The course of the UCI Gravel World Championships taking place in Zuid Limburg on 11-12 October has been approved and is ready to be launched. The course features a start in the town of Beek with most of the course in Beek and Beekdaelen and a finish on the “Groene Loper” in Maastricht, a unique hard-packed gravel path built atop a former highway that was placed in a tunnel a decade ago.
On Saturday, all women elite, women of the age groups until 49 and men of the age groups 50 to 64 have a 131km course with 1190m of elevation, meaning two and a half laps on the local 50km circuit plus the 18km finish loop towards Maastricht.
On the same day, the men over 65 and women over 50 skip the second loop to finish after 81km.
Men elite and the male age groups under 49 do three and a half laps on the same circuit on Sunday for a total distance of 181km and 1650m of elevation.
The first 5.5km on wide-open paved roads will include the Adsteeg, a 700m climb with an average gradient of 5% and a middle section reaching up to 8.5%, a climb also featured in the Amstel Gold Race. This early ascent is expected to spread out the peloton quickly.
Subsequent laps will see riders skip this initial paved section and head directly onto the gravel. The route is characterized by its hilly nature, with a significant gravel climb at the 12.5km mark of each lap that is steep in its first half. Another difficult climb, the Diependaalsweg, appears after 40km and includes sandy sections at the top.
The hardest climb of the day comes on the finishing loop to Maastricht, where the Bronsdalweg, a 1km climb with an average gradient of 7.2% and a peak of over 8%, will be a decisive factor with only 14km remaining to the finish line on the “Groene Loper.”
This combination of varied terrain and challenging climbs sets the stage for a spectacular and memorable Bolero 2025 UCI Gravel World Championships in Zuid-Limburg. For more information on the course, a GPX file of the shortest distance is available here
