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UCI Road World Championships 2010

Date range:
September 29 - October 3, 2010

October 1, Under 23 Men road race: Geelong 159km

Australia's Matthews grabs home turf title

By:
Rob Jones
Published:
October 1, 2010, 08:11,
Updated:
October 6, 2010, 09:28

Degenkolb secures silver as Phinney sneaks into bronze

Michael Matthews (Australia) was just too quick over the last 10 metres.

Michael Matthews (Australia) was just too quick over the last 10 metres.

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Michael Matthews gave Australia its first rainbow of these world championships in the men's under 23 road race on Friday. Matthews outkicked a small field to take the win ahead of John Degenkolb of Germany. In an interesting twist, Guillaume Boivin of Canada literally tied with Taylor Phinney of the United States for third, after digital photo finish equipment could not find a difference between the two on the line. It is the first documented time in the history of the road world championships that there has been a tie for a medal.

"I was really surprised," Matthews said afterwards. "It basically all just came down perfectly for me. A couple of guys hit out a bit early and then the bunch softly started their sprint and I just made sure I got a good run off Phinney's wheel and came round pretty fast. It was a perfect sprint for me."

Taylor Phinney had no complaints about Matthews’ victory. "I was just kind of cross-eyed [in the sprint], and there were a couple of French people around me doing some questionable things," he explained. "I just tried to find an opening and tried to get out there, and then there was this white, yellow and green flash that went by me. But I just focussed on that line and gave it the biggest lunge that I could."

Meanwhile, 3rd-placed Guillame Bouvin was disappointed that he was forced to delay launching his sprint. "It was a perfect [type of] sprint for me, I think," he said. "That is what I am good at. To get a bronze medal is good but it is a bit of a bittersweet feeling, because I knew once I got to the sprint I could win. But I kinda got boxed in and I wasn't able to sprint until 100 metres to go. I gave it my best from there and passed a couple of guys and threw my bike on the line."

How it unfolded

American Ben King started the action in the ten-lap, 159-kilometre race with an attack from the gun that was reminiscent of his winning move in the U.S. Pro Road Championships just two weeks ago. King steadily rode away from the disinterested peloton, with only another Ben King - from Australia - in pursuit. The Australian King was caught by a small chase group and absorbed back into the peloton, but the American King stayed out in front for three-quarters of the race, with his lead growing to over four minutes.

Moreno Moser of Italy eventually bridged up to King, dropping him on one of the climbs, and stayed off the front until the ninth lap, when the Australian team led the leaders across.

A few riders attempted to break away in the final lap and a half, but the top contenders quickly shut them down, setting the stage for an uphill sprint finish. Coming out the final corner for the last 500 metres, the Italian team led out, with Phinney then moving to the front. Matthews came off of Phinney's wheel with 300 metres to go and rocketed to the front, opening a gap that was big enough to allow him to sit up and coast across the line with his arms in the air.

“I just looked to the left and saw that I got it, so it was a perfect sprint for me," a jubilant Matthews explained.

Meanwhile, Degenkolb had a lock on second, but the battle for third saw Boivin surge up the left side and make a tremendous throw at the line to match Phinney. "To the pixel", as one official put it.

Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Michael Matthews (Australia) 4:01:23  
2 John Degenkolb (Germany)    
3 Taylor Phinney (United States Of America)    
3 Guillaume Boivin (Canada)    
5 Arnaud Demare (France)    
6 Sonny Colbrelli (Italy)    
7 Laurens De Vreese (Belgium)    
8 Sebastian Lander (Denmark)    
9 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spain)    
10 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Russian Federation)    
11 Luke Rowe (Great Britain)    
12 Siarhei Papok (Belarus)    
13 Blaz Jarc (Slovenia)    
14 Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania)    
15 Stefano Agostini (Italy)    
16 David Boily (Canada)    
17 Sylwester Janiszewski (Poland)    
18 Mikel Landa Meana (Spain)    
19 Yonathan Monsalve (Venezuela)    
20 Egidijus Juodvalkis (Lithuania)    
21 Arnaud Papillon (Canada)    
22 Yannick Eijssen (Belgium)    
23 Nélson Oliveira (Portugal)    
24 Georg Preidler (Austria)    
25 Massimo Graziato (Italy)    
26 Rafal Majka (Poland)    
27 George Bennett (New Zealand)    
28 Dmitriy Ignatyev (Russian Federation)    
29 Sebastian Balck (Sweden)    
30 Vegard Stake Laengen (Norway)    
31 Joel Zangerle (Luxembourg)    
32 Blaz Furdi (Slovenia)    
33 Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (Russian Federation)    
34 Ki Ho Choi (Hong Kong, China)    
35 Tom Jelte Slagter (Netherlands)    
36 Andi Bajc (Slovenia)    
37 Daniel Schorn (Austria)    
38 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Colombia)    
39 Tobias Ludvigsson (Sweden)    
40 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spain)    
41 Piotr Gawronski (Poland)    
42 Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (Colombia)    
43 Adrian Honkisz (Poland)    
44 Higinio Fernandez (Spain)    
45 Romain Hardy (France)    
46 Ho Ting Kwok (Hong Kong, China)    
47 Kanstantsin Klimiankou (Belarus) 0:00:28  
48 Ying Hon Yeung (Hong Kong, China)    
49 Enrico Battaglin (Italy) 0:00:42  
50 Tony Gallopin (France) 0:00:46  
51 Jimmi Sorensen (Denmark) 0:01:04  
52 Malcom Rudolph (Australia)    
53 Pawel Poljanski (Poland)    
54 Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda (Colombia)    
55 Vegard Robinson Bugge (Norway)    
56 Jonathan Mcevoy (Great Britain)    
57 Sébastien Reichenbach (Switzerland)    
58 Chris Butler (United States Of America)    
59 Julien Vermote (Belgium)    
60 Jelle Wallays (Belgium)    
61 Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eritrea)    
62 Christopher Juul Jensen (Denmark) 0:02:01  
63 Joseph Lewis (Australia) 0:02:22  
64 Alex Howes (United States Of America)    
65 Shem Rodger (New Zealand) 0:02:40  
66 Arman Kamyshev (Kazakhstan)    
67 Vladislav Gorbunov (Kazakhstan)    
68 Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan)    
69 Jean-Lou Paiani (France)    
70 Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Japan)    
71 Ronan Van Zandbeek (Netherlands) 0:02:50  
72 Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Colombia) 0:03:07  
73 Andreas Hofer (Austria) 0:03:13  
74 Michel Koch (Germany)    
75 Alexei Tsatevitch (Russian Federation)    
76 Rohan Dennis (Australia)    
77 Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)    
78 Philipp Ries (Germany)    
79 Boy Van Poppel (Netherlands) 0:05:30  
80 Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)    
81 Marko Kump (Slovenia)    
82 Matthias Krizek (Austria) 0:05:35  
83 Enzo Moyano (Argentina) 0:05:39  
84 Silver Schultz (Estonia) 0:05:40  
85 Moreno Moser (Italy) 0:05:46  
86 Geoffrey Soupe (France) 0:06:04  
87 Jovan Zekavica (Serbia) 0:08:52  
88 Andrei Krasilnikau (Belarus) 0:10:07  
89 Marco Sérgio Dias Coelho (Portugal)    
90 Domingos André Maciel Gonçalves (Portugal)    
91 Luka Mezgec (Slovenia)    
92 Arthur Van Overberghe (Belgium)    
93 Hugo Houle (Canada) 0:12:38  
94 Recep Unalan (Turkey) 0:16:40  
95 Evaldas Siskevicius (Lithuania) 0:17:12  
96 Daniel Egeland Jarstø (Norway) 0:21:32  
97 King Lok Cheung (Hong Kong, China)    
DNF David Hesselbarth (Germany)    
DNF Maximilian May (Germany)    
DNF Luke Durbridge (Australia)    
DNF Coen Vermeltfoort (Netherlands)    
DNF Pim Ligthart (Netherlands)    
DNF Benjamin King (Australia)    
DNF Fábio Silvestre (Portugal)    
DNF Ryohei Komori (Japan)    
DNF Kohei Uchima (Japan)    
DNF Daniel Diaz (Argentina)    
DNF Jan Tratnik (Slovenia)    
DNF Alex Dowsett (Great Britain)    
DNF Andrew Fenn (Great Britain)    
DNF Benjamin King (United States Of America)    
DNF Johan Le Bon (France)    
DNF Oystein Stake Laengen (Norway)    
DNF Rasmus Christian Quaade (Denmark)    
DNF Silvan Dillier (Switzerland)    
DNF Michaël Baer (Switzerland)    
DNF Michael Vink (New Zealand)    
DNF Andrew Talansky (United States Of America)    
DNF Nikita Novikov (Russian Federation)    
DNF Ariel Sivori (Argentina)    
DNF Martin Mahdar (Slovakia)    
DNF Carter Jones (United States Of America)