World Championships 2015 [LAST 20 KM]

September 27, 2015

Road World Championships 2018 – Road Race – Dunkerque – Iwuy : 261.4 km

Richmond, Virginia will host the 2015 UCI Road World Championships, the race returning to the USA for the first time since 1986, when they were held in Colorado Springs. Racing begins on September 20 with the men and women’s team time trials, and culminates with the men’s elite road race on the final Sunday. The week begins with the BMC Racing Team aiming to repeat and Velocio-SRAM, formerly Specialized-lululemon, looking to sweep all four years since the team time trial was reintroduced to the championships.

Peter Sagan (Slovakia) stormed to a solo victory in the elite men’s road race at the World Championships on Sunday. He made his winning move over the steep, 19 per cent climb up 23rd Street with roughly three kilometres to go, went into a tuck position on his bike down the descent, and then held onto a handful of seconds on the final climb.

Sagan managed to hold off the frantic chase from behind on the final ascent to cross the finish line with his first world title ahead of Michael Matthews (Australia) and Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania by just three seconds.

“I think it’s the biggest victory of my career, and I’m very happy because I sacrificed a lot these last three weeks after the Vuelta.
It’s unbelievable for me,” Sagan said.

“Today I was just waiting, waiting, I had my brother with me .. my teammates were always with me. If something happend they were always there. It was a little bit crazy in the last laps, and I thought everyone has to be tired. I gave everything on last cobblestone climb and then it was full gas until the finish.

“I knew if the group caught me, I was very tired for the sprint. But it was the right attack for me. I saw also a lot of comments from people that I am not good for a long race like this. But now I have this jersey for all next year.”

A race-long breakaway kicked off from the gun by local hero Ben King (USA), together with Conor Dunne (Ireland), Ivan Stevic (Serbia), Sung Park Baek (Korea), and then joined by Jesse Sergent (New Zealand), Carlos Alzate (Colombia), Andriy Khripta (Ukraine) and Serghei Tvetcov (Romania). They gained over four minutes but were kept in check by the Dutch, or rather, Jos van Emden, who led the race for some 150km.

The breakaway was caught on the way to five laps to go, setting up an aggressive finale.

With three laps to go, the race heated up with a decisive late-race move ignited by Ian Stannard (Great Britain) over the 23rd Street climb. Bauke Mollema (Netherlands) was the first to react followed by Tom Boonen (Belgium), Andrey Amador (Costa Rica), defending champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Dani Moreno (Spain) and Elia Viviani (Italy).

The select group started out with a small lead with two laps to go, but stretched it out to 30 seconds.

Australia and Germany led the frantic chase from behind – neither team had a rider represented in the breakaway – with Australia setting up the race for sprinter Michael Matthews and Germany working for John Degenkolb. The eight riders lasted through the penultimate lap with Boonen leading the way into Libby Hill, smiling as the roar of the crowd made it feel more like Flanders and less like Virginia.

But the breakaway was caught after the 23rd street climb with just over a lap to go, setting up a slew of attacks.

Guillaume Boivin (Canada), Jarlinson Pantano from Colombia, Taylor Phinney (USA) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) were the next to go, and their move lasted until 36km to go, just before the ascent of Libby Hill heading into two laps to go.

The next move to escape included Bauke Mollema, Tom Boonen, Andrey Amador, defending champion Michal Kwiatkowski, Ian Stannard, Dani Moreno and Elia Viviani, but despite Boonen’s strong surge up the Libby Hill climb on the penultimate lap, they were caught before the finish line.

Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) led the peloton through the finish with one lap to go and pushed the pace so hard that a gap opened behind and the only rider able to stick to his wheel was Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Russia).

The Italians were responsible for bringing back the flurry of late-race attacks that included a move from American Tyler Farrar and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus), who squeezed out an advantage of 10 seconds with seven kilometres to go.

The pair were caught at the bottom of Libby Hill Park as the Italian and Belgian teams blasted passed them, followed by the French and German teams.

Zdenek Stybar was the first to launch his attack on the cobbles followed by John Degenkolb (Germany) and Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet.

A select group emerged at the top of Libby Hill that also included Niki Terpstra (Nethelrands), but they were caught by the base of the 19 per cent 23rd Street climb.

Sagan made a powerful move on the steep ascent, gaining a small gap over the top. As he went into a deep tuck position on the descent he chipped out a few seconds gap ahead of the chasers Van Avermaet and Terpstra.

