Laurens ten Dam: Gravel World Championships will have a Strade Bianche feel

Laurens ten Dam has played down his chances ahead of the UCI Gravel World Championships, telling GCN that while he is raring to go in Sunday’s race, he doesn’t have the explosiveness to match the WorldTour professionals.

Veneto, Italy, plays host to the second edition of the UCI Gravel Worlds, with the elite women racing on Saturday before the men go head-to-head the following day.

Ten Dam, 42, has a vault of WorldTour and gravel experience and, after finishing 16th at the recent European Championships, the veteran’s confidence is on the rise.

"My strategy in the race is going to be based around trying to follow for as long as possible. With the Europeans last weekend, I did the same and maybe on Sunday I can try and jump in front if other riders start to look at each other," Ten Dam told GCN during a sit-down interview at Specialized's temporary base in Conegliano.

"Then maybe you can try and do something but, to be honest, with how I trained for the Worlds, it’s been more difficult for me to get one month away from all the other things that I’m running than it was before Unbound."

• Race Preview: UCI Gravel World Championships

The biggest threat to Ten Dam and the rest of the gravel regulars is the influx of WorldTour pro riders who have travelled to Italy in search of a highly prized rainbow jersey.

Wout van Aert, Florian Vermeersch, and Matej Mohorič are among the stellar line-up, and while they have been fully dedicated to training and racing, Ten Dam’s life has been slightly more eclectic in terms of priorities.

"My condition is a little less than it was earlier in the year and I’m facing riders like Florian, Wout van Aert, and Mohorič. As we say in Holland, I’ll try and sell my skin as expensively as possible. Those WorldTour guys are real professionals so I’m downplaying my chances just a little bit,” he said.

"I was quite surprised with my result at Euros. I had quite a busy week with my podcast, and then Nikki Terpstra, who was going to be there [for the Netherlands], broke his thumb. My dad had his birthday and I promised my kids a little bike ride. I took Nikki and his wife to the hospital and I arrived at the campsite before Euros at 11pm."

Pacing will no doubt be key throughout this weekend’s racing. Several riders, including Ten Dam, expect a supercharged pace right from the gun as the WorldTour contingent look to put their rivals on the back foot as early as possible.

"What I’ve noticed is that of course there are riders more explosive than me but if they go really fast from the gun then it’s about endurance," Ten Dam said.

"In the end, [at the Gravel European Championship] I was in a group with a lot of cyclo-cross guys so things levelled out. A few kilometres more would have suited me better but I was happy with 16th and that’s given me the morale for Worlds.

“It will be a little technical, for the guys with the best skills, and we know how Mohorič goes downhill. Then you have the WorldTour riders who were going high-intensity recently on the Vamburg [at the Road European Championship], so I expect that the race rhythm that the WorldTour riders have will make them the favourites. It’s different to Unbound where you chug along for 10 hours."

One of the most pleasing aspects, as far as Ten Dam is concerned, is the fact that this year’s races are being viewed as more in-line with pure gravel racing.

Last year, riders raced on road bikes, and there was virtually no gravel in sight. This time around, there are longer stretches of gravel, and some of the steep off-road climbs have the potential to blow the race to pieces.

“I’m happy, because this is a real gravel race," Ten Dam said.

"We’ve changed my tyres into 38 Pathfinders. Last year riders were on 30 or 32s. The dust and dirt, it’s going to make it more like Strade Bianche.”

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