Dutch rider has the backing of his national federation
Sunday: Mads Pedersen takes rainbow jersey in dismal conditions
Mads Pedersen wins the sprint for the line from a three-man group in Harrogate (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Mads Pedersen (Denmark) took the win on the final day of the World Championships, proving the strongest from a three-man group which emerged late on in Harrogate.
The Dane surprisingly outkicked Matteo Trentin (Italy) in the dash for the line, while Stefan Küng (Switzerland) took bronze. It was a day notable for both the horrific weather, which caused the race to be shortened, and the underperformance of the biggest favourites.
A race of attrition which saw five men including Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) establish a lead on the Harrogate circuit, Pedersen prevailed in the rain and cold to take his biggest career win and round off the 2019 World Championships.
Saturday: Virtuoso Van Vleuten wins elite women's road race
Annemiek van Vleuten wins her first world title in style (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) produced one of the greatest World Championship victories of all time, riding solo for 105 kilometres - more than two thirds of the race - before raising her arms in Harrogate to celebrate a first road race world title.
The 36-year-old attacked on the Lofthouse climb, expecting to force a selection, but found herself alone and pressed on for more than three hours. Her teammate Anna van der Breggen had an armchair ride in the chase group, and rode away for silver after it was clear the rest of the group could do nothing about Van Vleuten. Amanda Spratt (Australia) claimed the bronze medal.
Ahead of the elite road races, we're taking an analytical dive into the big teams, looking at their history, key riders, strengths and weaknesses, with insight into the mood in each team camp from an expert from each country.
Friday: Battistella wins U23 men's road race as Eekhoff is disqualified, Jastrab the junior women's champion
(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The U23 men's road race culminated in chaos and controversy as Nils Eekhoff (Netherlands) crossed the line first, only to be told 45 minutes later he had been disqualified for drafting earlier in the race. The victory, in turn, went to Samuele Battistella (Italy), with Stefan Bisseger (Switzerland) second and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) third, but the fall-out was only beginning.
Earlier in the day, Megan Jastrab (USA) delivered on her favourite status in the junior women's road race with a strong and canny victory. The 17-year-old took the initiative, attacking inside 2km to go and, before nearly being caught in sight of the line, surged again and held off the chasers with plenty of time to celebrate. Julie De Wilde (Belgium) claimed the silver while Lieke Nooijen added another medal to the Netherlands' tally.
Thursday: Simmons claims another gold for USA in Junior Men Road Race
Junior men's road race winner Quinn Simmons with US compatriot and bronze medallist Magnus Sheffield on the podium (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Quinn Simmons gave the USA its second gold medal of the UCI Road World Championships with a long solo attack in a rainy junior men's road race on Thursday. Simmons attacked with 33km to go, distancing the chase group by over a minute on the technical, slippery circuit.
Alessio Martinelli (Italy) put in a spirited chase for two laps, but fell 56 seconds short to claim silver. Several chasing groups came together behind the two attackers, and Magnus Sheffield made it two medals for the USA, out-sprinting Enzo Leijnes of the Netherlands for the bronze.
The performance followed the dominant ride by Chloe Dygert Owen to win the elite women's time trial, topping the two Dutch favourites by a large margin.
After quitting the Tour de France suddenly, Dennis has stayed out of the public eye, quietly building his form for Worlds on a tough and technical course. The strategy worked, and Dennis flew through the 54km course to come home 1:08 ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel, with Filippo Ganna taking a fine bronze for Italy at 1:55.
"I spent a lot of time at home, did a lot of work in my head to get mentally prepared for today," Dennis said. "It's been a lot tougher than it looked out there, so there's a lot of people to thank and it's good to repay them on the day when it really matters."
Tuesday: Dygert Owen crushes Elite Women's Time Trial as rain soaks U23 men
Chloe Dygert Owen in the rainbow jersey (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
The 2019 UCI Road World Championships were plunged underwater on Tuesday, with torrential rain in North Yorkshire leading to pools of water on the time trial course, causing crashes in the U23 men's event and a delay to the elite women's event.
A few hours beforehand, Mikkel Bjerg (Denmark) claimed a third consecutive U23 men's time trial world title with another resounding display of strength. The 20-year-old covered the 30.3km course in 40:20, getting the better of the USA duo of Ian Garrison and Brandon McNulty.
For the first time, para-cycling will feature as part of the UCI’s showcase week, with road races on the Harrogate circuit on the opening Saturday.
Time trials
The following day will see the first edition of the new team time trial mixed relay, which will see national teams of three men and three women compete on two laps of a 14km circuit in Harrogate. The men’s trio will tackle the first lap before passing on to the women’s trio for the second lap.
After the junior men’s and women’s time trials on September 23, the under-23 men and elite women tackle a 32.5km course from Ripon to Harrogate the following day.
The elite women and the under-23 men follow the same 32.5km individual time trial Worlds route from Ripon to Harrogate (Image credit: Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships)
On September 25, the 54km elite men’s time trial takes places between Northallerton and Harrogate, with defending champion Rohan Dennis of Australia going up against 19-year-old European TT champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium.
The elite men's individual time trial is held over a 54km course between Northallerton and Harrogate (Image credit: Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships)
Road races
The junior men’s and women’s road races and the under-23 men’s road race take place on the Thursday and Friday, with the final weekend in Yorkshire devoted to the elite road races.
The elite women’s road race takes place on Saturday, September 28, starting from Bradford and tackling three laps of the Harrogate circuit for a total distance of 149.5km.
The course for the elite women's road race at the 2019 World Championships in Yorkshire (Image credit: Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships)
The elite men's road race route for the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire (Image credit: Yorkshire 2019 UCI Road World Championships)
The hilly and technical circuit in Harrogate is 14km in length, and a wide variety of riders will travel to Yorkshire with a chance of landing the world title. Lizzie Deignan (Great Britain) will be the home favourite in the women’s road race, while a Dutch squad with Annemiek van Vleuten, Chantal Blaak, Anna van der Breggen and Marianne Vos will have plenty of options for victory.
Three-time champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia), as ever, leads the line of contenders for the elite men's world title, though on a course so open to interpretation, expect a very deep pool of possible winners on the start line in Leeds. France's Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands have also emerged as two big favourites to win the rainbow jersey.
Yorkshire has placed itself firmly on the world cycling map in the years since its successful hosting of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in 2014, with the Tour de Yorkshire now a firm fixture on the international calendar.
If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.
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The UCI's own YouTube channel will also provide coverage of select races.
Races
UCI Road World Championships 2019
21 September 2019 - 29 September 2019|Yorkshire|CM
