The road race has arrived, and with the 2012 worlds set to be one more suited to the sprinters, many of the peloton's puncheurs will be very keen on a strong race-winning performance here. This season has already shown unpredictability in the hills, but Frank Schleck of Luxembourg will start as favourite. Continental riders Schumacher and Ginanni are also highly tipped - but neither have had particularly great seasons. Our defending champion Valverde leads the Spanish team, while Boasson Hagen, Trofimov and Van Garderen have all won ProTour classics this season. Robert Gesink should also be added to the mix, and maybe Belgian Bakelandts aswell.
Finally, we cant avoid mentioning Taylor Phinney. The Tour de Suisse champion has claimed 3 World titles already this week, and while unlikely, if circumstances go his way, and he gets clear on his own - who knows?
The route should be familiar now, and it is 5 laps of the course today.
Swiss rider Zahner starts the attacks, and Jacques-Maynes, Machado, Hansen, Ratiy, Rohregger and Tennant go with him
Duarte, Posthuma, Guldhammer, Deignan, Danculovic, Gastauer, Impey, Kessiakoff, Hushovd, Vital, and Nepomnyachsniy also attack up, but 18 riders is deemed too many, so the Spanish and Germans chase it down
A group of 6 now gets away, Jacques-Maynes, Appleby, Duarte, Ratiy, Delgado and Iglinski
Some interesting names, and together they may have been allowed to go. But with the gap at a minute more attackers! Pires, Morabito, Vorganov, Kessiakoff and Impey. Thats a group of 11, and again, the peloton seem happy. But when Bak, Moinard and Danculovic go, thats judged too many, and so chased down again - end of lap 1.
Hushovd has punctured off the back, and others have already been dropped: Raisin, Busche, Chacon, Rodriguez, Faiers, Sulzberger, Grychenko, Bileka, Van Heerden, Schinker, Stevenson, Persson and Johansson
Leukemans, Steensen and Diggle then try to go away, but the descent blocks them. Interestingly, Bakelandts is relaying on the front along with the Spaniards - surely he is the Belgian team leader? Maybe not
14 more attackers: Zahner, Ratiy, Rohregger, Hansen, Jacques-Maynes, Machado, Tennant then Bak, Deignan, Moinard, Duarte, Kvasina, Gastauer and Pires
But then Iglinski, Posthuma, Impey, Leukemans and Petrov attack aswell. Surprise surprise they dont like it and so they are chased down - by Contador, Gil, Klemme and Fothen
Some of these riders quickly try again though, Duarte and Petrov forming a strong leading duo.
Jacques-Maynes and Hansen are at 30 seconds, Kvasina and Pires at 1 minute - then Morabito and Gustov attack aswell. Onto the descent and a very motivated Matea Kvasina has ridden across to Duarte and Petrov - urged on by his Croatian fans.
Gustov, Pires, Jacque-Maynes, Hansen and Morabito also make it across and this is our breakaway of the day
The peloton slow and all but 7 riders from those dropped regain contact. Those in for a long day of suffering off the back are Bileka, Hushovd, Van Heerden, Schinker, Stevensson, Persson and Johansson.
Lap 2 ends, the break leads by 2'20
A mixture of Dutch, Italian, German and Spanish riders take turns on the peloton which helps to control the gap of the breakaway, but it looks like the only action on Lap 3 will be Menchov puncturing, and then regaining contact.
Until Robert Gesink attacks...
The Dutch team leader takes just 4km to cross a 3 minute gap, but what on earth is he doing attacking with 140km to go? Some would call it an interesting move, others would call it mad.
Gesink isnt the only one though. Uran and Claeys would also have gotten away a couple of kilometres later, if not for a descent
Norwegian Wilman then tries an attack a little later. Id noticed him a few kilometres before that dropped off the back, so its an odd move, that predictably fails. But it does lead to a move by Irishman Dan Martin - mid-stage moves in hilly races has been his main role in continental races this season afterall.
The Spanish relay train suffers a blow as Gil punctures but they and the Germans are still going strong - with some Russian help aswell. We end Lap 3 with Gesink leading the break, 1'20 ahead of Dan Martin, who in turn is 2'25 ahead of the peloton.
