France’s Julian Alaphilippe powered to the men’s elite road world title at the UCI Road World Championships after a well-calculated attack and a dramatic finish on the Imola motor racing circuit.
The Frenchman attacked on the final climb of the race of the Cima Gallisterna with 12km to go and established a slim advantage over a world-class chase group, and despite a frantic chase the Frenchman held on to win.
In the sprint for second, Wout Van Aert (Belgium) had far too much power for Marc Hirschi (Switzerland), while Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) was forced to settle for fourth by the narrowest of margins.
Of South Africa’s two riders in the race Louis Meintjes finished 78th, some 21min 59sec behind Alaphilippe after difficult day in the saddle, while Nicholas Dlamini was one of many who did not finish. Only 88 riders completed the race.
