Valtteri Bottas heads to the UCI clay world championship in Belgium – F1journaal.be

Stake F1 Team driver Valtteri Bottas qualified for the UCI Gravel World Championships in our country last Saturday by finishing sixth in the Swartberg 100 gravel race in South Africa.

Last fall, Valtteri Bottas said he hoped to qualify for the 2024 Gravel World Championships, which will take place in our country later this year, and he succeeded last Saturday. In the Swartberg 100 gravel race in South Africa he finished sixth in his age category.

The Swartberg 100 is part of the UCI Gravel World Series, an event of 26 races around the world. Riders who finish in the first 25 percent of their age category during a Gravel World Series race are automatically qualified for the world championship, which will take place in our country in Halle-Leuven on October 5 and 6.

Bottas’ sixth place was just enough because there were 24 participants in the 35-39 age category, he took 6 hours 27 minutes and 47 seconds to complete the 170 km race with 2900 meters of elevation gain.

The Finn was of course delighted with his own performance, but it was a double celebration at the Bottas home because his girlfriend Tiffany Cromwell won the women’s race. The jersey that Bottas wore during the race will be auctioned in aid of the ‘Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation.’