1. BROCHARD Laurent FRA 6:16:48 (40.84 km/h) 2. HAMBURGER Bo DEN 3. VAN BON Leon NED 4. BÖLTS Udo GER 5. MAURI PRAT Melchior ESP 6. DUFAUX Laurent SUI 7. AUS Lauri EST 0.09 8. MUSEEUW Johan BEL 0.16 9. MAGNUSSON Glenn SWE 0.16 10. BARTOLI Michele ITA 0.16 11. JALABERT Laurent FRA 0.16 12. GIANETTI Mauro SUI 0.16 13. CASAGRANDE Francesco ITA 0.16 14. REBELLIN Davide ITA 0.16 15. VIERHOUTEN Aart NED 0.49 16. ZEMKE Jens GER 0.50 17. VOGELS Hendricus AUS 0.57 18. TCHMIL Andrei UKR 0.57 19. VASSEUR Cedric FRA 0.57 20. TAFI Andrea ITA 0.58 21. CAMENZIND Oskar SUI 0.58 22. MICHAELSEN Lars DEN 0.58 23. PLANCKAERT Jo BEL 0.58 24. JALABERT Nicolas FRA 0.58 25. UGRUMOV Piotre RUS 0.58 26. HUNDERTMARK Kai GER 0.58 27. PEETERS Wilfried BEL 0.58 28. HORNER Christopher USA 0.58 29. PIATEK Zbigniew POL 0.58 30. EDO ALSINA Angel ESP 0.58 31. MCRAE William Chann USA 0.58 32. VOSKAMP Bart NED 0.58 33. BARANOWSKI Dariusz POL 0.58 34. BORTOLAMI Gianluca ITA 0.58 35. HENN Christian GER 0.58 36. THIBOUT Bruno FRA 0.58 37. VAN PETEGEM Peter BEL 0.58 38. AERTS Mario BEL 0.58 39. HAMILTON Tyler USA 0.58 40. GUESDON Frederic FRA 0.58 41. CLAVERO SEBASTIAN D. ESP 0.58 42. KNAVEN Servais NED 0.58 43. VAN HEESWIJK Max NED 0.58 44. ROUX Laurent FRA 0.58 45. GARCIA CASAS Felix M. ESP 0.58 46. FARESIN Gianni ITA 0.58 47. MEIER Armin SUI 0.58 48. MOLLER Claus Michael DEN 0.58 49. BREUKINK Erik NED 0.58 50. BOOGERD Michael NED 0.58 51. MOERENHOUT Koos NED 0.58 52. HERAS HERNANDEZ R. ESP 0.58 53. MERCKX Axel BEL 0.58 54. DIETZ Bert GER 0.58 55. GONTCHAR Serguei UKR 0.58 56. BUGNO Gianni ITA 0.58 57. FONDRIEST Maurizio ITA 0.58 58. ALONSO MONJE Marino ESP 0.58 59. RIIS Bjarne DEN 0.58 60. VIRENQUE Richard FRA 1:04 61. LAFIS Michel SWE 7:35 62. JASKULA Zenon POL 7:35 63. SYPYTKOWSKI Andrej POL 7:35 64. OZOLS Dainis LAT 7:35 65. IVANOV Serguei RUS 7:35 66. ANDERSSON Michael SWE 7:35 67. MATTAN Nico BEL 7:35 68. JEMISON Marty USA 7:35 69. KONECNY Tomas CZE 7:35 70. MCCORMACK Frank USA 7:43 71. CASTELBLANCO R. Jose J. COL 8:32 72. SCINTO Luca ITA 8:32 73. KUMMER Mario GER 8:32 74. CHMIELEWSKI Piotr POL 8:32 75. SIVAKOV Alexei RUS 8:32 76. OUSLAMINE Sergei RUS 8:32 77. SERRANO RODRIGUEZ M. ESP 8:32 78. HENRIX Sascha GER 8:32 79. PETERSEN Soren DEN 8:32 80. GARCIA ACOSTA Jose ESP 8:32 81. VAN DE WOUWER Kurt BEL 8:32 82. HOLM Brian DEN 8:32 83. HOJ Frank DEN 8:32 84. JAKSCHE Jorg GER 8:32 85. ZAMANA Cezary POL 11:55 86. WADECKI Piotr POL 11:55 87. MUNOZ FERNANDEZ Federico COL 11:55 Abandons 5 FARAZIJN Peter BEL 6 WAUTERS Marc BEL 11 DIERCKXENS Ludo BEL 12 VAN BONDT Geert BEL 13 BOMANS Carlo BEL 14 AEBERSOLD Niki SUI 18 JAERMANN Rolf SUI 19 JEKER Fabian SUI 21 MEIER Roland SUI 22 RICHARD Pascal SUI 23 ROMINGER Tony SUI 24 ZBERG Beat SUI 25 ZUELLE Alex SUI 26 BARONTI Alessandro ITA 32 FERRIGATO Andrea ITA 34 GUIDI Fabrizio ITA 40 BARTHE Stephane FRA 43 HERVE Pascal FRA 45 MOREAU Christophe FRA 47 TEYSSIER Francisque FRA 55 LARSEN Nicolay Bo DEN 58 KYNEB Mikael Holst DEN 59 JACOBSEN Marc S. DEN 60 SANDSTOD Michael DEN 61 JONASSON Danny DEN 67 VAUGHTERS Jonathan USA 70 JIMENEZ SASTRE Jose ESP 73 GONZALEZ GALDEANO Igor ESP 74 DOMINGUEZ D. J. Carlos ESP 77 LEANIZBARRUTIA Alb ESP 80 KONYSHEV Dmitri RUS 83 GONTCHENKOV Alexandre RUS 84 DJAVANIAN Viatcheslav RUS 86 ZINTCHENKO Andrei RUS 92 GOTTSCHLING Stephan GER 97 KLIER Andreas GER 99 STEINHAUSER Tobias GER 101 WUST Marcel GER 105 NELISSEN Danny NED 111 HOFFMAN Tristan NED 112 DE JONGH Steven NED 113 DEN BAKKER Maarten NED 114 SCIANDRI M. GBR 115 HUNT Jeremy GBR 116 MILLAR David GBR 117 STEPHENS Matt GBR 118 TANNER John GBR 119 WALSHAM Mark GBR 120 SMITH Dan GBR 121 WINN Julian GBR 123 BACKSTEDT Magnus SWE 126 ZIVKOVIC Dragomir YUG 127 SVORADA Jan CZE 131 SUNDERLAND Scott AUS 132 ROGERS Peter AUS 133 HALL Johanton AUS 134 AGUIRRE CABRERA Julio Cesa COL 135 CONTRERAS CANO Carlos A. COL 136 HERNANDEZ MONTOYA Jairo COL 138 PALACIO MONTOYA Hector I. COL 140 RAMIREZ CALDERON Diego COL 141 PENA GRISALES Victor Hugo COL 142 ARROYO ROSALES Miguel MEX 145 POULNIKOV Vladimir UKR 146 PROKOPENKO Youry UKR 147 ROTAR Alexandr UKR 148 NAKAZNI Alexei UKR 149 KIRSIPUU Jann EST 151 LUPEIKIS Remigijus LTU 152 WOHLBERG Eric CAN 153 ANAND Mat CAN 157 MICKIEWICZ Jacek POL 162 IVANOV Ruslan MLD 163 HVASTIJA Martin SLO Did not start 87 TONKOV Pavel RUS 88 BERZIN Eugeni RUS
