European-based road pros will take on privateers and U.S.-based gravel specialists in the first UCI Gravel World Championships in Italy this weekend.

The official entry list includes Mathieu van der Pol, Magnus Kort, Tiffany Cromwell, Greg Van Avermaet, Peter Sagan, Rachel Neylan, and Miguel Angel Lopez in the elite race.

Van der Pol and Sagan confirmed that they will finish the 2022 season in gravel racing, but more names surfaced before many national federations confirmed their lineups.

Forty-eight women made the elite entry list, bringing the total to 552 riders registered for this first edition of the Gravel Worlds.

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot will try to win her fourth world title of 2022 in Saturday's elite women's race, while Lauren De Crescenzo and Sarah Sturm will lead the US team.

They face competition from Australia's Tiffany Cromwell, Liejeanne Marx of the Netherlands, and Italy's Letizia Borghesi and Sofia Bertizzolo. Trek-Segafredo's Elisa Longo Borghini (winner of the Giro delle Miglia and Tre Valli Varesine road races) was also on the start list, but in a recent Twitter update said she wished she could have participated but in fact plans to compete in the Tour de Romandie

He was also a member of the Tour de Romandie team.

The men's elite entry list includes Van der Pol, Sagan, and Van Avermaat, as well as former cyclocross world champion and classic winner Zdenek Stibal, his Quick Step-Alfavinir teammate Davide Ballerini, Sagan's lead-out man Daniel Oss, Lilian Carmejane (AG2R Citroen), Movistar's Carlos Verona, Alessandro De Marchi (Israel-Premier Tech) and 138 others.

While some riders may be running just to please their bike sponsors, others have serious ambitions driven by their bike prowess and love of gravel.

Nathan Haas and Alex Howes lead the gravel specialists, and Lachlan Morton is on the entry list but has yet to be confirmed for the final round of the Lifetime GP series in Arkansas on October 22, Many of the U.S.-based gravel riders will be absent as they prepare for the Big Sugar Gravel.

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the entry list for the Gravel World Championships is the name of Colombian climber Lopez.

He will ride Il Lombardia on Saturday and may dash to Veneto for the men's race on Sunday. Astana Kazakstan teammates Alexey Lutsenko, Leonardo Basso, and under-23 road race world champion Evgeny Fedorov will also race on Sunday. Lutsenko won the Serenissima gravel race in the Veneto region last year.

The elite women's, women's age group, and men's over-50 categories will take place on Saturday, October 8, on a 140-km course between Vicenza and Cittadella.

The elite men's and under-49 categories will race on the same route on Sunday, but the elite men will race two additional 25 km final circuits for a total of 190 km.

For the elite men, 73% of the course will be on gravel roads, with the remainder on narrow streets in the Veneto region of northern Italy.

According to UCI rules, any type of bicycle can be used as long as it weighs at least 6.8 kg, including gravel, road, cyclocross, and mountain bikes. There are no restrictions on tire width, but given the early fall weather, riders are expected to opt for fast 32mm tires, and some riders, like Strade Bianche, may use road bikes.

Wheel changes are permitted in the feed zone, but bike changes are prohibited.