Niewiadoma won gold in 4hours 49min 44.50sec after a bold attack in the final 25 kilometres of the course.

By the end she was 32 seconds clear of silver medallist Silvia Persico of Italy who clocked a time of 4:50:17.34 after a sprint for the line with Tour de France Femmes champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands.

Vollering was forced to settle for bronze after crossing the line in 4:50:17.36.

In a statement, the UCI said it regretted that there was no live television coverage of the race.

"L’Union Cycliste Internationale has been informed by the Organising Committee of the 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships in Veneto that today's women's elite race will not be broadcasted live due to no TV production," a UCI statement said.

"The UCI regrets this decision and invites all fans to follow the race live on social media, a summary of the race will be posted online as soon as possible, and numerous highlights of the competition will be broadcasted during the men's elite race on Sunday."

The UCI have insisted that in future, providing coverage of both elite races will be a condition of staging the Championships.

"As of the next edition of the UCI Gravel World Championships, UCI will make it mandatory for event organisers to provide TV production for both the men's elite and the women's elite races," the UCI statement added.

Slovenia’s Matej Mohorič, who won the 19th stage of this year's Tour de France, triumphed in the men’s elite race.

Mohorič came home to win in a time of 4:53:56, a margin of 43 seconds over Belgium’s Florian Vermeersch, who took silver in 4:54:39.45.

Britain’s Connor Swift came in to take bronze with a time of 4:57:36.60.

Mohorič made his break with less than 18 kilometres to go but recovered from a crash in the final 3.5 kilometres as he tried to accelerate.

He had been unaware that Vermeersch, winner of the inaugural world title in this event last year, had lost further ground after problems with his chain.