After a bit of moaning from me in the build up to the Australian hosted world championships, I have to say that they delivered more than anticipated.
A bad looking fall in the midweek relay time trial left Annemiek Van Vleuten unlikely to even start the Womens race on Saturday. But, she managed to patch up her fractured elbow and take her place at kilometer zero.
There were plenty of times, even in the closing stages, where she looked likely to get dropped. She was also placed in the second or third group on the road more than once. It looked like a case of hanging on to get the best finish possible.
But as groups merged in the final kilometer AVV came to life.
She darted down the right hand side of the road with the perfectly timed attack.
After lots of riders trying to get away without success, this was one increase in pace and it stuck.
She was the most deserving of champions of the world and the finish will go down in history. It would have been epic, even without broken bones.
| Rnk | Rider | Team | UCI | Pnt | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VAN VLEUTEN Annemiek | Netherlands | 600 | 350 | 4:24:25 |
| 2 | KOPECKY Lotte | Belgium | 475 | 260 | 0:01 |
| 3 | PERSICO Silvia | Italy | 400 | 190 | ,, |
| 4 | LIPPERT Liane | Germany | 325 | 150 | ,, |
| 5 | LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup | Denmark | 275 | 130 | ,, |
| 6 | SIERRA Arlenis | Cuba | 225 | 110 | ,, |
| 7 | LABOUS Juliette | France | 175 | 100 | ,, |
| 8 | NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna | Poland | 150 | 90 | ,, |
| 9 | CHABBEY Elise | Switzerland | 125 | 80 | ,, |
| 10 | LONGO BORGHINI Elisa | Italy | 100 | 70 | ,, |
Once Mathieu van der Poel had dropped out of the men’s race following a night of disruption at his hotel, culminating in a visit to the police station, all eyes were on Belgium for the win.
After the drama of Leuven last year, everyone wanted to see how the dynamic between Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel would play out.
Most pundits agreed that Remco would be the one to attack early and Wout would save himself for any sprint finish.
That’s exactly how it played out with the recent Vuelta winner slipping into a late group and then dropping its other members one by one.
It was as dominant a worlds performance as I can remember.
He soloed home with very little stress to cement himself as the rider of the late season and take the rainbow jersey.
| Rnk | Rider | Team | UCI | Pnt | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EVENEPOEL Remco | Belgium | 600 | 350 | 6:16:08 |
| 2 | LAPORTE Christophe | France | 475 | 260 | 2:21 |
| 3 | MATTHEWS Michael | Australia | 400 | 190 | ,, |
| 4 | VAN AERT Wout | Belgium | 325 | 150 | ,, |
| 5 | TRENTIN Matteo | Italy | 275 | 130 | ,, |
| 6 | KRISTOFF Alexander | Norway | 225 | 110 | ,, |
| 7 | SAGAN Peter | Slovakia | 175 | 100 | ,, |
| 8 | BETTIOL Alberto | Italy | 150 | 90 | ,, |
| 9 | HAYTER Ethan | Great Britain | 125 | 80 | ,, |
| 10 | SKJELMOSE Mattias | Denmark | 100 | 70 | ,, |
A couple of notable rides came from Peter Sagan who showed his best form in a couple of years to come home seventh and our own Ethan Hayter who made the top 10.
Now we move on to the end of season Italian classics races and cyclocross… gone quickly hasn’t it?
Fendrien 