UCI World Championships Live - Elite Men's Road Race

Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews' live coverage of the combined elite men's road race at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong.

The riders have lined up and are just a few minutes to start. It's sunny out today for the men's elite road race and 18 degrees Celsius. 

 Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) has won this race twice and takes the front row as defending champion. You can never discount him as a contender, but his preparation has been far from ideal. 

The flag has dropped to start the neutralized portion of the race. 

We're 3km away from the official start. The weather is truly glorious compared to yesterday!

Official Race Start!

Attacks have started immediately. More and more riders are jumping off the front.

It looks as though we're already getting an established group off the front. 

The pace is extremely fast - there are lots of gaps in the peloton, but maybe this group is coming back together. 

Around 10 leaders are forming, but the peloton is responding. 

We're 10km into the race. 

It looks like a big group of riders is finally getting some distance - maybe about 10? 

More riders are jumping off the front of the peloton, but some teams are trying to shut it down. 

The gap is up to 20 seconds for the leaders. We're getting the names sorted...

Here's the breakaway with 250km to go: Pier-André Coté (CAN), Bilguunjargal Erdenabat (MNG), James Fouché (NZL), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Scott Mcgill (USA), Lukasz Owsian (POL), Simon Pellaud (SUI), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Guy Sagiv (ISR) and Nicolas Sessler (BRA).

The gap has gone up to 50 seconds. 

The gap is only getting bigger and bigger as the peloton shuts down for the time being. It's currently 1'35 with 240km to go. 

There are a few riders in the chase group. Ognjen Ilić (SRB) and Rien Schuurhuis (VAT) are at 1'25 and Muradjan Khalmuratov (UZB) is about to join them. 

The average speed of this race is a rapid 49kph. They're not messing about at the moment. But in the peloton things have settled down. The gap is 3 minutes. 

We're hearing that Mathieu Van Der Poel (NED) has abandoned! 

Apparently he didn't get much sleep last night due to some kids antagonizing him in his hotel. That's an unfortunate situation, indeed. 

Here is the story behind van der Poels' evening last night. 

229km to go

The French are starting to wind things up in the peloton as they climb the biggest test of the day. 

A reminder of the breakaway: Pier-André Coté (CAN), James Fouché (NZL), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Scott McGill (USA), Lukasz Owsian (POL), Simon Pellaud (SUI), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Guy Sagiv (ISR) and Nicolas Sessler (BRA). The gap is at 6'30 with a handful of riders in the gap. 

The gap has gone down to 4'08" to the riders in the break because of the French squad. 

215km to go

France has ignited the race. They've broken up the peloton. 

Bruno Armirail (FRA), Romain Bardet (FRA), Bilguunjargal Erdenabat (MNG), Tobias Foss (NOR), Ognjen Ilić (SRB), Muradjan Khalmuratov (UZB), Tadej Pogacar (SLO), Pavel Sivakov (FRA) and Wout Van Aert (BEL) have popped off the front of the peloton. This is a dangerous move!

So there are 11 riders off the front and nine riders are chasing. 

We have a giant group of 26 riders now, rider names to follow.

205km to go

Okay, so here's the current race situation: Pier-André Coté (CAN), James Fouché (NZL), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Scott Mcgill (USA), Lukasz Owsian (POL), Simon Pellaud (SUI), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Guy Sagiv (ISR) and Nicolas Sessler (BRA) are still off the front with 5 minutes on the peloton. 

Bruno Armirail (FRA), Romain Bardet (FRA), Samuele Battistella (ITA), Daniel Bonello (MLT), Anton Charmig (DEN), Bilguunjargal Erdenabat (MNG), Tobias Foss (NOR), Jai Hindley (AUS), Ognjen Ilić (SRB), Muradjan Khalmuratov (UZB), Stefan Küng (SUI), Valentin Madouas (FRA), Bauke Mollema (NED), Nelson Oliveira (POR), Quentin Pacher (FRA), Wilson Peña (COL), Wout Poels (NED), Tadej Pogacar (SLO), Lorenzo Rota (ITA), Pieter Serry (BEL), Pavel Sivakov (FRA), Marc Soler (ESP), Natnael Tesfazion (ERI) and Wout Van Aert (BEL) are in the chase group at 3'08" with 203km to go. 

The Germans are really going all out to tow this one back. 

Stefan Bissegger (SUI) has abandoned. That's a surprise considering it's still early.  

Tadej Pogacar (SLO) is turning up the pressure in the chase group. He knows this is an excellent opportunity to bridge across. 

The leaders are coming through the finish. There are 11 laps of racing to go.

The gaps are coming down. The peloton is 3'12 back and our chasers are at 1'35. 

The German team is doing the majority of the work bringing these danger breaks back. 

Now Nico Denz (GER) attacks as the gaps get very close. 

The riders have been out there for about 2 hours so far. 

