Biding their time as the attacks fired and then as the Australian and Italian teams chased, French duo Arnaud Demare and Adrien Petit proved strongest on the slightly uphill sprint to the line at the under 23 world championship road race this afternoon.
Petit led out the gallop, appearing to work for his team-mate, and then had enough left to hold on for second place ahead of Britain’s Andy Fenn and German rider Rudger Selig. Marco Haller (Austria) and Filippo Fortin (Italy) completed the top six, being at the head of a large bunch in the final gallop.
The result was a major success for France, which previously won the rainbow jersey in 2009 with Romain Sicard. “It all went according to plan” said Démare, who was visibly emotional on the podium. “Adrien gave me just the leadout I was looking for, with 250 metres to go, and I was able to accelerate even more 100 metres from the line.”
“Having him take second is like the icing on the cake.”
Petit himself looked like a possible winner, but faded slightly after a long leadout. He was satisfied with what he achieved, though. “I don’t know what will the silver medal will bring me, we’ll see,” he said. “I disputed the very first world championship of my career, I finished on the podium in second place. So frankly I don’t have reason to complain.”
As was suspected beforehand, the course in Copenhagen wasn’t tough enough to permit any break go to the line, although several groups did get away and try to foil the sprinters. Come the final lap, though, it was clear that a big gallop was the most likely outcome and so it proved.
The Australian squad worked hard to ensure that one of its riders challenged in the finale, but was unable to nab a place in the top ten. Michael Hepburn was best of those in 21st place, with things unravelling for the team in a messy last couple of kilometres.
Last year’s bronze medallist Guillaume Boivin had a frustrating day; his performance twelve months ago meant that he started as one to watch, but was afflicted by several mechanical problems during the race. He had two punctures, a broken saddle and a broken wheel, necessitating bike changes.
“I knew the course was easy enough, and that many countries wanted a sprint at the end,” he said afterwards. “I raced ‘low-profile’, staying behind the pack because it is not hard to be at the back. I wanted to save energy as much as possible for the finish. It’s pretty hard being alone, without teammates, to position yourself. I had to hide behind and wait until the last minute. It certainly increases the chances of a fall and contact with other riders.”
Because of his problems, he was only 117th, far off the front of the race. He was disappointed, but could also see a good side after a year blighted by injury, namely that his form was good. “I came here with one goal in mind, and that was to win the race. I felt good, I’ve never really been ‘in the red’, and the legs were great,” he said. “I was really confident for the final. It’s sad because it was my last race amongst the U23s.”
Early attacks lead to a two man break:
There was a lot of attacking early on, with riders such as Ireland’s Philip Lavery being aggressive and trying to get a move clear. This ensured a rapid opening lap, with the first 14 kilometre circuit being covered at an average speed of almost 45 kilometres per hour.
During lap two, Brazilian rider Carlos Alexandre Manarelli clipped away and managed to break the elastic. He was one minute 58 seconds ahead at the line, and had practically the same lead one lap later. However in the intervening 14 kilometres Italian rider Gianluca Leonardi had managed to bridge across, resulting in two leaders.
Working together, their advantage notched up by almost a minute by the end of lap four. Kazakhstan’s Miras Bederbekov then clipped away and tried to bridge, with Manarelli’s team-mate Gideoni Monteiro marking him and then joining in on the chase. They were two minutes 27 seconds back heading onto lap six, while the peloton had relaxed somewhat and allowed the gap to the leaders to grow to four minute 39 seconds there.
At the halfway point of the 168 kilometre event, things were relatively stable; Manarelli and Leonardi were two minutes 58 up on the two chasers and 4 minutes 17 ahead of the peloton. Monteiro and Bederbekov were clearly finding it tough to try to get across, though, and were caught on the next lap as the gap to the front of the race started to come down.
Portuguese rider José Goncalves decided to try to get across and was two minutes 31 seconds back at the start of lap eight five seconds ahead of the Belorussian Kanstantsin Klimiankou and a further nine seconds up on the main bunch.
