Road races in Australia: Evenepoel unbeatable – Belgian wins the world title

He was the big favorite and confirmed the role in Australia: Remco Evenepoel took the world title in the road race after a successful solo. The silver medal went to France’s Christophe Laporte, who won the pursuit sprint ahead of Australia’s Michael Matthews.

Remco Evenepoel covered his mouth in disbelief, then straightened up and proudly pointed his finger at his chest. The Belgian cycling shooting star has raced into the world champion’s rainbow jersey after a masterful tactical feat and an impressive 25K solo. Two weeks after his overall victory at the Vuelta in Spain, the 22-year-old won the road race of the World Championships in Australia on Sunday.

First Belgian title in ten years

After 266.9 km around Wollongong south of Sydney, Evenepoel was 2:21 minutes ahead of France’s Christophe Laporte and Michael Matthews of Australia. For the cycling nation Belgium it is the first World Championship title in road racing in ten years. Philippe Gilbert triumphed in 2012.

Evenepoel thus crowned his best season as a professional so far, in which he won, among other things, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Spain. “I’m super happy. A dream has come true, it’s unbelievable,” said Evenepoel, who had already won bronze in the World Cup individual time trial Down Under.

Decisive group 75 km from the finish

The decisive group of the day had formed about 75 kilometers before the finish. Many favorites such as two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar or defending champion Julian Alaphilippe missed the leap to the top. Evenepoel’s Belgian teammate Wout van Aert, who finished fourth, held off in pursuit of the leaders.

At the front, Evenepoel repeatedly set pinpricks with isolated attacks. The favorite could not or did not want to settle at first. About 30 km before the finish line, Evenepoel pulled away with Alexei Luzenko from Kazakhstan.

25 km from the finish – Evenepoel pulls away

The preliminary decision was made on the penultimate crossing of the short but dangerous climb on Mount Pleasant (1.1 km/8.8 percent). Evenepoel attacked with an explosive increase in speed and drove away from his companion – the 25 km long solo became a triumph. “I noticed relatively quickly that I was stronger than Alexei. Then I gave everything,” said Evenepoel.

Trouble about van der Poel

The Dutch co-favourite, Mathieu van der Poel, got off his bike after just 35 kilometers after causing a scandal the night before and being arrested in the meantime for assaulting a hotel.

There had been an altercation with two children who had knocked on his door several times. A girl’s arm was reportedly injured. The 27-year-old was charged with two counts of assault and released on bail early Sunday morning.

Germans without a chance

As expected, the German drivers played no role in the World Championship race. Georg Zimmermann, who was most likely to be able to place in the front, fell 74 kilometers before the finish line. So there was no medal for the Federation of German Cyclists in the elite races.

Cologne’s Nikias Arndt (+3:08) was the best German driver in 51st place, ten positions ahead of him was Austrian Sebastian Schönberger in 40th (+3:08).

Lippert strong in the women’s race

On Saturday, despite a strong performance, Liane Lippert narrowly missed out on a podium place by finishing fourth in the women’s race when Annemiek van Vleuten from the Netherlands won. The 24-year-old from Friedrichshafen also finished fourth in the mixed team time trial with the German team.