2 days Ago By [email protected] (Simone Giuliani)
The March racing in the 2025 UCI Gravel World Series ended with the cross-border 114 Gravel, with Matthew Holmes and Lucia Gonzalez Blanco claiming victory in the 123km race which started in Portugal and concluded in Spain. The new inclusion in the global series, but fifth edition of the event, delivered a sprint finish at the end of the men's elite race between former road professional Holmes and Jose Maria Sanchez Ruiz, with the British Factor Racing rider claiming the top spot after 3 hours and 13 minutes. It was then more than eight-and-a-half minutes back to Enrique Morcillo Vergara who beat Daan Grosemans in the sprint for third.
In the women's elite race Spain's Gonzalez Blanco (Nesta - MMR) carved out a small gap to runner-up Annabel Fisher, with the British rider just having returned to the bike after a season of ski racing. It was then more than two minutes back to third-placed Varvara Fasoi. The race – which started in the medieval town of Elvas in Portugal and finished over the border in Badajoz, Spain – took in farmland and sandy trails along the Guadiana River which acts as a natural border between Portugal and Spain.
It was the sixth qualifying round for the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships, which currently has its location and date up in the air after it was announced in February that Nice would no longer host the event. The next event in the UCI Gravel World Series is Austria's Wörthersee Gravel Race which takes place on April 6. The organisers of this event are among those who have put their hand up to take on the yet to be officially relocated World Championships this year.
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