And after the descent at the start of each lap, with precisely 100km to go, Rigoberto Uran does what he threatened to do earlier, and attacks away
Dan Martin catches the break, but Gesink has moved on
By the time Uran reaches this group, Gesink is 1'14 ahead - with the peloton 3 minutes behind Gesink.
More riders are dropping off the back, which can only mean one thing, the pace at the front of the peloton has been lifted!
Uran's move evidently isnt popular as Contador, Cobo and LL Sanchez turn the screw - a Luxembourg presence also towards the front, Kirchen and Frank Schleck riding up there - and Valverde is the Spaniard directly in front of him.
Uran and Petrov try to stay clear, but the Spanish are having none of it
With 71km to go, it is only Gesink leading. He does so by 2 minutes but as he crosses the line to end Lap 4, that is down to 1 minute - the likes of Samuel Sanchez have been spotted relaying, with the Germans joining in again aswell
48km to go, and after almost 100km clear, the game is up for Gesink
Onto the steep climb one last time then, and it is Kim Kirchen setting the pace now for Luxembourg
He pulls off, and Frank Schleck attacks!!
Valverde follows, but they cant get very far - and Sinkewitz is chasing hard
And so just 3km after attacking, they are both caught - rather than simply setting tempo, perhaps the Spanish should have tried to destroy the peloton before unleashing Valverde? Luxembourg hardly had the strength in depth to do such a thing
The front group is now down to 45 though!
But a group of 26 remains close. Led by Bakelandts, it includes 2 Italians in Caruso and Anza plus the likes of Evans, Zabriskie, Gesink and last year's Bronze medallist Henao Montoya.
They are able to catch up as we wait to see if anyone will pick it up - Valverde even allowing himself to be in effect on the front of the peloton - but the only person relaying seems to be Kirchen.
17 more, including the likes of Chris Froome, are able to get back on. Boosting the group to 86, as we end the steepest section of the race. 22km to go, theres still more uphill kilometres for a selection to be made though.
Germany take to the front, but the pace hardly looks challenging
13km to go and Pozzato attacks! Fellow continental rider Gilbert counters. Except, theyve waited until the very top and the descent stops them going further. We now have roughly 10km of descent, still with an 86 man front group.
Nothing happend on the descent so as the finish comes into view with 3.4km to go, we've got Sinkewitz, Burghardt, Wegmann, S Sanchez, Cobo and Lopez Garcia on the front, leading the peloton
2km to go, Tejay van Garderen attacks! Pozzato counters - is that Hagen going too?
No, the Norwegian is just riding normally trying to get into a good position - as is Trofimov on the other side of the road. Phillipe Gilbert however, is trying to follow the move
And soon we are within range for the sprint to begin. In the Badaling International, Frank Schleck showed his strength in these, but the race favourite looks a long way down the line, besides a cluster of Spaniards - Valverde is on the far left, besides an Italian.
Valverde, Schleck and Trofimov look the fastest, but they still have to close in on the 3 who attacked late - while Rodriguez Oliver and Sinkewitz are going well in the middle of the road
Its clear Valverde and Schleck started too far back, but Trofimov is closing in as Pozzato also tries to find a way - still Van Garderen leads
And Tejay van Garderen is the new World Champion! Holding on to complete an incredibe run of results for the USA.
Trofimov takes silver on the line, the overhead shot showing just how close he came to overhauling Van Garderen - 3rd meanwhile is a great result for the unlikely Italian leader Pozzato.
Gilbert held off Hagen for 4th, while Valverde edged Schleck for 6th - Rodriguez Oliver, Sinkewitz and Schumacher rounding out the Top 10. The man that was assumed to be Italian team leader, Ginanni, is 13th, just ahead of the top Dutch rider - Thomas Dekker. And there in 16th is Taylor Phinney, evidently in the form of his life.
But ultimately this World Championships is surely a dissapointment for the fans - maybe not if you are American - there is no way that this route should have led to 86 riders finishing on the same time.
