Nicolas Roche, Philip Deignan and Roger Aiken were short of luck in the elite men's UCI Road World Championship road race on Sunday.
Roche crashed in the third lap but was able to rejoin the main field assisted by Aiken who had dropped behind to help pace him back. Unfortunately Roche was forced to retire a few laps later with a thigh injury. He was reportedly headed to the hospital for further investigation to determine the cause of swelling at the injury site.
Deignan was able to hold on for longer and kept near the front of the bunch but Letterkenny man struggled with a stomach upset and was unable to digest the race food. He finally ran out of legs with three laps to go as the Italians whipped up the race speed and split the bunch into pieces.
Mountain biker Aiken did a tremendous ride to help Roche rejoin the bunch after his crash and he held onto the main field for over 200km before he finally lost contact.
Only 77 riders out of 207 entries finished the tough race.
