The penultimate event of the World Championships week. This event is the precursor to the Elite Road Race scheduled tomorrow. However, its not an exhibition event by any means. The U23 World Championships provide a platform for all young riders to make a name for themselves and show that they are the best in their 'class', so to say. Earlier in the week, Tom Wirtgen took an expected victory in the U23 Individual Time Trial and is once again the top favourite here. Can he claim a double?
The course itself has been much talked about ever since its announcement. The riders tackle the horrendous cobbled climb in Vitosha a total of eight times, and tackle the steep descent seven times. The B Race already has provided a glimpse into how the race might pan out, but this particular one is expected to be a lot more competitive.
Looking at the startlist, the bookies are as unsure as all of us as to how this one will go. There is a mix of the top climbers and those strong on the cobbles. Let's see how this one goes, shall we?
Six riders break away on the early slopes of the first climb.
Penko is already struggling a bit to stay in touch.
Penko does catch up halfway up the climb, as the break slows down a little.
Denmark, Belgium, one of the Asian teams and Russia are at the front of the pack.
Spengler is already dropped from the pack.
The break leads by 4'30" at the summit of the first climb.
The peloton shed a few more riders on the descent, but all the favourites are safe.
The second climb is uneventful. The peloton reach the summit with 162 riders, trailing by 5'39".
The peloton shed a lot of riders on the descent. 100 riders are left.
Sosa, Powless, Conci, Inkelaar and Vlasov are some of the bigger names dropped.
With 130 km to go, the break leads by 4'56". They're slowing down. But so is the peloton as almost all riders get back again.
The peloton reach the summit for the fourth time with 94 riders, and trailing by 3'42". Belgium, Switzerland and one of the Europe teams are controlling the pack right now.
The first of the favourites are in trouble. Min and Bernal are in this larger group. The peloton is down to 43 riders.
The break are still together and lead by 3'42. They don't have time to enjoy the beautiful views of the city in the valley. 90 kilometres to go.
Bernal and Min return to the peloton, which has swelled in size to 84.
83 km to go. Penko is dropped and caught by the peloton a couple of kilometres later.
Barcelo is now dropped. He too is caught 2 kilometres later.
The peloton have split once again. 27 riders remain in the lead group. Bernal is dropped again. Gidich, Sosa, Padun and Per are dropped. Clouds everywhere on the roads as we near the summit again.
Min, Eenkhoorn, Gamper, Madouas and Natarov are dropped on the descent.
After 20 kilometres of quiet, Areruya is dropped from the break.
The peloton have 18 riders with the chase group having 15. Bernal, Sosa and two others are in the next group.
Areruya is caught by the peloton with 52 km left.
Wirtgen is in trouble! Looks like there won't be a double gold coming his way. Schappi is ahead of him, having worked all day so far for his team.
Cepeda Hernandez is now dropped from the break.
Malecki and Roman are dropped from the peloton on the descent.
They did make it back halfway down the descent.
Cepeda Hernandez is caught. The break's lead is 1'6".
The 12 rider peloton consists of Arenberg, Hirschi, Foss, Hsu, Van Niekerk, Menten, Tiller, Malecki, Putti, Roman, Ganna and Muller.
Malecki is dropped. The other rider here is being lapped. 32 km left.
Fouche is dropped by Munoz and is caught almost immediately.
Here we go! Ganna makes the first move from the peloton. Simultaneously, Fouche, Roman and Putti fall off the back of the group. The peloton is down to eight riders.
Munoz's lead is back up to 2 minutes.
Ganna makes up that gap to catch Munoz three kilometers later.
Roman is back in the peloton.
Munoz is dropped by Ganna, and has nothing left as he gets swept up by the peloton. Roman has been dropped again.
Ganna leads the chasers by 1'12" at the summit. Only one descent and the final climb to the finish remain.
Van Niekerk puts in a major acceleration on the descent and gets away. The response from the others breaks up the chase group.
With 24 km to go, the situation is as follows: Ganna --(34" )--> Van Niekerk --("23" )--> Hsu, Muller --(21" )--> Anderberg --(16" )--> Menten --(12" )--> Hirschi, Foss, Munoz --(49" )--> Tiller
21 km left. Major change at the front! Van Niekerk has blown past Ganna in the past kilometre and is our new leader. The latter is caught by Hsu and Muller.
Hirschi has dropped Foss and Munoz and caught up to Menten.
Ganna is soon dropped by E2 and is caught by Anderberg.
13 km to go. Hsu and Muller trail Van Niekerk by 1'8". Anderberg trails the duo by 17" as he laps a rider.
Van Niekerk hits the final climb. Anderberg catches Hsu and Muller.
Muller is soon dropped.
Anderberg drops Hsu as we hit the 10 km to go mark.
Rocchetti is a man on a mission in the last few kilometres. He moves up from 8th to 3rd in the next few kilometres, catching and dropping those in front of him earlier with relative ease. Foss is also moving up, now in 5th.
Up ahead, Van Niekerk looks to be on a different level though. He has extended his lead to beyond 4 minutes to Anderberg.
With 5 kilometres to go, the writing is on the wall. Van Niekerk's lead is now 10 minutes!
Anderberg has extended his lead to Rocchetti to more than 3 minutes. The latter has definitely slowed down.
Foss and Muller have caught and passed Hsu in the mean time.
Final kilometre for Van Niekerk.
(A long way) Behind, Hsu has regained some form and caught up to Foss again, who in turn has been dropped by Muller.
Aidan Van Niekerk takes a famous victory, and I'm sure a very popular one!
Anderberg comes in more than 20 minutes later. He won't mind though as 2nd is an excellent result for him.
An incredible final climb ensures 3rd place for Rocchetti.
Muller beats the odds to claim 4th.
Hsu gets past Foss in the closing stages to claim 5th.
Foss holds off the late charge from Menten for 6th place.
Hirschi finishes 8th.
After the initial attack, Ganna lost a lot on the final climb but still gets home in 9th. Tiller finishes 10th.
Today's Winner - Aidan Van Niekerk.
An incredible pace set in the final 10 kilometres ensures an easy, but well deserved win for Van Niekerk. He increased his lead from a minute with 10 kilometers to go to win by over 20 minutes at the finish. Anderberg lived up to his pre-race billing to claim 2nd, while Rocchetti will be extremely pleased with 3rd.
Spoiler
Apologies for the absence of the podium picture, but the game crashed as the podium was loading. Same reason why the results look different than usual, it was extracted from the cdb.
Areruya
Fouche
Munoz
Cepeda Hernandez
Barcelo
Penko
Denmark, 
Belgium, one of the Asian teams and 
Russia are at the front of the pack.
Spengler is already dropped from the pack.
Powless, 
Conci, 
Inkelaar and 
Min and 
Gidich, 
Padun and 
Gamper, 
Madouas and 
Wirtgen is in trouble! Looks like there won't be a double gold coming his way. 
Malecki and 
Roman are dropped from the peloton on the descent.
Arenberg, 
Foss, 
Hsu, 
Van Niekerk, 
Putti, 
