So here we are, ready the main event! The Elite Road Race World Championship! The press have spilt a lot of ink over this one and the consensus seems to point to an extended list of favourites for today’s race. In the absence of Tom Boonen, who would normally be the biggest favourite here, the race is much more open. Here are the people who are tipped as the ones to watch: Cancellara Burghardt Ballan Bewley Franzoi Vanspeybrouck Summerhill
But after 250km of racing, 4 climbs of the Muur and another 2km of cobbles, who knows what could happen? The U23 race came down to the strongest cobblers fighting for the win, but here things may be different.
Our race begins and kicking things off first is Claerebout.
He is joined by: Bobridge Navarauskas Novak Albasini Coppel
Of these teams the most surprising are France and obviously Switzerland. France have a couple of outside bets in the race without an out-and-out favourite. Switzerland, on the other hand, has Cancellara here. The Swiss are obviously worried about their ability to control the race.
More riders look to make a name for themselves today as we get a new wave of attacks: Bennett Zabriskie Van Heerden Larsson Vink
Clearly New Zealand have taken a leaf out of Switzerland’s book by trying to put men up the road. Of the favourites, Bewley probably has the weakest team around him and as such he really needs to get men into the break to save them having to work. Interesting also to see both Coppel and Zabriskie up here after failing to grab the win in the TT.
Belgium and Germany are clearly not happy with the group as it stands and so they start to accelerate. This doesn’t stop the attacks, however as three more riders look to get away: Tennant Mugerli Tolleson
Another team who might be fighting to get in the break today are Great Britain, who have Blythe here as an outside chance. A lot of teams also seem to be trying to get multiple riders up the road, perhaps because of the fact that this course is so long.
The pace is too high for all these riders to get away, however, and so everything is run down by Belgium, Germany and Italy, with Gilbert making the catch. The Belgians have a number of strong riders here and are performing in front of home crows. Vanspeybrouck is their notional leader, but Steegmans and Maes have been considered at least outsiders by most.
The next attempt to form a group comes from numerous riders who had already made an attempt: Mugerli Claerebout Bennett Tolleson Bobridge Novak Coppel Zabriskie
These 8 start to get a bit of a gap, and then three more riders bridge up to them: Paterski Kulppi Van Heerden
Interestingly, Kulppi is one of the only Free Agents in this entire race. Clearly he is looking for a contract for next year. It is also good to see wild card entries South Africa making themselves visible, justifying their entry.
With the 11 riders up front things calm down, but only for a second. A fresh wave of attackers tries to get up to the front of the race: Larsson Albasini M. Iglinski Morabito Navarauskas Henao Tennant
With 18 riders now up the road, including two from Switzerland and a few other countries with strong leaders, the same three nations as before shut it down. This time it is Ricco who makes the catch, showing the selectors that they shouldn’t have snubbed him last year. The Giro winner is determined to work his heart out for his team leaders Ballan and Franzoi.
Our next attack comes from just two men – Mugerli and Tennant. Both of them have been involved in all the previous attempts to some degree and are clearly supposed to get in the break as part of the team plan.
These two get a gap of 1’30” and it looks as if we are going to only have a small break today but of course there are always more riders willing to give it a go. First up we have Zabriskie Paterski Forero
Then in small groups we start to get even more attackers. First we have Stalder Caerebout Van Heerden
Then we get Morabito Stundzia
The gap isn’t particularly high so then we get a mixture of other riders coming up, one by one: Vink Albasini Haavardsholm Novak M. Iglinski
The question must be asked – do Switzerland really need three men up the road? None of them are particularly good cobblestone riders, so it is possible that this is the only way to guarantee that they may be where Cancellara needs them later in the race, but three riders seems excessive. Regardless, the 15 riders form a group 3 minutes ahead of the peloton with 161km to go. It has taken 90km to form this group.
There is a lot of talking going on in the peloton amongst the big teams. There seems to be some concern over the size of this group and the number of Swiss riders in it. Because of this once again Italy, Germany and Belgium start to ramp up the pace. Within 10km they have shut down the 3 minute gap and with 152km left to ride we still don’t have a break. Ponzi makes the catch this time.
The first attacker to get things started again is Larsson. The Swede has been riding aggressively all day and seems to be in good shape.
The first person to try to bridge up to him is Captain America himself, Zabriskie. The USA haven’t been doing a lot of work for Summerhill on the front of the peloton, preferring to try to get into the break. This is important to do because Summerhill really lacks support riders in this team.
