Van der Poel wins junior men's world title

Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) added the junior road race world title to his cyclo-cross crown with a devastating attack on the final ascent of Via Salviati. He then powered to the finish alone and even had to time to close his jersey and pull out a Dutch flag and celebrate in style.

Mads Pedersen (Denmark) won the sprint for second place three seconds after van der Poel, while Iltjan Nika claimed the bronze medal for Albania.

Logan Owen (USA) finished in fourth place, for a second consecutive world championship, just ahead of Italy’s Lorenzo Rota. Britain's Scott Davies finished seventh.

Van der Poel is the son of former professional and cyclo-cross world champion Adri van der Poel and he is the grandson of French legend Raymond Poulidor.

"This is special because it's my first international title on the road," van der Poel said.

"My attack was not prepared but I felt it was the moment to go. My dad gives me some advice but then I'm the one who has to race."

Van der Poel rode a smart race and used his bike handling skills and power to devastating effect. He dropped European champion Franck Bonnamour (France) on the steep slopes of Via Salviati and held a lead of 12 seconds at the summit of the climb. Although a group of 22 riders gave chase behind, he was able to hold on to win by three seconds at the finish.

Despite his world road race title, van der Poel announced he will focus on cyclo-cross for at least the next four years.

"I enjoy cyclo-cross more than road races so I'm going to focus on that for now but I will do some road races too. I've got a team already," he said.

"Boom and Stybar did cyclo-cross before switching to the road and they’re idols for me, so they prove you don’t have to make the change right now. There's time."

Iltjan Nika secured the first ever world road race championship medal for Albania.

"I didn’t know that. Let’s hope it's just the beginning for Albania," he said.

"You had to race with your head, not just the legs. We're one of the smaller nations and I only had two teammates. I live here in Toscana, race in a team that is from here and I know these roads, it was like racing at home." 

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