King Thor roars to Worlds victory

It was a course for the tough sprinter, for a man made of iron who could get over the climbs and launch a brutal uphill sprint: enter Thor Hushovd (Norway). The final sprint in Geelong, Australia was perfectly suited to the Norwegian rider and with a clear run down the left-hand barrier, Hushovd secured a year in the rainbow jersey of UCI Road World Champion.

Matti Breschel (Denmark) took a comfortable second place while Allan Davis (Australia) won a tight battle against Italy’s Filippo Pozzato to claim the bronze medal.

“It’s hard to understand that I’ve won the Worlds. It’s a dream. I’m speechless,” said Hushovd. “There’s still one goal and that’s Paris-Roubaix. But for now I will enjoy everything and try to enjoy every day of this winter. I had this chance and maybe it will never happen again.”

Hushovd admitted that he didn’t think the race would come back together when the peloton fractured and a group of 31 riders moved ahead. Hushovd missed the move but had no motivation to chase it himself given that teammate Edvald Boasson Hagen had made the cut.

“Absolutely, for a while of course only Spain was riding with one or two guys and I thought it was over at that moment. Then Russia joined in and for us it was perfect.”

The solo specialists tried to stamp their mark on the race over the final two laps. Italy threw its riders off the front in moves that were brought back by riders such as defending champion Cadel Evans (Australia).

Finally pre-race favourite Philippe Gilbert (Belgium) showed his hand on the final lap, surging through the lead group of 51 riders on the first climb to pull out an immediate advantage of 14 seconds. Gilbert extended the lead on the descent, reaching a maximum of 22 second, before the chasers started to reduce it on the second climb.

Gilbert looked doomed as he started to take on food in the final five kilometres, signalling that he was low on energy. The excitement on the roadside grew as the home fans watched Evans pull a group of five towards Gilbert, but that soon turned into horror as the dropped peloton suddenly appeared without warning to consume all.

Bids for glory were launched by Pavel Brutt (Russia) and Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia), but they were caught on the final corner of the race. As the 40-odd riders made their way up the 700-metre long finishing straight, Davis looked strong but Hushovd came down the barrier without traffic to take the title.

"I'm over the moon...I got on Matti's wheel and in last 500m I saw Thor come and decided to stay on Matti," said Davis.

The early break

The race came close having a completely different ending, after a break of five gained over 23 minutes on the 82 kilometre opening segment from Melbourne to the finishing circuit in Geelong. The break came within 50 seconds of completing a lap before the peloton entered the circuit, which could have caused serious complications for the commissaires.

"The [slow start] changed nothing – slower or faster," commented Hushovd. "But I was really scared on [what would happen] if the [breakaway] lapped us. I didn't know what the rules were if a breakaway lapped the field."

The five riders - Diego Alejandro Tamayo Martinez (Colombia), Jackson Rodriguez (Venezuela), Mohammed Said Elammoury (Morocco), Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukraine) and Matthew Brammeier (Ireland) - attacked before the race had cleared Melbourne, and their lead began to mount rapidly.

As the race went by the You Yangs mountains, with 30 kilometres still to go to Geelong, the gap was approaching 23 minutes – it would reach a maximum of 23:30 - and the U.S. team finally went to the front to limit any further damage.

Onto the finishing circuit

Once the race entered the 15.9 kilometre circuit for 11 laps, that gap began to fall, with Belgium moving to the front for their man Philippe Gilbert. The Moroccan Elammoury dropped off the lead group after one lap, but the other four continued to work together steadily.

Initially, the gap came down slowly, with none of the teams willing to commit too many resources to the chase. With four laps completed, the gap was still 16 minutes, and it was starting to look like this break had a chance. However, a lap later the Spanish and Italian teams decided to get serious, and they quickly knocked four minutes off the lead.

The higher pace was having an impact on the peloton, with riders falling off the back on the climbs. With 100 kilometres of racing left the gap was down to ten minutes, and 31 riders had split off the front of the peloton, including defending champion Cadel Evans, Stuart O'Grady, Simon Gerrans (all Australia), Gilbert, Pozzato, Vincenzo Nibali, Matteo Tosatto and Giovanni Visconti (all Italy). Many members of the peloton came back after the climbs, but the pattern was set: each lap more riders were shed, and less managed to get back on each time.

"I think that big attack with five laps to go surprised us all," Hushovd explained after the race. "I was hesitating on whether to go or not but I saw [Oscar] Freire and a few guys sitting back so I didn't go. I had Edvald Boasson Hagen in front for Norway so that was good enough, and then Spain and Russia controlled it."