Samuele Battistella (ITA), Ben O'Connor (AUS), Lucas Plapp (AUS), Pieter Serry (BEL) and Pavel Sivakov (FRA) are our chasers behind the 11 leaders. 

177km to go

Nico Denz (GER) and Andreas Leknessund (NOR) make up the third group on the road. 

The 11 off the front just went over the finish for 10 laps to go. 

163km to go

Spain and the Netherlands are working at the head of the peloton.

150km to go

We're heading up to the completion of this lap for the peloton - nine laps to go. 

The chase has caught up to the leaders, making it a group of 16 at the front: Samuele Battistella (ITA), Pier-André Coté (CAN), James Fouché (NZL), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Scott Mcgill (USA), Ben O'connor (AUS), Lukasz Owsian (POL), Simon Pellaud (SUI), Lucas Plapp (AUS), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Guy Sagiv (ISR), Pieter Serry (BEL), Nicolas Sessler (BRA) and Pavel Sivakov (FRA).

The gap to the peloton is 6'44 to the 16 leaders.

Spain is still up near the front of the peloton as they crest another climb. 

Samuele Battistella (ITA), Pier-André Coté (CAN), James Fouché (NZL), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Scott Mcgill (USA), Ben O'connor (AUS), Lukasz Owsian (POL), Simon Pellaud (SUI), Lucas Plapp (AUS), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Guy Sagiv (ISR), Pieter Serry (BEL), Nicolas Sessler (BRA) and Pavel Sivakov (FRA) are 6'44 ahead of the peloton with 135km to go. 

Spain's entire squad has come to the front of the peloton and committed to the chase. 

We're about halfway through the race and the peloton has gone through the feed zone. 

127km to go

Things have settled down considerably in the peloton. The gap is holding at 6 minutes. 

Denz has just been caught by the peloton. 

We're getting to the point in the race where we'll see the distance will start to take a toll on the legs. 

The lead group includes Samuele Battistella (ITA), Pier-andré Coté (CAN), James Fouché (NZL), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Scott Mcgill (USA), Ben O'connor (AUS), Lukasz Owsian (POL), Simon Pellaud (SUI), Lucas Plapp (AUS), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Juraj Sagan (SVK), Guy Sagiv (ISR), Pieter Serry (BEL), Nicolas Sessler (BRA) and Pavel Sivakov (FRA).

The gap is down to 5'25" which is holding steady with 112km to go. 

111km to go

Ben O'Connor looks to be feeling good. He's the first rider over the top of the climb. 

Crash! One of the British riders hits a fan on the side of the road. It's Jake Stewart, he was riding extremely close to the fans and caught a flag in his handlebars. 

The riders are coming up on 6 laps remaining. The gap has dropped by only 20 seconds since their last lap. 

It's a mammoth day of racing to win a world title. Everything has to go perfectly to take home the rainbow jersey. 

The gap now is 4'33 to the peloton. The race is starting to bubble up. 

All the heavy hitters are in the peloton. The leaders are heading up the climb once again. 

90km to go

We're at a pivot point in the race where the riders will start to consider the end game. It's been Spain and the Netherlands who have brought the gap to 3'35. 

Going into the next few laps up the climb, we could see the breakaway split. 

The gap is coming down quickly. The strong riders in the break need to make a move soon. 

Attacks are starting to come out of the breakaway. 

The moves have dropped three riders out of the break. 

Samuele Battistella (ITA) is the one making all the moves here. 

Quentin Pacher (FRA) is making life hard for the riders in the peloton. 

There's a crash! A German rider goes down. It looks like Georg Zimmermann (GER). 

70km to go

We have four laps to go! The nine leaders go across the line. The time gap is just 2 minutes to the peloton. 

Lucas Plapp (AUS) has attacked to see if he can get some time before the climb starts.

There are still 11 riders in the front group. They're followed by a group of 25, followed by the peloton. 

60km to go

Samuele Battistella (ITA) has attacked yet again. He's sensing the break is about to be caught by the chasers. 

Remco Evenepoel (BEL) has attacked and is dragging everything back together again. 

The break is 34 riders now that the chase has joined up. 

The breakaway is a very large, so we should see more attacks soon.

And it's splintered again. There's a lot happening every moment. Here's who's in front now: Romain Bardet (FRA), Pascal Eenkhorn (NED), Remco Evenepoel (BEL), Quinten Hermans (BEL), Jai Hindley (AUS), Scott Mcgill (USA), Quentin Pacher (FRA), Nelson Powless (USA), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Lorenzo Rota (ITA), Mauro Schmid (SUI), Pavel Sivakov (FRA), Mattias Skjelmose (DEN), Rasmus Tiller (NOR), Jan Tratnik (SLO) and Ben Tulett (GBR).

And that number has grown to 26 riders in the lead. 

Three laps to go for the chasers who have just cross the finish line. 

