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Last Updated: Sep 29th, 2008 - 09:26:50 |
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| Nicolas Roche on a fast descent - Photo by Inpho Photo Agency |
Classic specialist Alessandro Ballan ensured that Italy took its third Elite men’s cycling road race title in as many years when he soloed to victory today. The former Tour of Flanders victor jumped clear of a breakaway group inside the final two kilometres and finished three seconds clear of team-mate Damiano Cunego and Denmark’s Matti Breschel. Defending champion Paolo Bettini finished back in the main bunch.
Confidence boosted by his excellent 13th overall in the Tour of Spain, Nicolas Roche had hoped to ride well in the 15 lap event. However he crashed an hour and a half into the race and was forced to retire soon afterwards. Team-mates Philip Deignan and Roger Aiken also joined the long list of non-finishers before the end of 260.25 kilometre race, the former affected by a stomach problem and the latter having ridden hard to help Roche back into the bunch.
“I crashed and was badly hurt,” said Roche afterwards. “I tried to continue for a bit but the pain was too much. My leg was getting more swollen as the race went on.”
His Vuelta form meant that he had expectations of performing well, but it was not to be. “I am extremely disappointed,” he continued. “I was hoping to do ride well and finish the last race of year with a top performance.” He will now take a break before starting his buildup for the 2009 season with Ag2r La Mondiale. Deignan will move from that team to the new Cervelo Test Team, lining out alongside Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre.
The best Irish performance of the world championships was Siobhan Dervan’s fine 24th place in yesterday’s women’s road race.
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World Championships, Varese, Italy, September 23-28:
Race 6 - September 28: Men's road race - 15 laps:
1, Alessandro Ballan (Italy) 260.25 kilometres in 6 hours 37 mins 30 secs (39.283 km/h)
2, Damiano Cunego (Italy) at 3 secs
3, Matti Breschel (Denmark)
4, Davide Rebellin (Italy)
5, Andriy Grivko (Ukraine)
6, Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spain)
7, Fabian Wegmann (Germany)
8, Christian Pfannberger (Austria)
9, Nick Nuyens (Belgium)
10, Robert Gesink (Netherlands) all same time
Other:
DNF: Philip Deignan (Ireland)
DNF: Rodger Aiken (Ireland)
DNF: Nicolas Roche (Ireland)
Today’s press release is as follows:
IRISH HAVE NO LUCK BALLAN TAKES WORLD CROWN ON HOME SOIL (By Gerry McManus)
Nicolas Roche, Philip Deignan and Roger Aiken were short of luck in the Elite Men road race on Sunday 28th September in the race won by Italian Alessandro Ballan. Roche crashed in the third lap but was able to rejoin the main field assisted by Aiken who had dropped behind to help pace him back. Unfortunately Roche was forced to retire a few laps later with a thigh injury which will require hospital examination later tonight to establish the cause of huge swelling.
Deignan was able to hold on for longer and kept near the front of the bunch but Letterkenny man struggled with a stomach upset and was unable to digest the race food. He finally ran out of legs with three laps to go as the Italians whipped up the race speed and split the bunch into pieces.
Mountain biker Aiken did a tremendous ride to help Roche rejoin the bunch after his crash and he held onto the main field for over 200km before he finally lost contact.
An early break of three riders had gained over ten minutes advantage when the Italians and Belgians stepped up the pace on the front of the bunch to catch the leaders. With less than one lap to go, Ballan had escaped in a small group along with fellow Italian Damiano Cunego. The attacks were coming thick and fast in the lead group and it was finally Ballan who managed to break away with less than three kilometres to go and held onto his small lead to win his first and Italy’s third gold medal in a row. Cunego out sprinted Denmark's Matti Breschel to take the silver medal.
Only 77 riders out of 207 entries finished the tough race. Michael Rogers (Australia), Alberto Contador (Spain), David Millar (GB), David Zabriskie (USA) and Levi Leipheimer (USA) were among the long list of non finishers.
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