UCI Road World Championships Live - Elite-U23 Women's Road Race

Hello and welcome to the Cyclingnews' live coverage of the combined U23-elite women's road race at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong.

It's a little overcast today, with the wind at 15kph and the temperature at 17 degrees Celsius. The riders are about to take the start. 

The Italian and Dutch squad at the front. We have a neutral zone before the official start.

The race is about to start. This year, the 164.3km route is the longest in the event’s history. 

The neutral section is 7km long. The gun just went off and the people of Helensburgh are out to cheer them on. 

The first test, Mount Keira, comes 42km into the racing after the peloton first passes through Wollongong and onto a single circuit of the 34.2km loop that takes the race back up to the Illawarra escarpment. If it’s raced full gas, its 5 percent average gradient over 8.7 kilometres could shatter the race early. 

Here's a look at today's profile. This is what the riders have to contend with today. 

We're still in the neutral zone. Just a short while before we hit the start. The sun is starting to come out and riders are shedding their vests. 

And racing is underway! 164km to go. 

It looks like there are already riders on the attack. 

And the peloton is responding. The race has started quite aggressively. 

Today the riders are allowed to start feeding from 20km into the race until 10km to go. Feeding is going to be super important today considering the length. 

• Coralie Demay (FRA), Josie Talbot (AUS) and Nicole Koller (SWI) made up the first breakaway, but it looks like others are bridging across to join them.

The peloton is strung out along the road as the pace continues to be high. 

Demi Vollering (NED) is one of the riders who didn't start today. She caught Covid just before the race and had to sit it out. 

Valerie Demey (BEL) has crashed! She was looking over her shoulder for her teammates and clipped the wheel of the rider in front of her. 

France is really trying to mix things up this afternoon. Gladys Verhulst (FRA) has taken a flyer off the front and no one wants to go with her. 

Verhulst is just dangling out in front. The peloton is tightly packed a few seconds behind. 

Nina Berton (LUX) has gone up the road to try and bridge across to Verhulst. Berton is one of the U23 riders in the race today. 

144km to go

Valerie Demey is back in the peloton after her earlier crash. 

Berton has been joined by Daryna Nahuliak (UKR) in the chase group. 

Gladys Verhulst (FRA) is still off the front solo ahead of Nina Berton (LUX) and
Daryna Nahuliak (UKR) at 30 seconds and Rebecca Koerner (DEN) at 48 seconds. The peloton is 1'20 behind. 

Gladys Verhulst comes through to turn out toward the Mount Keira loop. 

The pace is ramping up as they get closer to the climb of the day. 

Mount Keira averages about 5 percent and is a total of 8.7 kilometres. That means they'll be climbing fro about 20 minutes where we could see some moves. 

Rebecca Koerner has been caught by the peloton. 

The advantage for the leaders has gone way down as they start climbing. 

Verhulst is putting in a great ride off the front. The gap is 35 seconds and no one has really gotten close to her. We're at the midway point of the climb. 

125km to go

The Dutch squad is leading the peloton up the climb. 

The rain started and then stopped just as fast as the French leader takes a drink and approaches the top of the climb. The roads are still wet, however. The descent will take care. 

There was no real action on the main climb of the day. Perhaps due to the unusual length of the day? The following circuits are also quite tough. 

Verhulst hits the descent with just a 15 second advantage. 

The German squad has come to the front to try and lift the tempo a little bit. 

It's all together again with 118km to go. 

France has come to the front of the peloton on the descent. 

They're letting Italy now move to the front. 

114km to go

The rain is back, but temps are still around 19 degrees and muggy. There's 110km left and riders are busy getting bottles and gels to refuel. 

In the first hour of racing, the average speed was 35.7kph .

And we have a new breakaway situation: Julie Van de Velde (BEL), Elynor Bäckstedt (GBR) and Caroline Andersson (SWE). They have a minute on the peloton with 102km to go. 

Two of the riders in the breakaway are racing for the U23 jersey. That's Elynor Bäckstedt (GBR) and Caroline Andersson (SWE).

The pace is starting to lift. The advantage for the three leaders is 1'35 with 99km to go.  

98km to go

France is driving the peloton and the gap is coming down quite fast now. 

There's a crash! Lotte Kopecky looked like she was the first rider to fall, but she quickly got back on her bike. 

However, she's lost a lot of position on this first climb. 

93km to go

Van Vleuten moves to the front of the peloton, but she doesn't look comfortable at all at this point. 

The leaders are climbing up Mt. Pleasant now, which is 1.1km and averages a tough 8.8 percent. 

Aude Biannic (FRA) is has attacked on Mt. Pleasant and is in pursuit of the three up the road. 