Things were very much tightening up, though, and those two chasers were mopped up soon afterwards.
By the end of the lap, the leaders were just one minute eleven seconds ahead of Georg Preidler (Austria) and a further second up on Lavery, Michael Hepburn (Australia), plus the rest of the bunch.
Their proximity plus the fact that the race was in the final third of the total distance saw a ramping up of the attacks. Approximately midway through the ninth lap, Norwegian rider Sven Eric Bystrom threw down the gauntlet and opened a slight gap. He hammered along, staying clear for a couple of kilometres, but was brought back. Just before the end of the lap, Belgian rider Zico Waeytens clipped away and was then joined by Lavery. They rode well together and were joined by one of the Norwegians, but this trio was reeled in just before the line.
The acceleration in pace meant that the break was just 31 seconds ahead at the start of lap ten. A split in the bunch followed, then Romain Delalot (France) jumped hard and tried to bridge across to the leaders. He was unable to do so before being caught, but the breakaway duo ahead were reeled in anyway, approximately 30 kilometres from the end.
Final action plays out as riders try to deny a bunch sprint:
Very soon afterwards, Italian rider Eugenio Alafaci went clear and opened a useful gap. The Australian team recognised the danger and their time trial champion Luke Durbridge started dragging the bunch along to keep things from getting out of hand. Despite this, Chris Juul Jensen (Denmark) got across from the bunch to Alafaci, taking a breather before rolling through. South Africa’s Louis Meintjes then got across and stated pulling.
Those behind recognised the danger and Maxat Ayazbayev (Kazakhstan) joined up with Philip Lindau (Sweden) to try to bridge. They were in turn joined by Natnael Berhane (Eritrea) and managed to get up to the three leaders.
Erick Rowsell (Great Britain) started driving the pace behind to try to prevent the leaders gaining two much; very soon afterwards, Rohan Dennis had a mechanical and was forced to stop briefly along with his team-mate Thomas Palmer. His chain fell off when he tried to get moving again, causing a further brief delay, but he was able to return to the peloton several kilometres later.
The break was a healthy 34 seconds ahead at the end of lap ten, with a lot of racing going on in the bunch as the kilometres clicked down.
With 20 kilometres to go, Durbridge attacked hard in what was a frustrated bid to get clear. A group of approximately 20 riders clipped away but was also brought back; two riders then clipped away and set about getting across to the leaders. Bjorn Torre Nilsen Hoem (Norway) and Christian Delle Stella (Italy) did so with sixteen kilometres to go, but the break was caught soon afterwards anyway.
The bunch was all together at the bell, Hoem leading them across the line, and a big sprint was looking more and more certain. Still, Colombian rider Carlos Alberto Gomez wanted to try his chances and clipped away two kilometres after the bell. Italian Nicola Boem had similar thoughts and jumped across, then kept his momentum going to solo ahead. He was recognised as a big danger, though, and first Emilien Viennet (France) and then the Dutch-led peloton got up to him.
With 8.5 kilometres to go, Mattias Brandle (Austria) attacked hard. Rasmus Guldhammer (Denmark) came through and ramped up the pace, but couldn’t get a gap. He continued to drive things along before being passed by the Australian team.
Approximately five kilometres to go, a crash delayed several riders; more were delayed a couple of kilometres later, reducing the numbers of those in contention.
Durbridge continued to pulled the pace along into the final four kilometres, then the Italian train took over. Boem was at the head of that, pushing things along, but was overtaken by one of the Germans. The British team then moved closer, trying to set their riders up.
Once the final sprint opened, Petit led things out for Demare, who came past him with approximately 75 metres to go. Both Frenchmen crossed the line with their arms raised, while Fenn managed to kick again and hold off Selig for the bronze.
It was certainly an aggressive race but, as the course profile suggested, bunch sprints appear to be the most likely outcome in the road races at these championships. Next up are tomorrow’s junior men’s road race plus that of the Elite women; if those two also finish with a big gallop, the sprinters will be salivating at the thought of Sunday’s elite event.