World Championships 2016 [FULL RACE + Ceremony Awards]

October 16, 2016

Road World Championships 2016 [FULL RACE] – Doha – 257,3 km

The UCI world championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winners wear a white jersey with coloured bands around the chest for the following year. The similarity to the colours of a rainbow gives them the colloquial name of “the rainbow jersey.” The first three individuals or teams in each championship win gold, silver and bronze medals. Former world champions are allowed to wear a trim to their collar and sleeves in the same pattern as the rainbow jersey.

Peter Sagan (Slovakia) retained his World Championships title in Doha, Qatar with a dominant sprint performance to hold off Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) in second and Tom Boonen (Belgium) in third.

In a close sprint, Sagan and Cavendish both picked different lines with the British rider held up behind Michael Matthews (Australia) as Sagan went from the opposite side and picking a clearer line.

“I don’t believe it. I’m still in shock,” Sagan said. “I’m very happy because there was a crosswind and I was the last one to make the first group. In the end, it was a sprint so we should see.

“There was a bit of a headwind so I felt I needed to come from the back. I felt I was lucky because [Giacomo] Nizzolo didn’t close me out. If he closed me out for sure we would have crashed because I wasn’t going to brake. We should have crashed but I’m happy. It’s unbelievable.”

The race was dominated by one sector of crosswinds in the desert with Belgium putting the hammer down. They split the race to pieces, eliminating several riders including Marcel Kittel, Caleb Ewan, Nacer Bouhanni, and Andre Greipel. From there the Belgians combined with Italy, Norway and a handful of the remaining sprinters with a 30-strong group holding their advantage all the way to the finish.

On the finish circuits around the Pearl, only Niki Terpstra and his teammate Tom Leezer (Netherlands) made late attacks before Belgium once more controlled the race with a sprint set to decide the rainbow jersey.

Cavendish and Sagan marked each other carefully but when Sagan went right, up against the barriers and through a small gap left by Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy), Cavendish went left. He was forced to stop pedalling with 150 metres to go, as he came through Matthews’ slipstream, while Sagan was met with fresh air and a clean rainbow jersey.

Despite a week devoid of truly exciting racing the World Championships ended with an impressive podium, with three former world champions – and a current one – taking the medals.

How it unfolded

The riders headed out to the Aspire Zone in western Doha for the start of the men’s road race. With the temperatures already well into the 30s, the riders sought the shade of a nearby building as they prepared for the start. Slightly later than scheduled, the riders set off just after 10:30 through the lengthy neutralised zone.

Brayan Ramirez (Colombia), Nic Dougall (South Africa), Natnael Berhane (Eritrea), Ryan Roth (Can), Anas Ait El Abdia (Morocco), Sergiy Lagkuti (Ukraine) and Rene Corella (Mexico) broke clear early on. They were allowed more than 11 minutes of an advantage but it was never going to last very long. Aside from an early crash involving Chad Haga (USA), there was relative calm in the peloton behind.

With 200 kilometres to go, the wind began to pick up and there were some early signs of echelons forming. As the race turned back towards Doha, the Belgians and the Dutch pushed hard at the front and cracks began to form through the peloton. As if a trapdoor had opened in the middle of the bunch, riders were quickly dispatched and the race that many had hoped for was coming together.

Belgium had serious numbers with six riders up front including Tom Boonen and Greg van Avermaet. The Netherlands, too, had some firepower as Niki Terpstra made the first group. Norway got all three of their team members in, along with Michael Matthews, Mat Hayman, Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish. Sam Bennett and Magnus Cort Nielsen initially made the cut but were shot out the back, the latter suffering a front wheel puncture.

Germany and France were the two biggest losers when the race split, neither nation managed to get their key riders into the move. In the chaos, Australia’s Luke Durbridge suffered a dropped chain and as he was moving to the left side of the road to receive a new wheel, he was struck from behind by another rider. Fernando Gaviria was caught up in the incident and looked as if he’d broken his collarbone as he sat on the barriers in the middle of the road. His race was instantly over as was Durbridge’s.

Despite the scramble behind, the gap only increased between the two pelotons as the breakaway riders were absorbed by the first of those with 143 kilometres still to run. The 26-man group entered the Pearl circuit with a minute’s gap over the chasing group, as Belgium and Italy worked together to try and push the pace. Much of the Great Britain squad, that had missed the cut when the race broke apart, were pulled out as they arrived on the Pearl over 10 minutes after the leaders. Spain also lost their main hope, Juan Jose Lobato, who was in that same group.