By lap seven, Kvachuk had dropped the rest of the break and was continuing to push on alone, but the writing was on the wall, and his gap was down to five minutes by the end of the lap. Two laps later, he was less than two minutes in front, and the Italians were really starting to apply pressure, with the Ukrainian finally caught late in the lap after 220 kilometres out in front.

Nibali launched a serious attack halfway through lap nine, which decisively decimated the field. He started lap ten with a 22 second gap on a chase group containing Evans, Gilbert and Pozzato, and the main bunch at 49 seconds, being driven by Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland). But it was too early, and the bunch came back together to start the last lap.

The final showdown

Gilbert finally made his much-anticipated move on the Montpellier climb, with Evans reacting instantly. The Belgian had 14 second at the top of the first climb, and was 22 seconds clear by the top of the second climb.

With six and a half kilometres to go, the chase was being led by Evans, Paul Martens (Germany), Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia), Koos Moerenhout (Netherlands) and Frank Schleck (Luxembourg). But the pursuit was not well organized, with most of the group looking to Evans to do the work on home roads.

With 3.4 kilometres to go a group of 20 caught the Evans group and then pulled Gilbert back with less than two kilometres remaining. Vladimir Gusev (Russia) and Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) immediately counterattacked, and were joined by Niki Terpstra (Netherlands), but the field was having none of it, and as they swept around the final corner for the 500 metre uphill run to the finish there were 25 riders still in contention.

Hushovd moved into the lead on the left hand side of the road with 150 metres to go, and easily held on to take the title.

"I think I did a good race, I didn't panic and of course I paid with this in the end. Of course, the last lap was really hard when Belgium attacked with Philippe Gilbert, but I think the wind was too strong out there, so it was too hard to stay in front alone. In the sprint I just focused on myself and to not make any mistakes. 'Just don't mess it up' I said to myself so many times in the last kilometre and, yeah, I think I did the perfect race out there today."

The championships ended on a high note for Australia, with Davis taking the third medal for the host nation, giving them a bronze to go with gold (Matthews in the U23 road race) and silver (Durbridge in the U23 time trial).

"After 260 kilometres, sprinting after that distance is a lot different,” Davis said. “The majority of the races throughout the year it is pretty normal to cramp, especially in an uphill finish like that. I was in a high cadence, and I should have stayed there but I went down a cog and cramped straight away. But there is no taking away from Thor today. Not only in the sprint, but Thor closed the gap in the last lap by himself, and to do what he did in the sprint, there is no taking that away from the world champion."

Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Thor Hushovd (Norway)6:21:49
2Matti Breschel (Denmark)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Allan Davis (Australia)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Filippo Pozzato (Italy)Row 3 - Cell 2
5Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Oscar Freire Gomez (Spain)Row 5 - Cell 2
7Alexandr Kolobnev (Russian Federation)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan)Row 7 - Cell 2
9Yukiya Arashiro (Japan)Row 8 - Cell 2
10Romain Feillu (France)Row 9 - Cell 2
11Grega Bole (Slovenia)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Dmitriy Fofonov (Kazakhstan)Row 11 - Cell 2
13Koos Moerenhout (Netherlands)Row 12 - Cell 2
14Fabian Wegmann (Germany)Row 13 - Cell 2
15Andre Fernando S. Martins Cardoso (Portugal)Row 14 - Cell 2
16Frank Schleck (Luxembourg)Row 15 - Cell 2
17Cadel Evans (Australia)Row 16 - Cell 2
18Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)Row 17 - Cell 2
19Niki Terpstra (Netherlands)0:00:07
20Björn Leukemans (Belgium)Row 19 - Cell 2
21Vladimir Gusev (Russian Federation)0:00:13
22Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia)Row 21 - Cell 2
23Chris Sörensen (Denmark)Row 22 - Cell 2
24Anders Lund (Denmark)0:00:15
25Paul Martens (Germany)Row 24 - Cell 2
26Yoann Offredo (France)0:02:07
27Jonas Ljungblad (Sweden)0:02:09
28Matija Kvasina (Croatia)0:02:11
29Christian Knees (Germany)Row 28 - Cell 2
30Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)Row 29 - Cell 2
31Simon Spilak (Slovenia)0:02:13
32Cyril Gautier (France)Row 31 - Cell 2
33Kanstantin Siutsou (Belarus)Row 32 - Cell 2
34Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Colombia)Row 33 - Cell 2
35Juan José Haedo (Argentina)Row 34 - Cell 2
36Giovanni Visconti (Italy)Row 35 - Cell 2
37Marzio Bruseghin (Italy)0:05:11
38Luca Paolini (Italy)Row 37 - Cell 2
39Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spain)Row 38 - Cell 2
40Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)0:07:10
41Lars Boom (Netherlands)0:07:22
42Wout Poels (Netherlands)Row 41 - Cell 2
43André Greipel (Germany)Row 42 - Cell 2
44Gorazd Stangelj (Slovenia)Row 43 - Cell 2
45Stuart O`Grady (Australia)Row 44 - Cell 2
46Radoslav Rogina (Croatia)Row 45 - Cell 2
47Karsten Kroon (Netherlands)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Jure Kocjan (Slovenia)Row 47 - Cell 2
49Pavel Brutt (Russian Federation)Row 48 - Cell 2
50Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)Row 49 - Cell 2
51Yauheni Hutarovich (Belarus)0:13:53
52Denys Kostyuk (Ukraine)Row 51 - Cell 2
53Martin Velits (Slovakia)Row 52 - Cell 2
54Petr Bencik (Czech Republic)Row 53 - Cell 2
55Martin Elmiger (Switzerland)Row 54 - Cell 2
56Hernani Broco (Portugal)Row 55 - Cell 2
57Egor Silin (Russian Federation)Row 56 - Cell 2
58Marcel Sieberg (Germany)Row 57 - Cell 2
59Steve Morabito (Switzerland)Row 58 - Cell 2
60Bartosz Huzarski (Poland)Row 59 - Cell 2
61Eduard Vorganov (Russian Federation)Row 60 - Cell 2
62Koen De Kort (Netherlands)Row 61 - Cell 2
63Sylvain Chavanel (France)Row 62 - Cell 2
64Michal Golas (Poland)Row 63 - Cell 2
65Bernhard Eisel (Austria)Row 64 - Cell 2
66Peter Wrolich (Austria)Row 65 - Cell 2
67Oleksandr Sheydyk (Ukraine)Row 66 - Cell 2
68David Mc Cann (Ireland)Row 67 - Cell 2
69Alexander Kristoff (Norway)Row 68 - Cell 2
70Sébastien Hinault (France)Row 69 - Cell 2
71Bert Grabsch (Germany)Row 70 - Cell 2
72Yukihiro Doi (Japan)Row 71 - Cell 2
73Edward King (United States Of America)Row 72 - Cell 2
74Peter Velits (Slovakia)Row 73 - Cell 2
75Gustav Larsson (Sweden)Row 74 - Cell 2
76Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)Row 75 - Cell 2
77Julian Dean (New Zealand)Row 76 - Cell 2
78Przemyslaw Niemiec (Poland)Row 77 - Cell 2
79Christian Vandevelde (United States Of America)Row 78 - Cell 2
80Danny Pate (United States Of America)Row 79 - Cell 2
81Tyler Farrar (United States Of America)Row 80 - Cell 2
82Danilo Hondo (Germany)Row 81 - Cell 2
83Anthony Geslin (France)Row 82 - Cell 2
84Tanel Kangert (Estonia)Row 83 - Cell 2
85Svein Tuft (Canada)Row 84 - Cell 2
86William Bonnet (France)Row 85 - Cell 2
87Leopold Konig (Czech Republic)Row 86 - Cell 2
88Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan)Row 87 - Cell 2
89Ignatas Konovalovas (Lithuania)Row 88 - Cell 2
90José Mendes Pimenta Costa (Portugal)Row 89 - Cell 2
91Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands)Row 90 - Cell 2
92Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands)Row 91 - Cell 2
93Oleksandr Kvachuk (Ukraine)Row 92 - Cell 2
94Mathew Hayman (Australia)Row 93 - Cell 2
95Wesley Sulzberger (Australia)Row 94 - Cell 2
96Michael Rogers (Australia)Row 95 - Cell 2
97Nicolas Roche (Ireland)Row 96 - Cell 2
98Laurent Didier (Luxembourg)0:21:51
99Zolt Der (Serbia)0:22:50
DNFEdvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)Row 99 - Cell 2
DNFCarlos Barredo Llamazales (Spain)Row 100 - Cell 2
DNFYury Trofimov (Russian Federation)Row 101 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Albasini (Switzerland)Row 102 - Cell 2
DNFTejay Van Garderen (United States Of America)Row 103 - Cell 2
DNFJurgen Roelandts (Belgium)Row 104 - Cell 2
DNFFrancesco Gavazzi (Italy)Row 105 - Cell 2
DNFTony Martin (Germany)Row 106 - Cell 2
DNFMario Aerts (Belgium)Row 107 - Cell 2
DNFMatteo Tosatto (Italy)Row 108 - Cell 2
DNFSamuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spain)Row 109 - Cell 2
DNFLuis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spain)Row 110 - Cell 2
DNFRuben Plaza Molina (Spain)Row 111 - Cell 2
DNFLeif Hoste (Belgium)Row 112 - Cell 2
DNFJan Bakelants (Belgium)Row 113 - Cell 2
DNFSimon Gerrans (Australia)Row 114 - Cell 2
DNFLucas Sebastian Haedo (Argentina)Row 115 - Cell 2
DNFMaciej Bodnar (Poland)Row 116 - Cell 2
DNFVladimir Karpets (Russian Federation)Row 117 - Cell 2
DNFCarlos Oyarzun Guinez (Chile)Row 118 - Cell 2
DNFDiego Alejandro Tamayo Martinez (Colombia)Row 119 - Cell 2
DNFDavid Millar (Great Britain)Row 120 - Cell 2
DNFMarcin Sapa (Poland)Row 121 - Cell 2
DNFJackson Rodriguez (Venezuela)Row 122 - Cell 2
DNFMatthew Brammeier (Ireland)Row 123 - Cell 2
DNFGrégory Rast (Switzerland)Row 124 - Cell 2
DNFSamuel José Rodrigues Caldeira (Portugal)Row 125 - Cell 2
DNFJuan Manuel Garate (Spain)Row 126 - Cell 2
DNFAndriy Grivko (Ukraine)Row 127 - Cell 2
DNFMatthew Harley Goss (Australia)Row 128 - Cell 2
DNFHayden Roulston (New Zealand)Row 129 - Cell 2
DNFKristijan Koren (Slovenia)Row 130 - Cell 2
DNFAndrea Tonti (Italy)Row 131 - Cell 2
DNFChristian Meier (Canada)Row 132 - Cell 2
DNFDaryl Impey (South Africa)Row 133 - Cell 2
DNFPeter Sagan (Slovakia)Row 134 - Cell 2
DNFJos Van Emden (Netherlands)Row 135 - Cell 2
DNFDominic Klemme (Germany)Row 136 - Cell 2
DNFArtem Ovechkin (Russian Federation)Row 137 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Morkov (Denmark)Row 138 - Cell 2
DNFMurilo Antonio Fischer (Brazil)Row 139 - Cell 2
DNFHrvoje Miholjevic (Croatia)Row 140 - Cell 2
DNFImanol Erviti Ollo (Spain)Row 141 - Cell 2
DNFKevin De Weert (Belgium)Row 142 - Cell 2
DNFBaden Cooke (Australia)Row 143 - Cell 2
DNFMark Cavendish (Great Britain)Row 144 - Cell 2
DNFDavid Zabriskie (United States Of America)Row 145 - Cell 2
DNFJeremy Hunt (Great Britain)Row 146 - Cell 2
DNFFrancisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spain)Row 147 - Cell 2
DNFValentin Iglinskiy (Kazakhstan)Row 148 - Cell 2
DNFSergey Renev (Kazakhstan)Row 149 - Cell 2
DNFAlexander Porsev (Russian Federation)Row 150 - Cell 2
DNFBen Gastauer (Luxembourg)Row 151 - Cell 2
DNFThomas Peterson (United States Of America)Row 152 - Cell 2
DNFKalle Kriit (Estonia)Row 153 - Cell 2
DNFAdil Jelloul (Morocco)Row 154 - Cell 2
DNFMohammed Said Elammoury (Morocco)Row 155 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel Oss (Italy)Row 156 - Cell 2
DNFFrederik Willems (Belgium)Row 157 - Cell 2
DNFGreg Henderson (New Zealand)Row 158 - Cell 2
DNFAbdelatil Saadoune (Morocco)Row 159 - Cell 2
DNFMatias Medici (Argentina)Row 160 - Cell 2
DNFEsad Hasanovic (Serbia)Row 161 - Cell 2
DNFDanilo Wyss (Switzerland)Row 162 - Cell 2
DNFJason Mccartney (United States Of America)Row 163 - Cell 2
DNFMartin Kohler (Switzerland)Row 164 - Cell 2
DNFJaroslaw Marycz (Poland)Row 165 - Cell 2
DNFDarren Lill (South Africa)Row 166 - Cell 2
DNFYury Metlushenko (Ukraine)Row 167 - Cell 2
DNFManuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Portugal)Row 168 - Cell 2
DNFJay Robert Thomson (South Africa)Row 169 - Cell 2
DNFBorut Bozic (Slovenia)Row 170 - Cell 2
DNFDominique Rollin (Canada)Row 171 - Cell 2
DNFAlex Rasmussen (Denmark)Row 172 - Cell 2
DNFCraig Lewis (United States Of America)Row 173 - Cell 2
DNFAdnane Aarbia (Morocco)Row 174 - Cell 2
DNFMouhcine Lahsaini (Morocco)Row 175 - Cell 2
DNFTarik Chaoufi (Morocco)Row 176 - Cell 2
DNFCarlos José Ochoa (Venezuela)Row 177 - Cell 2

 

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