The next group is a bit larger: Paterski Lhotellerie Boom Broers Rojas Gil
The Netherlands have been riding a very anonymous race for the last 110km, not eeven sitting near the front for the most part. Boom and Broers are both high quality riders on the cobblestones, with Boom winning at E3 Prijs earlier this season. Rojas is arguably Spain’s team leader here, so this is clearly their big gamble. Finally, Lhotellerie is one of France’s top cobblestone riders, and so this is also their big chance to really pull something out of the bag against the bigger names. All in all this is an interesting group of riders.
These 7 riders are all together with a 1’09” gap as we hit the Muur for the first time. Rojas hits the Muur first and is clearly trying to push on. He has really gambled on this break and needs it to work hard.
Boom sets a hard pace up the cobbled climb and only Broers and Lhotellerie can follow him, with the other three all dropping off behind them. They go over the top with a 41” gap to Rojas. They catch him soon afterwards and make a lead group of four.
Germany and Belgium set the pace on the way up in the peloton and a front group of 40 riders splits off from the rest.
The biggest favourites all make the split with no trouble, but amongst those dropped are some very outside tips and team leaders, such as: Hushovd Fenn Ventoso Stybar Langeveld Muravjev
And also the defending champion Van Garderen, who really won’t like this course for his title defence.
Clearly the British are riding for several of their riders and Fenn is one of them, because Faiers and Tennant work together to bring the race back, which will probably cost them some energy but keeps Fenn in play as a wildcard bet for later in the race.
Having unsuccessfully tried all morning to get someone in the break, Switzerland now start working on the front of the peloton. Germany also deserves special recognition for doing more than any other team. Clearly they have huge confidence in Burghardt, who comes into this as one of the biggest favourites. Regardless, the pace seems to have slowed somewhat as everyone is content to let the break go away.
As we start the second ascent of the Muur, we get some time checks, which show just how much the gap has grown:
48”
5’21”
6’09”
4 Leaders
--->
3 Chasers
--->
Peloton
Once again the Dutch riders up front hit the pace and this time it is Broers who leads up the Muur. All four of them look pretty comfortable with the pace up front.
Back in the peloton, as they come up the Muur, Steurs sets the pace. He is very talented over the cobbles so this should definitely hurt some legs.
And hurt it does as 16 riders go clear! The Germans go straight to the front and the Belgians just sit up. Why? Vanspeybrouck was stuck behind someone on the way up and is only in the second group on the road. The Belgians drift back to the second group while the Germans and Summerhill really work to stop them.
The pace really lifts, even though there are only 11 riders in the front group and the chase is truly on. Eventually, however, numbers begin to tell and the Belgians drag the second group back.
This high pace has resulted in 53 riders dropping off the back for good. There aren’t any huge favourites here but the biggest names are: Offredo Aulas Cooke Posthuma
And, of course, Van Garderen.
Meanwhile, up front, the Muur once again approaches. Broers again hits it first and we get another chance to see what the time gaps are like with 68km remaining:
2’32”
3’16”
5’48”
4 Leaders
--->
3 Chasers
--->
Peloton
This time when the peloton hits the climb it is Steegmans who sets the pace. The fact that the Belgians have one of the outside favourites working shows the huge strength in their team. The Swiss and the Germans are still very present around the front with the French and Italians just hovering as well.
And under the pressure the race just splinters apart as the peloton forms three large groups. The first group of 27 riders contains all of the big favourites and some of the outsiders too.
The second group of 23 riders contains: Coyot Rowe Veelers Maes Fenn Gaudin Nolf Pozzato Thomas
The third group, containing 26 men, is mostly lesser riders and domestiques, but also includes: Stybar Hushovd Ventoso Muravjev
Clearly the British were worried by the way the race had shaped up, with most of their top riders except Blythe sitting in the second group on the road. Rowe and Fenn really pull hard to bring the second peloton back, making a lead group of 50 riders containing almost all of the favourites and outsiders. The third peloton, meanwhile, despite the hard work of Norway, can’t make it back.
Just as the second peloton rejoins the chase group are caught by Kluge. They have had a long day in the saddle, but Larsson, Zabriskie and Paterski can all be proud of the effort they have made today.
With 50km to go the gap still sits at 4’34” but it is notably coming down as fatigue really starts to hit the breakaway men. Up front, with 34km to go, the break hit the Muur for the final time. Boom leads the break up and no one drops. Everyone seems to realise that they all have to work together from here.
Back in the peloton, 3’09” later, Pozzato hits the front. He was in the second group earlier, but is clearly feeling much better. This is the first time that the Belgians haven’t set the pace going up the Muur, but they are still lurking around the front.
