cycling’s additional 20 athlete slots across both amateur and elite races. In total, 113 Americans will be headed to Italy where a variety of race distances await.
All races start at picturesque Lago Le Bandie in Treviso and finish in Pieve di Soligo, 23km north of the starting point. The elite men’s race is 169km with 1,890m of elevation gain while the elite women’s race is 140km with 1,720m of elevation gain on a mix of pavement and gravel complete with flat stretches and steep inclines.
Amateur athletes will race a variety of different distance:
- Elite men and men ages 19-49 will race the 169km course described above
- Elite women, women ages 19-49 and men 50-64 will race the 140km course described above
- Women ages 50 and above and men ages 65 and above will race a 99.7km course with 1,030m of elevation gain
Podium hopefuls representing Team USA in the elite categories are:
Team USA - men's elite
- Zach Calton (Salt Lake City)
- Ian Kutzleb (Durango, Colo.)
- Luke Lamperti (Sebastopol, Calif.; Trinity Racing)
- Andy Lydic (Boulder, Colo.; BMC #ItCouldBeMe)
- Payson McElveen (Durango, Colo.; Allied Cycle Works)
- Justin McQuerry (Austin, Tex.)
- Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz, Calif.; Santa Cruz, SRAM, htSQD),
- Ethan Overson (Tucson, Ariz.; Scuderia Pinarello)
- Artem Shmidt (Cumming, Ga.; Hagens Berman Axeon)
- Keegan Swenson (Heber City, Utah; Santa Cruz, SRAM, htSQD)
- David Van Orsdel (Minneapolis)
- Alexey Vermeulen (Pinckney, Mich.; Jukebox - ENVE)
- Brennan Wertz (Mill Valley, Calif.; Mosaic Cycles)
Team USA - women's elite
- Morgan Aguirre (Seattle, Wash.)
- Crystal Anthony (Bentonville, Ark.; Liv Racing Collective)
- Heidi Franz (Seattle, Wash.; DNA Pro Cycling)
- Emily Newsom (Fort Worth, Tex.; Roxo Racing)
- Paige Onweller (Belleville, Mich.; Trek/WTB/ABUS/HED/SRAM)
- Lauren Stephens (Dallas, Texas; EF EDUCATION-TIBCO-SVB)
- Alexis Skarda (Grand Junction, Colo.; Santa Cruz Bicycles)
- Katherine Sheridan (Omaha, Neb.)
- Kyleigh Spearing (Frankfort, Ill.)
- Sarah Sturm (Durango, Colo.; Specialized/ Rapha/ Wahoo)
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