The gap has really stabilized between the first group on the road and the peloton. It's sitting at 2 minutes with 49km to go.

44km to go

Three climbs left to go. The gap is 2 minutes. 

Pieter Serry (BEL) has been dropped from the breakaway. 

Attacks are coming from the favorites in the peloton. 

These constant accelerations are costing the breakaway time.  The gap is just a minute. 

A reminder of the breakaway: Romain Bardet (FRA), Samuele Battistella (ITA), Nicola Conci (ITA), Pascal Eenkhorn (NED), Remco Evenepoel (BEL), Kévin Geniets (LUX), Quinten Hermans (BEL), Jai Hindley (AUS), Michael Kukrle (CZE), Emils Liepins (LAT), Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ), Scott Mcgill (USA), Quentin Pacher (FRA), Nelson Powless (USA), Jaka Primozic (SLO), Lorenzo Rota (ITA), Mauro Schmid (SUI), Pavel Sivakov (FRA), Mattias Skjelmose (DEN), Rasmus Tiller (NOR), Jan Tratnik (SLO), Ben Tulett (GBR) and Nickolas Zuckowsky (CAN).

There's a massive attack from Remco Evenepoel (BEL) to try and split this group. 

Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) has jumped across to Evenepoel. 

The chasers are looking at each other. 

The average speed is 44kph. It's increasing as the race goes on. 

Pascal Eenkhorn (NED), Lorenzo Rota (ITA), Mauro Schmid (SUI) and Mattias Skjelmose (DEN) are in pursuit of the two leaders. 

Very early on in this race, Mathieu Van Der Poel abandoned after a strange hotel confrontation with some kids knocking on his door. 

Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) has lost the wheel of Evenepoel! 

25km to go

Remco Evenepoel (BEL) is now 47 seconds away from his first chase group. 

Van Aert is now on the chase. 

Evenepoel is about to head under the kite. He's got 18km to go. 

Evenepoel has just 1 lap to go! 

This is Evenepoel's race to lose now. He has 11km to go and is powering toward his first rainbow jersey. 

9km to go

It's wide open for the silver and bronze. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) is really struggling on the climbs and could get caught by the group behind. 

Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) is doing everything he can to hang onto silver. He only has a few hundred metres to go before he gets to the top of the climb.

Evenepoel is on his way to the rainbow jersey!

4km to go

Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Lorenzo Rota (ITA), Mauro Schmid (SUI) and Mattias Skjelmose (DEN) are the chasers. They'll be sprinting for the rest of the podium spots. 

1km to go for Remco! 

Evenepoel starts to celebrate. He can't believe it! He's the world champion and comes across the line with emotions flowing.

And now the battle is on for the podium spots. 

Jan Tratnik (SLO) is going for it!

On the line it's Laporte and Matthews for second and third. Where did they come from?! 

What a win by the 22-year-old phenom. Evenepoel was unstoppable today. Christophe Laporte (FRA) and Michael Matthews (AUS) finish second and third after a late charge back into contention. 

Here's our recap on how it all went down today in Wollongong. 

For those joining the Worlds coverage, the start of the race was dominated with news surrounding Mathieu van der Poel, who visited a police station before the race - following an altercation at his hotel - and subsequently abandoned.

Read the full story here

Speaking after the race, Evenepoel sounds like he's gearing up for a big night of celebration.

"A big party - I’m not going to see my bed I guess," he said.

The Australian team felt it was job done in front of the home crowd, with Michael Matthews taking the bronze medal. "Bling got third, which we can really be proud of," said Simon Clarke after the race. 

"Because our goal was to come here, ride as a team, everyone do their job. And if we win, we get a medal or we get 10th. As long as we left it all out there and done our job and done everything right, we can be happy."

Heinrich Haussler praised the home crowd. "Yeah, super, super special to race in front of the home crowd - they were amazing. You know, just just goosebumps stuff."

A silver medal was a good consolation for France, after Julian Alaphilippe didn't seem to enter the race on top form.

“The plan for France was to have a hard race from the start and that’s what we did,” Christophe Laporte told reporters afterwards.

“Julian” - finally 51st - “was not sure of his shape today. So we didn’t really have a single plan, I was here for the sprint if it came back and Benoit [Cosnefroy], Valentin Madouas and Julian were to follow on the climbs.”

Full story here

It's been a very good day for Belgium. 

As the first rider to win a Grand Tour and World Championships in the same season since Greg LeMond, at 22, Evenepoel’s victory had all the feel of a start of a new era for Belgian cycling.

Read our updated full report of the Men's Elite World Championship race to see how the race unfolded in detail.

Wout van Aert may be disappointed after entering the race as favourite, but it's all smiles after a Belgian win.

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the elite men's road race in Wollongong. 

That marks the end of an exceptional 2022 Road World Championships. Reflect back on all the action on our main race hub.