And over the top 29 riders go clear. There isn’t time to figure out who is here however, as we go straight on to a 2km section of cobbles that will take us to the long run in to the finish. Summerhill hits them first, doing all his own work at this point, with no teammates anywhere around him.
Steegmans takes over on the front and strings the group out a little bit more, meaning that we can finally get a look at who is and isn’t here as the group thins down again to 25 men.
The lack of British jerseys is notable and it becomes clear that all the British riders have been dropped, including their leader Blythe! Veelers, Gaudin and Coyot are the other big names who didn’t make the cut, which means that all the French and Dutch riders are also out of this front group. In fact the front group mostly consists of domestiques from the same four teams which have dominated the front of the peloton thus far. The riders still left are:
Vanspeybrouck, Steegmans, Maes, Steurs, Nolf, Gilbert, Bakelants, Roelandts, Van Stayen Burghardt, Sieberg, Kluge, Eichler, Schumacher Ballan, Franzoi, Pozzato, Ponzi, Corioni Cancellara, Rast, D. Wyss Bewley Summerhill Kozontchuk
In fact it is worth noting that Belgium still have all nine riders which they began the race with. As the race leaves the cobbles with 30km remaining the gap is still at 3 minutes to the four leaders. The gap to the second peloton starts to grow and things are looking dire for Great Britain.
Speaking of the four leaders the cameras quickly change to them as things heat up! Lhotellerie and Boom put in an attack!
Under the 20km to go banner, these two riders have a gap over the two chasers who they rode away from. Strangely, Broers is contributing to the chase, perhaps sensing that this could be the only chance he will ever get to have a crack at the World Championship.
The gaps are:
28”
2’17”
2’45”
Boom
--->
Broers
--->
Peloton (25)
Lhotellerie
Rojas
The gap is starting to get away from the peloton, who have a fair bit of work left to do. Meanwhile, the chasers manage to catch the other two leaders and with 18km to go Boom attacks again.
Boom gets a solid 35” gap over the others, but the peloton are starting to bear down on them in the background. The two blue squads are pushing things on.
Under the 10km to go banner, the gap has come down considerably:
42”
58”
1’40”
Boom
--->
3 Chasers
--->
Peloton (25)
Boom’s gap to the other 3 is starting to increase but the peloton are still making up ground on the Dutchman.
The pace is getting absolutely hammered on the long, wide straights. The Belgians, Germans and Italians are still all pushing this pace along and even Bewley is contributing, realising that he really needs to shut this down as much as anyone.
With 5km remaining things are still pretty tight:
57”
24”
1’21”
Boom
--->
3 Chasers
--->
Peloton (25)
The tension is just incredible, the crowd on the sidelines are willing the peloton on, with so many of their Belgian heroes in it.
With 3.1km remaining the chase group are caught by the peloton. For a while it looked like they had a medal almost guaranteed but now they will end up with nothing. Schumacher is putting this big effort it. Boom still has 1 minute!
And the sprint opens up! The chase has meant that no trains were formed, and everyone is left for themselves. Pozzato, Gilbert and Steegmans are all up the front as they go past the former breakaway riders. All the other Belgians are close to the front too.
The injection of pace starts to reduce the gap. Boom can see the finish line and can almost feel the world championship jersey on his back! He has to put himself through purgatory for another 1500 metres!
Pozzato, Gilbert and Steegmans are closing the gap as Boom goes into the final kilometre.
And now Burghardt starts to come up behind the three leading sprinters, with a huge increase in pace! Ballan, Cancellara, Bewley and Vanspeybrouck all start to come to the fore as well!
But it will not be their day! The 27 year old Dutch all-rounder raises his arms into the air and lets out a bestial cry! Lars Boom is the new world champion!
Burghardt comes through just a couple of seconds later, devastation drawn on his face. Ballan is in third and the overall favourite going into the race, Cancellara doesn’t make the podium with his fourth place. But on a day like this there is only one step on the podium which matters.
The cameras switch to a man yelling just as loudly as Boom – it is roturn, the team manager of Lars Boom’s Team Rothaus – Aegon, riding under a Continental license this year. He runs over and embraces the Dutchman. There are tears of joy in both of their eyes.
Tom Boonen, who would normally be the biggest favourite here, the race is much more open. Here are the people who are tipped as the ones to watch:
Cancellara
Burghardt
Ballan
Bewley
Summerhill
Claerebout.
Bobridge
Navarauskas
Novak
Coppel
Van Heerden
Larsson
Tennant
Mugerli
Paterski
Kulppi
M. Iglinski
Henao
Haavardsholm
Boom
Rojas Gil
Kozontchuk
