Gianni Vermeersch and Daniel Oss shared power on the gravel roads of Veneto, Italy, in a 150km battle of attacks in the first UCI Gravel World Championships.

The Belgian rider from Alpecin-Desseuninck broke away on a singletrack section with around 10 km to go and held on.

Vermeer won the sprint for the bronze medal from Alpecin-Desseuninck team leader Mathieu Van Der Pol, who took the first rainbow jersey of a gravel world champion by 1:28.

Greg van Avermaat and Astana's Evgeny Fedorov, the under-23 road race world champion, were fifth and EF Education-Easypost's Magnus Court was sixth to round out the top 10 professional road racers.

Vermeersch has won three road races in his career and has been racing cyclocross since 2012, but his victory at the Gravel World Championships was significant.

"I think it's the biggest win of my career," he said. I never thought I'd be world champion, and to win the first gravel world championship is something special. It's special.

"In cyclocross I've always raced with Mathieu and Wout van Aert, so it's almost impossible to be world champion in cross, and the level on the road is so high. This was my only chance to become world champion and I took it."

Os attacked after 40km. To protect the chances of Belgian team leader Greg van Avermaat and van der Pol, Vermeer decided to play his cards.

As the others struggled to slow down and decisively chase, Vermeer and Os worked smoothly together, never looking back, and received the all-important timer check from the quad bikes filming the race for television coverage.

"It was a flat race, but a hard one, and finishing one by one showed how hard and fast it was," Os said.

"After some other attacks on the climbs and fast corners, we pulled away. I slipped and the gap opened up and everyone was under pressure. If you get away like that, you can gain a minute or two right away. Once you get away, like in Paris-Roubaix, it's hard to come back because the speed of the attack and the group is almost the same.

"It was a big opportunity for both of us, so we worked hard together. It was hard to keep up with him in the technical last 10 kilometers.

Vermeer seized his chance on a long singletrack section along the embankment and just pulled away.

"The last singletrack was perfect for me, it was like cyclocross," he explained.

"When I left the singletrack, there was a gap between me and Daniel.

Vermeer will compete in the gravel world champion jersey in Friday's Serenissima Gravel Professional race, part of the end-of-season races in Veneto, Italy. However, he has yet to change the direction of his career and race gravel full time.

"I don't intend to become a pure gravel racer. I want to be more successful on the road and in cyclocross. Later in my career I might focus on gravel," he said.

Os is still waiting to reveal his gravel racing and riding plans, but he will remain an important road race domestique for Peter Sagan in TotalEnergies in 2023. But he felt the importance of his silver medal and the fact that this UCI Gravel World Championships was being held for the first time.

"I think this is a new point in cycling history and for gravel cycling," he suggested.

"It was a great day. Gravel includes a lot of different ideas, but as far as racing goes, this is a great way to start. I hope it will inspire other riders to participate in the future. I will definitely be back."