On the two previous races on this circuit, the Under 23 RR and the French Championships. On both occassions it ended in a bunch sprint of around 30-40 riders. With a much stronger field, lets hope that that will not be the case once again!
135 riders turned up at the start line
After some early attacks. Gustov, Pedraza, Eibegger, Hansen, Rodrigues, Raisin and Petrov go clear
Already after some early hills, Tyler Farrar was struggling. USA sent most of their team back to help him. It was a similar story for Gerald Ciolek, but only Jaksche and Keinath went back for him. They were all going to have a long day
With one of the two lapped hilly circuit done, the break led by 9 minutes. Mugerli, Andy Schleck, Dekker and Voeckler attacked from the over 100 strong peleton
Mugerli couldnt keep up as the other 3 pressed on
Up in the break, Saul Raisin punctured and lost a lot of time on his companions
The move from Schleck, Dekker and Voeckler has caused an upturn in the pace of the peleton. Theyve quickly been thinned down to just 23 riders
And if you look closely, theres no Spaniards in there! Theyve all been gapped!
Andy Schleck leaves Dekker and Voeckler behind
Schleck closes in on Raisin and the rest of the break arent too far behind now
Schleck catches Raisin but does not go past, and in sitting in the wheel of Raisin, he allows himself to be caught by Dekker, Voeckler and the peleton
The damage has been done though, with the peleton significantly weakened
The Spanish team have not made it back. It would appear that they have done the famous 'Theo Bos Maneovre'. Oscar Freire couldnt keep up with the pace of the pack and found himself dropped. The Spanish team seem to have naive confidence that he could still win though and every single one of them dropped back.
The rest of the nations wont believe their luck and the 23 riders left were keen to press their advantage. If they were to sprint it out for victory now, Ignatiev, Pozzato and Bettini would be the favourites.
There is a strong Dutch presence in there and Gesink even gets a slight gap
He is caught but the pace has caused some more riders to be dropped. Ignatiev, Weening, Voeckler and Efimkin have gone - with Andy Schleck further ahead but also dislodged.
This would have made Bettini and Pozzato the favourites if they were not then dropped themselves, along with Evans, Chavanel, Kashechkin, Karpets, Calzati, Ghisalberti and Hansen, the latter having been dropped from the days breakaway already.
We are down to just 13 leaders, and the Italian team now have an excuse not to relay.
The riders are Frank Schleck, Kim Kirchen, Robert Gesink, Michael Boogerd, Thomas Dekker, Stijn Devolder, Patrick Sinkewitz, Jaroslav Popovych, Danilo di Luca, Damiano Cunego, Riccardo Ricco, Franco Pellizotti and Rinaldo Nocentini.
They catch the rest of the days breakaway
And now we are on the final hill of the race. Frank Schleck sets the tempo up it.
Eibegger from the break is dropped - but so is Thomas Dekker!
We now enter the Champs Elysses. The riders from Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and Ukraine are relaying as the Dutch and the Italians sit back
Two more of the breakaway are then dropped: Vitor Rodrigues and Wladimir Gustov
A lap later, after little action, it is Walter Pedraza's turn to feel the pace
So we are now down to just 13 riders again. Evgeni Petrov has done remarkably well to keep with the group after being in the break all day long and it seems he is not done there.
The rest of the group seem happy just to ride towards a sprint - after all, while Cunego, Di Luca or Kirchen may fancy their chances the most, there is no distinct favourite and most of them could potentially win.
But with 8km to go, Petrov looks to attack. Popovych also gives it a go but it will be to no avail
Stijn Devolder leads the riders into the tunnel for the final time. Sinkewitz and the Italians are behind him while Kirchen is moving forward also, with the Dutch riders and Schleck behind him
It all seems to come back into 1 line as Devolder leads the group out of the tunnel again. It looks as if Petrov has now given up though
The group comes across some lapped riders as the sprint begins with 3km to go. Di Luca looks to move past Devolder with Kirchen, Cunego and Ricco following him
But whats this! Di Luca is struggling badly, he seems to have hit the red zone! And none of Kirchen, Cunego or Ricco are coming past him! Franco Pellizotti charges into the lead
Gesink, Schleck and Boogerd follow Pellizotti as the rest seem glued to Di Luca's back wheel
Ricco is eventually the first to react, followed by Nocentini - but is it too late?
Pellizotti really must fancy his chances in a sprint against Gesink, Schleck and Boogerd
Ricco and Kirchen do start to close the gap on him, but theres a lot of ground to make up and so little space left til the finish
They arent going to do it! Amazing. Franco Pellizotti is the new world champion! Thats a huge upset!
Frank Schleck clings on to 2nd place as Ricco must settle for 3rd. Gesink takes 4th ahead of Boogerd in the boogie-man's last ever World Championships. Kirchen is 6th, Cunego 7th.
Danilo di Luca imploded at the worst possible moment for himself, and possibly also his trade team with Cunego keeping behind him until it was too late. He finishes after Nocentini and Popovych in 10th.
Had they been stronger in the hills, Pozzato and Bettini may well have sprinted it out for victory, instead it is a battle for 14th, which Pozzato takes
The whole Italian team has finished before any spaniard crosses the line. A disastrous race full of horrendous tactics for the Spanish, with Valverde their best finisher in 36th - nearly 10 minutes down.
Amazingly, there were 20 abandonments in this race. A figure almost unheard of in PCM06 - and only one of those, David Millar with 4km to go, was down to injury.
