The 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World championships concluded with the grand finale featuring the granfondo and mediofondo races over respectively 152 and 114km through the slightly undulating Danish landscape and backcountry.
With 13 starts all split by a 5-minute interval, 2560 riders from 74 different countries were launched on course for a fast and intense race. The expected wind was not present so big groups headed to the finish for a sprint with the bunch.
Fastest time overall was for Italian Mattia Gaffuri who escaped with Danish Lukas Zeeb Engmann Thomsen early in the race but finally got away solo to finish with a 1m14 gap to a group sprinting behind with Kilian Baillievier (BEL) as second and Jeroen Van Voorden (NED) as third.
The fastest female time over all categories was for Arianne Pruisscher (NED) who outsprinted a big peloton in the F19-34 category with her compatriot Maaike De Vries as second and Polish Sonia Cieciel Zambrzycki as third.
In the 114km mediofondo, distance for the men over 60 and women over 50, the respective fastest times were for Jorn Fjeldavlie (NOR) outsprinting Kurt Leuntjens (BEL) and Bernd Schmelz (GER) while Annick Van Leuven (BEL) beated Kristin Lucie Falck (NOR) and Anita Klaiber (SUI) in the sprint in the female categories.
A total of 22 new World Champions were crowned:
M19: Mattia Gaffuri (ITA)
M35: Bjorn De Decker (BEL)
M40: Roman Locher (SUI)
M45: Akihiro Takaoka (JAP)
M50: Nicola Loda (ITA)
M55: Gareth McGuinness (GBR)
M60: Jorn Fjeldavlie (NOR)
M65: Ron Paffen (NED)
M70: Johan Taucher (AUT)
M75: William Triolet (FRA)
M80: Pierre Moreau (FRA)
M85: Michel Lacomme (FRA)
F19: Arianna Pruisscher (NED)
F35: Wies De Jong (NED)
F40: Daniela Gass (GER)
F45: Sofie Rosencrantz (SWE)
F50: Anita Klaiber (SUI)
F55: Annick Van Leuven (BEL)
F60: Olga Cappiello (ITA)
F65: Linda Dewhurst (GBR)
F70: Gisele Thureau (FRA)
F80: Camilla Buchanan (USA)
