The World Championship kicks off today in Nagasaki, Japan, with the B Road Race. 24 countries will fight for the win today and the big prize of joining another 23 countries in the main Road Race to have a shot for the Rainbow Jersey.
The main favourite here should be Petr Vakoc, of Czech Republic, the only 80 puncheur in the race, but riders as Nicolas Roche, Christopher Jull-Jensen, Rasmus Guldhammer or even Rein Taaramae should’t be written off the fight. And also a dark horse could Hugo Houle, that while not being as strong in hills as others, if the race is ridden “slow”, could use his great sprint skills to beat the others
The first attack comes from South Korea and Moldavia with Seo and Braico. They open a big gap already in the first kms, as the bunch looks happy with only a 2-rider breakaway
Less than 15 kms into the race and we already have the first crash of the day. It looks like a Tunisian rider, a Moldavian rider and a Belarus rider have tangled up in the exit of a left tight bend. They are Masnaoui, Cioban and Koshevoy. But behind them there are another couple of riders, and these are important: Moazemi and Amador, the leaders of Iran and Costa Rica are in the ground!
And terrible news for Costa Rica, as Andrey Amador is forced to withdrawn of the race with a broken collaborne...
The riders are about to enter the circuit which features the two key climbs of the race; Inasadake and Chome, when we get the news that Jakub Novak has decided to pull out of the race. So still 190 riders left in contention
The weather is really awful today in Japan, as we have strong winds around 30 km/h and it has just started to rain. And if you have rain, you have wind, you have tricky descents and around 200 riders in a race, that only leads to crashes. This time no one important was involved, just a few domestiques and Krasnoperov. But a second rider from Costa Rica is forced to withdrawn with Betancourt Aguero
And that’s another crash in the descent of Inasadake in the second lap of twelve. Again no top favourite but a couple of interesting riders like Hategeka and Rujano involved. Interesting to see that almost full Rwanda squad waits for their leader, Hategeka
Long time no seen the two riders in front, Seo and Braico, who have over 8 minutes of advantage with 8 laps to go (around 150 kms). In the bunch it’s Estonia and Czech Republic the teams who are working the most
Estonia keeps working in the bunch and with around 100 kms to go, the gap is no longer over 5 minutes. There shouldn’t be more than 2 laps before the first attacks come. Also, the weather has improved a lot in the last 100 kms, as there’s no rain anymore, and the wind is way more weak
Only 4 laps to go (less than 80 kms) for the two leaders, who still hold a 4-minute gap to the group where Estonia has never stopped working. Some riders are already being dropped due the toughness of the course or because of crashes, but there are still around 160 riders in the bunch
The final two laps for the bunch, which is 2 minutes behind the two riders that have been in the breakaway for 230 kms already.
Seo drops Braico in the first slopes of Inadasake, while the gap is reduced to 1’20, but in the bunch suddenly everyone stops, like they have been doing all day. Going strong in the flat section and slow in the hills. A weird tactic by the teams
Braico is caught before the summit of Inadasake, but the slow rhythm in the bunch has allowed Seo to reach again the two-minute barrier. There are still over 30 kms, so the win is still in the bunch, but if they continue with this behaviour, the sprinters with some climbing abilities might survive and take the win at the end
Pluchkin is the first rider to attack with 30 kms to go in the descent of Inadasake, but Roche and Vakoc don’t allow him to escape from the group
But after the downhill finishes, they stopped chasing, and Pluchkin opens a 15-second gap which Guldhammer tries to cut down for Jull-Jensen. There are some tense moments in the now 60-rider bunch as they can reduce the gap in the climb of Chome, with Pluchkin entering the downhill that leads to the finish line with almost 20 seconds to the group where Alarcon is working for Monsalve
Pluchkin catches Seo in the moment that both start the final lap of the race. The gap has grow to 45 seconds! What looked like a not-smart attack in a downhill, might be the decisive move of the race
Pluchkin drops Seo inmediately and has 16 kms left for the win in this B Worlds, as the gap with the group is now over the minute! It looks like it’s now a race for Pluchkin to lose. And that Alarcon pulling in the flat won’t do much harm too
Alarcon explodes in the first slope of the final pass by Inadasake, when the gap has rised to 1’40. And you can spot heavy leadership issues in Denmark, as with 4 riders in the first places in the group (Guldhammer, Jull-Jensen, Cort Nielsen and Morkov) no one decides to sacrifice himself for the team. Seeing this, Siskevicius launches an attack, but Guldhammer goes quickly in his wheel
Pluchkin is surely going to win the race, and with it, Moldova will be in the Main Road Race. Siskevicius has dropped Guldhammer and Jull-Jensen and neither of them pulled for the other again... These Danish riders are plain stupid. Btw, Seo is still in the middle of groups, 1 minute behind Pluchkin, but also 40 seconds ahead of Siskevicius. It would be nice to see the South Korean getting a medal today after his great performance
Siskevicius has already caught Seo before the end of Inadasake, but the news are that behind a Danish rider is attacking, though it’s not any of the previously mentioned, but is Jensen. He’s closesly followed by Moazemi, Houle and Prevar, while you might start to wonder where are the pre-race favourites going to do, if they’ll do anything
But Jensen can’t keep his attack for much longer, and Roche counter attacks while no one is able to follow the Irishmen, who is going strong for a Bronze medal today
Pluchkin is going to start the final climb to Chome with a gap of 1 minute to Siskevicius and 30 seconds further to Roche. Another 30 seconds behind Jensen is trying to fight for a medal, while almost 3 minutes behind Pluchkin there’s a group which includes Taaramae, Boily, Monsalve, Guldhammer, Berhani, Jull-Jensen, Moazemi, Brenes, Seo, Prevar, Teklit and Ochoa Quintero
Jensen is struggling to make contact with the now 2-rider group that is fighting for the Silver Medal, as Roche has caught Siskevicius. The gap to Pluchkin is now 1’20, while the group with Taaramae has heavily reduced its gap to these riders and might catch in any moment Jensen
Monsalve does a monster effort to bring back everyone except Pluchkin, who is on his way to win the race. 8 riders will fight for two medals; Roche, Siskevicius, Monsalve, Jensen, Taaramae, Brenes, Boily and Jull-Jensen
Aleksandr Pluchkin wins the B World Championships for Moldova! And as you already know, the Moldovian team will be in the main race next Sunday
Siskevicius wins the sprint for the Silver Medal, while Jull-Jensen takes the Bronze for a dissapointing Danish squad. The rest of the group finishes in this order: Roche, Monsalve, Boily, Brenes, Jensen and Taaramae
And Moazemi takes the final Top10 spot after beating Guldhammer in a two-way sprint for it
Pluchkin goes to the podium to get his new jersey as B World Champion
