The UCI Gran Fondo World Championships can best be described as the WC for amateurs. The event location changes every year. This year marked the last time the championship will be held in Europe for the foreseeable future; next year, it moves to Australia. The relatively flat terrain of Aalborg, Denmark, served as the stage for the 2024 edition. A record-breaking number of participants (around 3,300) traveled to the homeground of Jonas Vingegaard. CycloWorld was present with a strong delegation and takes a look back.
© UCI GF World Series
Just like the "real" WC for the pros, the character of the course changes every year. The rolling 153 km route with 1,270 meters of elevation gain (or 114 km with 800 m+ for the shorter distance) proved to be one for the sprinters. The start and finish were set in the heart of downtown Aalborg. The rest of the race wound through country roads, passing agricultural and natural areas. Unfortunately, there weren’t many scenic views. The elevation was accumulated gradually, as the region has almost no flat sections. Instead, the course undulates gently—a kind of Teletubby-like landscape. Apart from three short but steep climbs lasting 2-3 minutes each, the gradient rarely exceeded 5%. As a result, riders were mainly focused on those brief climbs and the final section through the city street circuit in Aalborg.
But first on Thursday was time for the time trial. Our editor Luc Nouwen (competing for Belgium) prepared meticulously, but was unfortunately hit by bad luck.
"Aalborg offered a fairly flat course with a decent amount of wind. To make things even harder for myself, I slid into the curb during the warm-up and slammed my chest painfully hard against a piece of unyielding street furniture. The result: a scraped ankle, a bleeding knee, a stiff and sore thigh, and a bruised chest."
"The bike was scuffed, and one of the gear shifters on the top of the aero handlebars stopped working. Luckily, I ran into fellow countryman Karel Willems shortly afterward, who guided me to a van where I received first aid, and the gear issue was fixed. Starting on pure adrenaline, then? It hurts anyway during a time trial."
"The first 10 kilometers (out of 33) went fairly well. After that, it became more of a grind. A little after halfway, I was overtaken by the first older riders on whooshing two-wheelers. That's always a blow, especially when you haven't passed anyone yourself. Three more guys with lower bib numbers followed and breezed past me. In the last ten kilometers, my body was done. Mind over body barely worked anymore. I stumbled to the finish in fits and starts, squeezing out a final sprint to finish 30th out of 36 in my category (M65-69). Deeply disappointed, I licked my wounds as the pain took over."
Sunday saw the road races take place. The long route was for the younger riders, while the shorter one catered to the more experienced men and women. When you think of Denmark, you usually expect bad weather, but just like last year in Glasgow, the weather was perfect. Around 20 degrees Celsius with very little wind. Our ambassador Rick Groeneweg represented the Netherlands in the M40-44 category.
Dutch ambassador Rick Groeneweg competed in the M40-44 category.
"In my starting box, there were 287 riders. Belgians were the majority, followed by Danes, Germans, and Dutch. It's always nice to see so many nationalities. The jerseys from Mongolia were also worth exchanging. Why don't cyclists swap jerseys like they do in soccer?"
"Right from the start, the pace was high and it was chaotic. Everyone was fighting for position. I managed to position myself well and was the first up the narrow climb. Several riders tried to break away throughout the race. A small group succeeded for a while, but they weren’t given much of a gap, and before Aalborg, the peloton came back together. By that point, there were still nearly 90 riders out of the 287 in the group. Naturally, everyone wanted to sprint for the win. The Germans and Belgians had some organization, but the Dutch were less coordinated. With a group this large and speeds exceeding 50 kilometers per hour, the road narrowed as we entered the city, and combined with the street furniture, this caused several crashes."
© UCI GF World Series
"I managed to avoid a few crashes and positioned myself well within the last 500 meters, sitting in 4th place, ready for the sprint with two sharp turns left. In the first corner, I got boxed in. If I had pushed through, I would have increased my chances but also the risk of crashing. I chose the safe route, swerved, and lost momentum. Swiss rider Roman Locher had the perfect line and managed to cross the finish three seconds ahead of me after several previous attacks. I eased up in the last 200 meters and finished 14th. Looking back, I’m happy with this result given the course and relieved to be home safe. My next World Championship will need to have longer climbs to improve both my chances and safety."
Despite his crash in the time trial, Luc Nouwen decided to take part in the medio fondo anyway.
"Victor Campenaerts says you have to embrace the pain: mind over body! And there you are, after a year of healthy living, hard training, and prioritizing the bike. A simple bump into a curb leaves me with bruised ribs, a bruise on my thigh, and abrasions on my ankle and knee. When I try to stand up, I can barely manage: my right leg won’t cooperate. I need to embrace the pain before I can even limp back after about ten steps."
© UCI GF World Series
"I’ll have to get on the bike to loosen up anyway, even though the scab on my knee cracks open again. Spinning the legs a bit is fine as long as I don’t breathe too deeply. The center of Aalborg is bustling as we approach the start. It’s chilly, with light wind, but no rain in sight. The warm-up goes well: no curbs to bother me this time. As we line up for the start, I have a pleasant chat with a fellow Dutchman. We joke about treating ourselves if we win, fully knowing we won’t even come close. Still, we feel fortunate to be able to do this at our age. There are 113 participants in the 65-69 age category. The nice part is that we only race against our own category, which makes for a fairer competition. It stayed that way until the younger category blasted past us about 30 km from the finish."
"On the next climb, the group split, and I couldn’t keep up with the top forty. I continued with a group of riders who just didn’t have enough to stick with the leaders. Eating, drinking, and embracing the pain—it all went reasonably well. Given the circumstances, I was satisfied with my 46th place. 'Mind over body' only lasts until the effort ends. I haven’t touched my bike for three days, and now the pain has taken over; there’s nothing left to embrace..."
All results can be found here. A short overview of all world champions can be found here.
Discount on event tickets up to 50% and much more.