But Sagan’s superior skills in cornering proved to be the decisive moment for the Slovakian – and the three seconds he had at the finish line were gained in the two very fast turns before the final climb.

Although Rigoberto Uran (Colombia) attacked out of the field and looked set to run down Sagan, he was marked by stronger sprinters and gambled to wait.

The gamble did not pay off, and Sagan sailed in and thrilled the crowd with an unbridled celebration.

Results :
1 Peter Sagan (Slovakia) 6:14:37
2 Michael Matthews (Australia) 0:00:03
3 Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)
4 Alexander Kristoff (Norway)
5 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spain)
6 Simon Gerrans (Australia)
7 Tony Gallopin (France)
8 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)
9 Rui Costa (Portugal)
10 Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
11 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)
12 Alex Howes (United States Of America)
13 Niki Terpstra (Netherlands)
14 Rein Taaramae (Estonia)
15 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Russian Federation)
16 Nelson Oliveira (Portugal)
17 Yukiya Arashiro (Japan)
18 Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy)
19 Brent Bookwalter (United States Of America)
20 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
21 Nacer Bouhanni (France)
22 Ben Swift (Great Britain)
23 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)
24 Tanel Kangert (Estonia)
25 Andrey Amador Bkkazakova (Costa Rica)
26 Marco Haller (Austria) 0:00:12
27 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spain)
28 Silvan Dillier (Switzerland)
29 John Degenkolb (Germany) 0:00:15
30 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spain)
31 Stephen Cummings (Great Britain)
32 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Colombia) 0:00:18
33 Matti Breschel (Denmark) 0:00:21
34 Matteo Trentin (Italy)
35 Tom Boonen (Belgium)
36 Pavel Brutt (Russian Federation)
37 Aleksei Tcatevich (Russian Federation) 0:00:28
38 Arnaud Demare (France) 0:00:32
39 Tomasz Marczynski (Poland) 0:00:40
40 Sam Bennett (Ireland)
41 Karel Hnik (Czech Republic)
42 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)
43 Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic)
44 Heinrich Haussler (Australia)
45 Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark) 0:00:55
46 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine)
47 Luka Pibernik (Slovenia)
48 Luka Mezgec (Slovenia)
49 Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukraine)
50 Daryl Impey (South Africa)
51 Ian Stannard (Great Britain)
52 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spain)
53 Benjamin King (United States Of America)
54 Michal Golas (Poland)
55 Sergey Lagutin (Russian Federation)
56 Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Spain)
57 Adam Yates (Great Britain)
58 Greg Henderson (New Zealand)
59 Maciej Paterski (Poland) 0:01:10
60 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) 0:01:38
61 Antoine Duchesne (Canada) 0:01:50
62 Ilnur Zakarin (Russian Federation) 0:01:55
63 Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) 0:02:02
64 Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium) 0:02:08
65 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Argentina) 0:02:09
66 Michael Albasini (Switzerland) 0:02:15
67 Michael Valgren (Denmark) 0:02:50
68 Carlos Julian Quintero (Colombia)
69 Bauke Mollema (Netherlands)
70 Arman Kamyshev (Kazakhstan)
71 Jens Keukeleire (Belgium)
72 Vegard Stake Laengen (Norway)
73 Adam Hansen (Australia)
74 Rafal Majka (Poland)
75 Mickael Delage (France)
76 Gregory Rast (Switzerland)
77 Mathew Hayman (Australia)
78 Michael Morkov (Denmark)
79 Tyler Farrar (United States Of America) 0:03:00
80 Tiesj Benoot (Belgium) 0:03:35
81 Lars Boom (Netherlands)
82 Manuel Quinziato (Italy) 0:03:41
