Mattias Skjelmose was in the fight for his first career Road World Championships medal right until the dying kilometres of Sunday's road race in Rwanda.
The Dane was battling Ireland's Ben Healy for bronze in Kigali, aiming to become the first Danish elite men's rider to score a Road Worlds medal since Michael Valgren's bronze in 2021.
However, it wasn't to be for the 25-year-old, whose previous best Worlds finish was 10th on his debut in Wollongong three years ago. 5km from the line, Healy kicked, and there was nothing Skjelmose could do to respond.
He was forced to let the Irishman go and settle for fourth place. 2:53 on now two-time champion Tadej Pogačar, and 37 seconds off Healy.
Speaking to TV2 after the finish of the 267.5km race, Skjelmose couldn't hide his disappointment at missing out on a medal, but admitted that Healy was simply stronger than him on the day.
"It sucks, but I had nothing left to give. I was empty, and Ben Healy was just better today," he said.
"I was done. I knew that Remco Evenepoel would attack, and I was hoping that it would be as late as possible. Fortunately, Ben wasn't quite ready to go with him, so I could just ride with him. I really believed in it until the end, but my legs just gave out."
Skjelmose, who this season has won Amstel Gold Race, the Andorra Morabanc Clássica, and a stage of the Tour of Luxembourg, had no excuses, he said.
He wasn't ruing how he and the Danish squad had planned the lead-in to the race, in any case. He simply stated that he didn't have any energy left in the tank to stick with his medal rivals.
"I don't know if it would have made any difference if I had arrived earlier [in Rwanda]," Skjelmose said. "You can't make many mistakes before it costs you in the end.
"If I had stayed with Ben over the penultimate hill, I might have been able to pull something out of the hat. But there was just nothing left."
Danish national coach Michael Mørkøv was also disappointed with the result, after a place on the podium had looked a possibility for so long.
"It's a shame. Mattias looked really strong in the final, and the whole team did what they could to get him to this World Championships final," he said.
"Everyone could see that Tadej Pogačar was in a league of his own today, but when Skjelmose was with Remco and Healy, we thought we could win silver and bronze. So, of course, it's incredibly disappointing that we ended up in fourth place."