With Belgian riders in the group behind slowing the chase down, the gap between the two front groups continued to extend, despite a number of attacks from the Germans. John Degenkolb showed his frustration after one such attack at just under 60 kilometres to go when he squirted water into the face of Jens Debusschere, who had been playing his domestique role perfectly for the Belgian squad.

Full Results :
1 Peter Sagan (Slovakia) 5:40:43
2 Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)
3 Tom Boonen (Belgium)
4 Michael Matthews (Australia)
5 Giacomo Nizzolo (Italy)
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
7 Alexander Kristoff (Norway)
8 William Bonnet (France)
9 Niki Terpstra (Netherlands)
10 Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)
11 Jacopo Guarnieri (Italy)
12 Adam Blythe (Great Britain)
13 Natnael Berhane (Eritrea) 0:00:04
14 Jurgen Roelandts (Belgium) 0:00:09
15 Ryan Roth (Canada)
16 Truls Korsaeth (Norway)
17 Tom Leezer (Netherlands)
18 Nick Dougall (South Africa)
19 Michal Kolar (Slovakia) 0:00:13
20 Elia Viviani (Italy) 0:00:14
21 Mathew Hayman (Australia) 0:00:21
22 Anas Ait El Abdia (Morocco) 0:02:48
23 Oliver Naesen (Belgium) 0:04:00
24 Jasper Stuyven (Belgium)
25 Daniele Bennati (Italy)
26 Alexsandr Porsev (Russian Federation) 0:05:26
27 Aidis Kruopis (Lithuania)
28 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Argentina)
29 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Denmark)
30 Sven Erik Bystrom (Norway)
31 Yauheni Hutarovich (Belarus)
32 Nacer Bouhanni (France)
33 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spain)
34 Marco Haller (Austria)
35 Yukiya Arashiro (Japan)
36 Michael Schar (Switzerland)
37 Dylan Groenewegen (Netherlands)
38 Stefan Kueng (Switzerland)
39 Juraj Sagan (Slovakia)
40 Maciej Bodnar (Poland)
41 Iljo Keisse (Belgium)
42 Andre Greipel (Germany)
43 Taylor Phinney (United States Of America)
44 Koen De Kort (Netherlands)
45 Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic)
46 Manuel Quinziato (Italy)
47 Jens Debusschere (Belgium)
48 Dylan Van Baarle (Netherlands)
49 Ben Swift (Great Britain)
50 Mitchell Docker (Australia)
51 Zakkari Dempster (Australia) 0:05:33
52 Scott Thwaites (Great Britain)
53 Robin Carpenter (United States Of America) 0:06:03
DNF Jens Keukeleire (Belgium)
DNF Mauro Abel Richeze (Argentina)
DNF Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea)
DNF Ryan Mullen (Ireland)
DNF Marc Sarreau (France)
DNF Arnaud Demare (France)
DNF Hugo Houle (Canada)
DNF Gediminas Bagdonas (Lithuania)
DNF Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kazakhstan)
DNF David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Spain)
DNF Jack Bauer (New Zealand)
DNF Francisco Ventoso (Spain)
DNF Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spain)
DNF Reto Hollenstein (Switzerland)
DNF Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan)
DNF Youcef Reguigui (Algeria)
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)
DNF Nikolas Maes (Belgium)
DNF Joseph Rosskopf (United States Of America)
DNF Fabian Lienhard (Switzerland)
DNF Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spain)
DNF Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spain)
DNF Bernhard Eisel (Austria)
DNF Dion Smith (New Zealand)
DNF Matt Brammeier (Ireland)
DNF Lukasz Wisniowski (Poland)
DNF Antoine Duchesne (Canada)
DNF Vegard Stake Laengen (Norway)
DNF Daniel Hoelgaard (Norway)
DNF Michael Morkov (Denmark)
DNF Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)
DNF Guillaume Boivin (Canada)
DNF Jos Van Emden (Netherlands)
DNF Matti Breschel (Denmark)
DNF Christopher Juul Jensen (Denmark)
DNF John Degenkolb (Germany)
DNF Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Russian Federation)
DNF Marcel Kittel (Germany)
DNF Sonny Colbrelli (Italy)