83 Daniele Bennati (Italy)
84 Fabio Felline (Italy)
85 Taylor Phinney (United States Of America)
86 Grega Bole (Slovenia) 0:03:45
87 Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands)
88 Tony Martin (Germany) 0:04:00
89 Elia Viviani (Italy) 0:05:18
90 Simon Geschke (Germany) 0:05:23
91 Robert Gesink (Netherlands) 0:06:43
92 Stijn Vandenbergh (Belgium)
93 Ryan Anderson (Canada)
94 Michael Woods (Canada)
95 Sergei Chernetski (Russian Federation)
96 Dylan van Baarle (Netherlands)
97 Jan Barta (Czech Republic)
98 Jiri Polnicky (Czech Republic)
99 Pim Ligthart (Netherlands)
100 Cyril Lemoine (France)
101 Scott Thwaites (Great Britain)
102 Diego Ulissi (Italy)
103 Paul Voss (Germany) 0:08:12
104 Paul Martens (Germany) 0:10:47
105 Andre Greipel (Germany)
106 Marcel Sieberg (Germany)
107 Guillaume Boivin (Canada) 0:11:11
108 Radoslav Rogina (Croatia)
109 Lawson Craddock (United States Of America) 0:12:56
110 Gatis Smukulis (Latvia) 0:13:58
DNF Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spain)
DNF Florian Vachon (France)
DNF Simon Clarke (Australia)
DNF Mitch Docker (Australia)
DNF Kristijan Durasek (Croatia)
DNF Georg Preidler (Austria)
DNF Christian Knees (Germany)
DNF Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (South Africa)
DNF Jay McCarthy (Australia)
DNF Luke Durbridge (Australia)
DNF Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic)
DNF Luke Rowe (Great Britain)
DNF Christopher Juul Jensen (Denmark)
DNF Rasmus Guldhammer (Denmark)
DNF Nikolas Maes (Belgium)
DNF Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spain)
DNF Ruben Plaza Molina (Spain)
DNF Denys Kostyuk (Ukraine)
DNF Lars Petter Nordhaug (Norway)
DNF Kohei Uchima (Japan)
DNF Ruslan Tleubayev (Kazakhstan)
DNF Sebastien Minard (France)
DNF Juraj Sagan (Slovakia)
DNF Michal Kolar (Slovakia)
DNF Kristijan Koren (Slovenia)
DNF Luis Mas Bonet (Spain)
DNF Borut Bozic (Slovenia)
DNF Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus)
DNF Juan Carlos Rojas (Costa Rica)
DNF Ryan Roth (Canada)
DNF Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia)
DNF Johannes Frohlinger (Germany)
DNF Gediminas Bagdonas (Lithuania)
DNF Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic)
DNF Sven Erik Bystrom (Norway)
DNF Iljo Keisse (Belgium)
DNF Jose Goncalves (Portugal)
DNF Winner Anacona Gomez (Colombia)
DNF Alex Cano Ardila (Colombia)
DNF Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea)
DNF Manuel Rodas Ochoa (Guatemala)
DNF Julien Simon (France)
DNF Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine)
DNF Andrew Fenn (Great Britain)
DNF Lukas Postlberger (Austria)
DNF Julian Alaphilippe (France)
DNF Maciej Bodnar (Poland)
DNF Oleksandr Polivoda (Ukraine)
DNF Polychronis Tzortzakis (Greece)
DNF Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Colombia)
DNF Conor Dunne (Ireland)
DNF Evaldas Siskevicius (Lithuania)
DNF Bayron Guama De La Cruz (Ecuador)
DNF Kleber Ramos (Brazil)
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)
DNF Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Colombia)
DNF Hugo Houle (Canada)
DNF Alex Dowsett (Great Britain)
DNF Jesse Sergent (New Zealand)
DNF Carlos Eduardo Alzate Escobar (Colombia)
DNF Tomas Buchacek (Czech Republic)
DNF Serghei Tvetcov (Romania)
DNF Sam Bewley (New Zealand)
DNF Laurent Didier (Luxembourg)
DNF Daniel Alexander Jaramillo Diez (Colombia)
DNF Marko Kump (Slovenia)
DNF Vegard Breen (Norway)
DNF Yauheni Hutarovich (Belarus)
DNF Jos Van Emden (Netherlands)
DNF Jean-Pierre Drucker (Luxembourg)
DNF Ivan Stevic (Serbia)
DNF Daniel Oss (Italy)
DNF Andriy Khripta (Ukraine)
DNF Nikolay Mihaylov (Bulgaria)
DNF Sung Baek Park (Korea)
DNF Gonzalo Garrido (Chile)
DNF Alex Kirsch (Luxembourg)
DNF Daniel Diaz (Argentina)
DNF Joon Yong Seo (Korea)
DNF Antonio Garnero (Brazil)
DNF Cesar Rojas Villegas (Costa Rica)
DNS Jaco Venter (South Africa)