CYCLING: Pedersen stuns with World Road win while van Vleuten claims women’s title

Mads Pedersen (DEN) is the new World Road Race Champion!

The UCI World Road Race Championships concluded with a soggy men’s race that produced an electrifying finish that placed unheralded Mads Pedersen of Denmark across the line first on Sunday.

Severe storms required the course to be shortened and two of the climbs removed and even so, of the initial field of 197 starters, just 46 finished.

Swiss Stefan Kung and American Lawson Craddock attacked with 65 km to go, but then Craddock abandoned the race and Kung was joined by Mike Teunissen (NED) and Pedersen and Gianni Moscon (ITA) with about 45 km left. Dutch star Mattieu van der Poel and Matteo Trentin (ITA) bridged up to the front with 35 km left.

Kung, Tentin, Pedersen and Moscon had the lead at 12 km to go and they stayed clear of the peloton until the end and Trentin attacked with 200 m to go. But Pedersen was able to sail around him to get to the line first, with Kung third and Moscon fourth. At 23, Pedersen was the youngest World Champion in 20 years and the first Danish man to win the title.

The women’s race was yet another confirmation of Annemiek van Vleuten as the finest rider in the world. She took off 100 km from the finish and was never headed, winning by more than two minutes over teammate Anna van der Breggen.

Van der Breggen had her own race to deal with over the final 12 km, when she finally passed American Chloe Dygert-Owen for third and then eclipsed Australia’s Amanda Spratt for the silver medal; Dygert-Owen finished fourth. Summaries:

UCI World Road Championships
Yorkshire (GBR) ~ 22-29 September 2019
(Full results here)

Men

Time Trial/U-23 (30.3 km): 1. Mikkel Bjerg (DEN), 40:20; 2. Ian Garrison (USA), 40:47; 3. Brandon McNulty (USA), 40:48; 4. Mathias Norsgaard Jorgensen (DEN), 40:58; 5. Brent van Moer (BEL), 41:04.

Time Trial/Junior (27.6 km): 1. Antonio Tiberi (ITA), 38:28; 2. Enzo Leijnse (NED), 38:36; 3. Marco Brenner (GER), 38:41; 4. Quinn Simmons (USA), 38:48; 5. Michel Hessmann (GER), 38:56.

Time Trial (54.0 km): 1. Rohan Dennis (AUS), 1:05:05; 2. Remco Evenepoel (BEL), 1:06:14; 3. Filippo Ganna (ITA), 1:07:00; 4. Patrick Bevin (AUS), 1:07:03; 5. Alex Dowsett (GBR), 1:07:07; 6. Lawson Craddock (USA), 1:07:13; 7. Tanel Kangert (EST), 1:07:13; 8. Nelson Oliveira (POR), 1:07:15; 9. Tony Martin (GER), 1:07:32; 10. Stefan Kung (SUI), 1:07:52.

Road Race/U-23 (171.6 km): 1. Samuele Battistella (ITA), 3:53:52; 2. Stefan Bissegger (SUI), 3:53:52; 3. Thomas Pidcock (GBR), 3:53:52; 4. Sergio Higuita (COL), 3:53:52; 5. Andreas Kron (SUI), 3:53:52.

Road Race/Junior (148.1 km): 1. Simmons (USA), 3:38:04; 2. Alessio Martinelli (ITA), 3:39:00; 3. Magnus Sheffield (USA), 3:39:37; 4. Leijnse (NED), 3:39:37; 5. Gianmarco Garofoli (ITA), 3:39:37. Also in the top 25: 12. Michael Garrison (USA), 3:39:49 … 17. Matthew Riccitello (USA), 3:39:52.

Road Race (260.7 km): 1. Mads Pedersen (DEN), 6:27:28; 2. Matteo Trentin (ITA), 6:27:28; 3. Kung (SUI), 6:27:30; 4. Gianni Moscon (ITA), 6:27:45; 5. Peter Sagan (SVK), 6:28:11; 6. Michael Valgren (DEN), 6:28:13; 7. Alexander Kristoff (NOR), 6:28:38; 8. Greg van Avermaet (BEL), 6:28:38; 9. Gorka Izagirre (ESP), 6:28:38; 10. Rui Costa (POR), 6:28:38.

Women

Time Trial (30.3 km): 1. Chloe Dygert-Owen (USA), 42:11; 2. Anna van der Breggen (NED), 43:44; 3. Annemiek van Vleuten (NED), 44:05; 4. Amber Neben (USA), 44:50; 5. Lisa Klein (GER), 44:53; 6. Marlen Reusser (SUI), 45:14; 7. Leah Thomas (USA), 45:25; 8. Lucinda Brand (NED), 45:27.

Time Trial/Junior (13.7 km): 1. Aigul Gareeva (RUS), 22:16; 2. Shirin van Androoij (NED), 22:20; 3. Elynor Backstedt (GBR), 22:27; 4. Camilla Alessio (ITA), 22:31; 5. Wilma Olausson (SWE), 22:33. Also in the top 10: 7. Zoe Ta-Perez (USA), 22:42; … 9. Megan Jastrab (USA), 23:01.

Road Race/Junior (86.0 km): 1. Jastrab (USA), 2:08:00; 2. Julie De Wilde (BEL), 2:08:00; 3. Lieke Nooijen (NED), 2:08:00; 4. Aigul Gareeva (RUS), 2:08:00; 5. Elynor Backstedt (GBR), 2:08:00.

Road Race (149.4 km): 1. Van Vleuten (NED), 4:06:05; 2. Van der Breggen (NED), 4:08:20; 3. Amanda Spratt (AUS), 4:08:33; 4. Dygert-Owen (USA), 4:09:29; 5. Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA), 4:10:50; 6. Marianne Vos (NED), 4:11:25; 7. Marta Bastianelli (ITA), 4:11:25; 8. Ashleigh Moolman (RSA), 4:11:25. Also in the top 25: 10. Coryn Rivera (USA), 4:11:25.

Mixed

Mixed Team Time Trial: 1. Netherlands (Brand, Markus, Pieters, Bouwman, Mollema, van Emden), 38:27.60; 2. Germany, 38:50.35; 3. Great Britain, 39:18.87; 4. Italy, 39:23.49; 5. France, 39:50.64; 6. Switzerland, 39:54.54; 7. Slovenia, 40:25.00; 8. Denmark, 40:31.98.