DNF Jasha Sutterlin (Germany)
DNF Jean-Pierre Drucker (Luxembourg)
DNF Christophe Laporte (France)
DNF Nelson Oliveira (Portugal)
DNF Tony Martin (Germany)
DNF Gregory Rast (Switzerland)
DNF Bob Jungels (Luxembourg)
DNF Nils Politt (Germany)
DNF Sam Bennett (Ireland)
DNF Heinrich Haussler (Australia)
DNF Sergiy Lagkuti (Ukraine)
DNF Soren Kragh Andersen (Denmark)
DNF Soufiane Haddi (Morocco)
DNF Azzedine Lagab (Algeria)
DNF Alexey Vermeulen (United States Of America)
DNF Chad Haga (United States Of America)
DNF Clint Hendricks (South Africa)
DNF Ryan Gibbons (South Africa)
DNF Daniel Turek (Czech Republic)
DNF Andriy Vasylyuk (Ukraine)
DNF Mihkel Raim (Estonia)
DNF Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine)
DNF Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Colombia)
DNF Omar Alberto Mendoza Cardona (Colombia)
DNF Ian Stannard (Great Britain)
DNF Maksym Averin (Azerbaijan)
DNF Lukasz Owsian (Poland)
DNF Maciej Paterski (Poland)
DNF Matti Manninen (Finland)
DNF Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)
DNF Danny Van Poppel (Netherlands)
DNF Mark Renshaw (Australia)
DNF Adrian Banaszek (Poland)
DNF Stephen Cummings (Great Britain)
DNF Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands)
DNF Luka Pibernik (Slovenia)
DNF Jiri Polnicky (Czech Republic)
DNF Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)
DNF Fabio Sabatini (Italy)
DNF Carlos Eduardo Alzate Escobar (Colombia)
DNF Adam De Vos (Canada)
DNF Brayan Stiven Ramirez Chacon (Colombia)
DNF Ruslan Tleubayev (Kazakhstan)
DNF Daniel Oss (Italy)
DNF Andzs Flaksis (Latvia)
DNF Yoann Offredo (France)
DNF Ioannis Tamouridis (Greece)
DNF Cyril Lemoine (France)
DNF Anton Vorobyev (Russian Federation)
DNF Karol Domagalski (Poland)
DNF Maxim Belkov (Russian Federation)
DNF Fabricio Ferrari Barcelo (Uruguay)
DNF Silvan Dillier (Switzerland)
DNF Sergey Lagutin (Russian Federation)
DNF Andrei Nechita (Romania)
DNF Martin Elmiger (Switzerland)
DNF Pirmin Lang (Switzerland)
DNF Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spain)
DNF Kristoffer Skjerping (Norway)
DNF Diego Rubio (Spain)
DNF Andriy Kulyk (Ukraine)
DNF Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spain)
DNF Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)
DNF Luke Rowe (Great Britain)
DNF Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Colombia)
DNF Walter Alejandro Vargas Alzate (Colombia)
DNF Daniel Mclay (Great Britain)
DNF Adrien Petit (France)
DNF Geoffrey Soupe (France)
DNF Luke Durbridge (Australia)
DNF Caleb Ewan (Australia)
DNF Steele Von Hoff (Australia)
DNF Matteo Trentin (Italy)
DNF Sondre Holst Enger (Norway)
DNF Roman Maikin (Russian Federation)
DNF Eric Marcotte (United States Of America)
DNF Vojtech Hacecky (Czech Republic)
DNF Alois Kankovsky (Czech Republic)
DNF Frantisek Sisr (Czech Republic)
DNF Andrii Bratashchuk (Ukraine)
DNF Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukraine)
DNF Jose Goncalves (Portugal)
DNF Sergio Paulinho (Portugal)
DNF Grega Bole (Slovenia)
DNF Luka Mezgec (Slovenia)
DNF Metkel Eyob (Eritrea)
DNF Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eritrea)
DNF Issak Tesfom Okubamariam (Eritrea)
DNF Meron Teshome Hagos (Eritrea)
DNF Alo Jakin (Estonia)
DNF Gert Joeaar (Estonia)
DNF Salaheddine Mraouni (Morocco)
DNF Abderrahmane Mehdi Hamza (Algeria)
DNF Ryan Anderson (Canada)
DNF Siarhei Papok (Belarus)
DNF Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus)
DNF Francisco Chamorro (Argentina)
DNF Maris Bogdanovics (Latvia)
DNF Burr Ho (Hong Kong, China)
DNF Bonaventure Uwizeyimana (Rwanda)
DNF Rene Corella (Mexico)
DNF Hassen Ben Nasser (Tunisia)
DNF Tedros Redae (Ethiopia)
DNF Jonas Ahlstrand (Sweden)
DNF Myagmarsuren Baasankhuu (Mongolia)
DNS Rigoberto Uran Uran (Colombia)
DNS Vegard Breen (Norway)