Gravel World Championships to take place in the Netherlands after Nice pulled out

The Gravel World Championships will take place in the Netherlands this year, the UCI announced on Friday.

The showpiece gravel event was initially due to be held in and around Nice and the Cote d’Azur region in the south of France, but due to "various constraints" and "technical" reasons it was previously announced that the French riviera could no longer hold the UCI event on 18 and 19 October.

As well as a location change, the worlds will also be held one weekend earlier on 11 and 12 October in the Zuid-Limburg region of the Netherlands, in collaboration with the Maatricht, Beek and Beekdaelen municipalities.

"The UCI and the City of Nice acknowledged the difficulties of organising the event in the capital of the French Riviera on that date, and in view of various constraints, technical and regarding the calendar, it was mutually agreed not to organize the 4th edition of the UCI worlds for gravel in Nice," a statement from cycling's governing body read at the time of the withdrawal of Nice.

"I'm delighted that the South-Limburg region, in the province of Limburg, will be involved in the organisation of the 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships and would like to thank them for submitting their bid after the city of Nice withdrew," UCI President David Lappartient said this week.

"By hosting the UCI Gravel World Championships, the province of Limburg has further enhanced its standing as a leading cycling region at international level, while contributing to the development of gravel, a discipline that is still quite new and has considerable potential for growth," he added.

Mathieu van der Poel and Marianne Vos are the current world champions after winning the men’s and women’s races in Belgium last autumn.

According to the UCI, the race organiser, Golazo, has worked closely with the various local stakeholders to ensure that the ecological impact of the championships is kept to a minimum.

This year's competition will be the fourth running of the championships after two editions were held in Italy before last year’s action was held in the Flanders region of Belgium.