Mathieu van der Poel’s solo victory within the elite males’s highway race on the Glasgow Global Championships will longer lengthy within the reminiscence, however the tournament can’t be distilled only to the Dutchman’s virtuoso show within the finale.
From begin to end, this used to be an tournament of uncommon attrition, with contenders and challengers dropping by the wayside even prior to the peloton hit the technical completing circuit in Glasgow, with the intermittent rain simplest including to the drama.
Some lofty names dropped out of competition slightly early, with Jasper Philipsen and two-time global champion Julian Alaphilippe amongst the ones to lose their probabilities lengthy prior to the end. As expected, the star-studded Belgian squad of protecting champion Remco Evenepoel dictated a lot of the phrases of engagement, however now not even they may bend this unruly race to their will.
Alberto Bettiol’s long-range effort helped to create what proved to be the profitable spoil, with Van der Poel joined through everlasting rival Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogačar and Mads Pedersen in a gaggle of exceptional intensity.
With two laps to move, the race appeared too on the subject of name, just for Van der Poel to enter overdrive. Now not even a crash and a damaged shoe may just deny the Dutchman as he soloed to a outstanding victory whilst Van Aert, Pogačar and Pedersen did struggle in the back of.
Chris Auld used to be readily available to seize the day’s motion, and that is the select of his pictures from a maximum dramatic elite males’s highway race.
With expectancies top for a Belgian win, lovers had been out in pressure throughout Glasgow
The early breakaway established itself after 20km of racing
Protecting Champion Remco Evenepoel’s racing gadget in Glasgow
Nice Britain leads the breakaway over a climb in entrance of native crowds
Lovers line the street race circuit and cheer for contenders as Julian Alaphilippe surges on target
A bunch bureaucracy within the elite males’s highway race
Riders out on target alongside the Glasgow circuit
New Zealand’s Laurence Pithie makes a mark at the elite males’s race
Because the rain starts to pour down, lovers get an in depth glimpse of John Degenkolb in motion
The United States is one of the day’s strikes as Neilson Powless finishes eleventh
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Opponents stay an in depth eye on Evenepoel because the rain starts to return down at the box
Evenepoel grits his enamel as he pushes the tempo
The robust Belgium crew leads the make a selection workforce right through the lads’s race
Lovers cheer for Belgium as a rider starts an extended climb at the circuit
Rain reasons havoc at the native circuit as a rider is going down within the males’s highway race
Riders take on one of the crucial many hills at the Glasgow town circuit
The intermittent rain simplest added to the difficulties on a brutal day of racing
A Belgian fan will get into the native Scottish spirit
Reigning champion Remco Evenepoel battles to stick in competition
Out entrance, Mathieu van der Poel placed on a shocking show of energy
Lovers cheer on Van der Poel as he soloes to his first highway Worlds identify
Van der Poel used to be peerless over the general 22km after attacking an elite lead workforce
He had time to savour his win, beating Wout van Aert through 1:37
It used to be an emotional win for Van der Poel and the Netherlands, who hadn’t received the lads’s race since 1985
The spoils of victory – the well-known rainbow bands and a large gold medal
A rainbow-clad Van der Poel takes it in at the podium
He used to be joined through runner-up Van Aert and bronze medallist Tadej Pogačar at the podium
Love from the lovers on a momentous day of racing in Glasgow
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