Gilbert and Evans very impressive but Australian course not quite hard enough
Riding a canny, calculating race, Norwegian rider Thor Hushovd showed his strength on the final lap with a superb sprint victory to become world champion. The 32 year old overhauled Danish rider Matti Breschel inside the final 100 metres of the Elite road race, with bronze medallist Allan Davis giving the Australian home crowd something to cheer about after Cadel Evans’ repeated, courageous efforts to successfully defend his title didn’t pay off.Evans and Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert were arguably the two strongest riders, with the latter uncorking a brilliant acceleration on the final ascent of the Ridge climb and scorching clear of the front group. He opened a gap of over twenty seconds over chasers Evans and Paul Maertens (Germany), but the mainly-flat run-in to the line led to a regrouping behind and his recapture with approximately three kilometres to go.
Pavel Brutt (Russia) and Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) then clipped away but were brought back by the chasing group; Freire tried to manoeuvre himself into position to take a record fourth world title but it was Breschel who looked quickest. He powered clear and looked like a possible winner, only to see gold turn into silver when an impressive Hushovd powered past.
“It is hard to understand that I have won the worlds,” said Hushovd, clearly very proud. “It is a dream, it’s unreal. Now I will just enjoy this, try to enjoy every day.”
He admitted he was concerned when several menacing breaks went clear in the final laps, but was one of the strongest on the final ascent of the steep Ridge climb and clearly had a lot left. He said his big dream next year was to win Paris-Roubaix in the rainbow jersey.
His big sprinting rival Mark Cavendish, one of the pre-race favourites, was accurate in his assessment that the course was too tough for him. The Briton was a non-finisher.
[more to follow]
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Elite world road race championships, Geelong, Australia:
1, Thor Hushovd (Norway) 262.7 kilometres in 6 hours 21 mins 49 secs
2, Matti Breschel (Denmark)
3, Allan Davis (Australia)
4, Filippo Pozzato (Italy)
5, Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)
6, Oscar Freire (Spain)
7, Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia)
8, Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan)
9, Yukiya Arashiro (Japan)
10, Romain Feillu (France)
11, Grega Bole (Slovenia)
12, Dmitry Fofonov (Kazakhstan)
13, Koos Moerenhout (Netherlands)
14, Fabian Wegmann (Germany)
15, Manuel Cardoso (Portugal)
16, Frank Schleck (Luxembourg)
17, Cadel Evans (Australia)
18, Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) all same time
19, Niki Terpstra (Netherlands)at 7 secs
20, Bjorn Leukemans (Belgium) same time
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