‘It’s the end of a long comeback’ – Florian Vermeersch overcomes adversity to reach top step at the UCI Gravel World Championships

Florian Vermeersch overcame more than the opposition and the winding, narrow tracks, trails and paths of south-western Netherlands to win the UCI Gravel World Championships in Maastricht on Sunday. Not only did the win come on the back of consecutive second places in the two previous editions, it’s only just over 18 months since the 26-year-old Belgian broke his left femur in a horror crash at last year’s Vuelta Murcia. Then riding for Lotto Dstny, Vermeersch had shown good form heading into the Spanish race, but crashed on a descent, the consequent injury putting him out of action for almost six months, in what was a contract year.