{"id":5353,"date":"2023-08-07T13:23:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2023-08-10T13:26:53","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T11:26:53","slug":"van-der-poel-overcomes-crash-and-protest-to-win-world-road-race-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/08\/07\/van-der-poel-overcomes-crash-and-protest-to-win-world-road-race-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Van der Poel Overcomes Crash and Protest to Win World Road Race Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dutch multi-discipline cyclist Mathieu van der Poel overcame protestors and a late crash to win the 2023 UCI Road Race World Championship on Sunday and become the first rider to hold world championships in both cyclo-cross and road racing. Belgium\u2019s Wout van Aert finished second, 1:37 behind, while Tadej Poga\u010dar (Slovenia) took the bronze medal, at 1:45, after outsprinting Denmark\u2019s Mads Pedersen to the finish line. Van Aert had also finished second behind van der Poel in this year\u2019s cyclo-cross world championship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The protest, the many punctures and, especially, the seemingly endless turns and corners made for a strange but highly entertaining race, which seemed to be turned on its head with 16.5 km to go when van der Poel lost control of his bike on the rain-slick road surface as he navigated a curve and hit the ground. He slid into a barrier, picked himself up and rode away with a torn jersey and a damaged shoe. Otherwise, he was unhurt and, just as important, his bike was not damaged. \u201cAll of a sudden, I was on the ground,\u201d van der Poel told Eurosport. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really taking risks but it was super slippery. If this had cost me the race, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to sleep for a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final 14.1-km section of the 271.1-km course from Edinburgh to Glasgow was a treacherous maze of sharp curves and turns, and the riders had to pass through it 10 times. With 23.5 km left to race, van der Poel was part of a group of four, with van Aert, Poga\u010dar and Pedersen, chasing the Italian Alberto Bettiol. When they caught him on one of the numerous short, steep climbs of the Glasgow course, van der Poel took off on his own, immediately opening up a substantial lead. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to have a gap right away but then I saw that nobody was following me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gave me wings.\u201d Van der Poel said the world championship meant everything to him, adding: \u201cIt was one of the biggest goals I had left and to win it today was amazing. It\u2019s maybe my biggest victory on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UCI<\/a>
The Glasgow circuit was filled with drama, including sweeping bends, fast-flowing corners, and steep climbs. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The crash wasn\u2019t the only mishap the winner had to overcome. All the riders had to dismount and wait nearly an hour not long after the start of the race because environmental protestors had glued themselves to the road surface. When the race finally resumed, a nine-rider breakaway, which had formed after 21 km, continued on its way with a lead of 7:35 over the peloton. They were finally caught with 74 km left to ride.<\/p>\n

The difficult Glasgow section of the course proved to be a story on its own, as several participants had criticized it before the race because of the many turns. \u201cI don’t like the course,\u201d said the manager of the French team, Thomas Voeckler. \u201cI don’t think it’s a World Championship course. It’s a Criterium course when we’re at the World Championships.”<\/p>\n

Opinions remained the same after the race. \u201cIt was the hardest race of my life,\u201d Latvia\u2019s Krists Neilands said. \u201cIt was too much.\u201d Neilands finished 23rd. The race proved too difficult for many riders, including one of the pre-race favorites, Jasper Philipsen of Belgium, who dropped out with more than 100km left to ride. Of the 193 riders who started the race, only 51 made it to the finish line, many of the riders dropping out because of fatigue or to save their energy for later world championship competitions.<\/p>\n

The race also took its toll on the usually indefatigable Poga\u010dar, who said after his post-race interview that he was about to faint from exhaustion and had to be assisted<\/a> out of the press area. Asked before his dizzy spell if he had enjoyed the race, he replied, ”\u00a0Phew, no. This was one of the toughest races I’ve ever ridden. It was really crazy. I enjoyed it up to 70 kilometres from the end; after that it was a struggle to the finish.”<\/p>\n

It was a disappointing race for the defending champion, Remco Evenepoel,<\/a> who finished a distant 25th, 10:10 adrift. It has generally been a difficult year for the 23-year-old Belgian who had to drop out of the Giro d\u2019Italia because of Covid and finished only third in the Tour de Suisse. Evenepoel said that the course did not really suit his riding style. \u201cIt was always turning, so you couldn\u2019t keep the speed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was really brutal with all these stops-and-gos.\u201d He will now look for gold in the individual time trial, scheduled to be held on the final day of the world championships on August 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dutch multi-discipline cyclist Mathieu van der Poel overcame protestors and a late crash to win the 2023 UCI Road Race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":5365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-5353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"\nVan der Poel Wins World Road Race Championship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/08\/07\/van-der-poel-overcomes-crash-and-protest-to-win-world-road-race-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Van der Poel Overcomes Crash and Protest to Win World Road Race Championship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dutch multi-discipline cyclist Mathieu van der Poel overcame protestors and a late crash to win the 2023 UCI Road Race […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/08\/07\/van-der-poel-overcomes-crash-and-protest-to-win-world-road-race-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - 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