There's another attack off the front of the peloton by a Spanish rider, trying to make things hard for Mavi Garcia, who is their leader on the Spanish team. 

The peloton has spread across the road during the headwind section of the course. 

The three up the road are just now going under the 1km to go banner. There's 86km to go. 

There are 5 laps of racing to go. The peloton is all bunched up going through the finish line. 

80km to go

The three riders are holding their advantage at 1'20. Biannic is sitting at 30 seconds. 

We're in a calm phase of the race. Pretty soon we'll start to see the fireworks. 

With 77km to go, the Italians have come to the front to bring the gap down to a minute. 

Australia is keeping very close to the Italians. Germany is also nearby. 

Caroline Andersson (SWE) is losing contact on the climb. Just two are left off the front. 

Andersson has joined up with Biannic, but the peloton is just behind them. 

The Italians are taking control of the front of the peloton. They're riding for Longo Borghini, who will want the pace to be as hard as possible. 

The leaders have gone past the line for four laps to go. 

We're getting the sense of a bit more urgency. It seems like something's about to happen on the climb this time around. 

60km to go

The Danes are at the front now. The gap to the leaders is 45 seconds. 

Things are getting tense out there as we go to the next climb.

60km to go and the peloton is intent on binging this back. They're heading up to Mount Pleasant. 

Italy is still driving and about to catch the two off the front. 

The two riders have just 6 seconds. 

The Italy team has sent Chechi of to the race. 

They've caught the leaders and already a rider has gone off the front . 

THere's 53km to go and there's still no concerted effort by the bigger teams to do anything yet. 

The closer the sprinters get to the finish, the more they feel like they might be with in a chance. 

This race has been super controlled so far. It's speeding up, but it's playing into the favor of the faster riders. 

Three laps to go! 

50km to go

The peloton is much smaller in size because of that last lap. The favorites are coming to the front. 

The peloton is getting closer to the next climb. The Italians are still at the front trying to set things up for Longo Borghini to attack. 

45km to go

The peloton is still all together. We're waiting for the next climb.

It's still all together as we near the climb.

The top climbers are coming to the front.

Most of the key riders are still in the peloton. 

We'll see if the climbers can shake off the sprinters. It's looking less and less likely. 

The wind has really picked up to 28kph. 

The attack comes from Amanda Spratt. She attacks into the headwind and is stringing out the peloton. 

Italy is right on her move.

Now Sarah Roy has countered. Italy has all their riders at the front chasing. 

Roy has 8 seconds on the peloton. It looks as though she'll get very quickly on the climb. 

She's doing a great job of putting the Italian team under pressure. 

30km to go

The rain is coming down again as the kilometres tick away. Roy is still off the front. 

The attacks are coming from the powerhouses now!

Liane Lippert puts in a huge move.

25km to go

Longo Borghini is also with Lippert. Three are chasing.

Longo Borghini and Lippert have a few metres on Ludwig, Niewiadoma and Moolman. 

The Dutch are left chasing these five riders up the road. They're at 30 seconds. 

The rain is really coming down now. It's been a long time since the Netherlands haven't had a rider on the podium at the World Championships.

The gap is coming down to 20 seconds with 18km to go. 

There's one lap of racing left! The Australians and the Dutch are throwing everything they have at this gap to bring it back. 

It's all coming back together now - Ellen van Dijk doing all the work. 

There are some very fast riders in this chase group. Any one of them could be world champion in the next 13km. 

There's an attack from Marlen Reusser (SWI) and she's pulling away! 

10km to go

Reusser has 15 seconds on the peloton. She's almost at the top of the climb. 

The gap is closing a little bit on the ascent. She's holding 20 seconds at the moment. 

The reduced peloton is hammering up the climb behind her. 

And those same names we heard earlier are back at the front! Longo Borghini, Lippert, Ludwig, Niewiadoma and Moolman are fighting it out. 

7km to go

There's 5km to go and the gap is 12 seconds. 

The gap isn't much. The chase group of 8 riders is within touching distance. 

It's about to be 13 riders in with a chance to win this world title. 

We're heading in toward the finish line. They haven't quite caught the 5 yet! 

There's 1.5km to go. 

Attacks are coming out of the chase group. 

They're going under the kite and it's all together! Now the cat and mouse will start for the sprint. 

Van Vleuten attacks hard from the left!

No one is responding. They're all looking at each other.

And on the line it's Annemiek van Vleuten! Wow, what a comeback - winning with a fractured elbow. 

What a super attack from Annemiek van Vleuten to win the 2022 World Championship road race. Niamh Fisher-Black will win the U23 world title. 

What a win by Annemiek van Vleuten who takes home her second rainbow jersey in the road race. 

And here's a look at how the race played out today through a detailed recap by Alistar Fotheringham and Zeb Woodpower.