His powerful finish took him past Dutchman Leon van Bon in the last 25 metres of the 256.5-kilometre race which closed the six-day championships. Denmark's Bo Hamburger edged out Van Bon for the silver.
The French plan was to control the race over the last 100 kms for world number one Laurent Jalabert, who won Thursday's time-trial title.
But Brochard had ideas of his own. ``I did not feel obliged to follow orders because I felt so strong,'' he said.
``I was working for the team but when I saw them lagging I decided to act. My role was to neutralise breakaways but I was alone and I could not see any of my team coming, so I made my move.
Frenchman Laurent Brochard won the men's road race at the world cycling championships here today -- giving France its eighth win in the event.
The 29-year-old Brochard, who won the first mountain stage in this year's Tour de France, won in a sprint finish with Bo Hamburger of Denmark second and Dutchman Leon Van Bon third at the end of the 256.5km race.
The pony-tailed Brochard, who was the first French winner since Luc Leblanc in 1994, admitted that he was really riding for French captain Laurent Jalabert, who had claimed the time-trial championship on Thursday.
"We worked really hard for Jalabert. However, I found myself among the escapees and I waited and waited until I finally played my ace in the sprint," Brochard said.
Brochard, part of the successful Festina team which claimed several stage wins in this year's Tour de France and saw team captain Richard Virenque finish second overall, was part of a six-man breakaway on the final lap.
Van Bon tried in vain to make a decisive break in the last couple of kilometres but was reeled in by Hamburger, Brochard, German veteran Udo Bolts, Spaniard Melchior Mauri and Swiss rider Lurent Dufaux.
British hopes were extinguished when their Olympic bronze medallist Maximilian Sciandri, the Italian-born naturalised Briton, crashed out on the 17th lap. ``I dedicate this victory to myself because I worked hard for it.''
He tried to escape one kilometre from the finish but was reeled in by Van Bon as six unfancied riders shaped up for the medal battle.
Van Bon's sprint for the line was no match for the stronger Brochard. ``He played a very smart game and my only chance was to sprint,'' the Dutchman said.
Brochard's biggest previous success was winning a Tour de France stage in the Pyrenees on Bastille Day this year. But for some years he was considered a clumsy and awkward rider who was prone to crashing.
``I have had several crashes in my career but little by little I am making progress,'' Brochard said.
He has suffered with a back problem and last year had an operation to correct a ruptured disc. ``Sometimes my legs feel stiff but my back is improving,'' he said.
Five victories this year underline his progress and Sunday's triumph over a wet and windswept course was built on an escape in the last five kilometres.
Spain's Melchor Mauri raced away, chased by Brochard and van Bon. Less than two kilometres from the finish Hamburger, Germany's Udo Bolts, and Switzerland's Laurent Dufaux joined them.
Belgian Johan Museeuw, last year's champion, finished 16 seconds behind them in a pursuing group which included Jalabert.
The first of the three French golds at these championships was won by Jeannie Longo in the elite women's time-trial on Wednesday. Augmented by a bronze from Catherine Marsal in the elite women's road race, France finished top of the medals table.
Italy also had three golds. Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Russia shared the remaining four titles in the 10-event championships.
Brochard was among a front group of five riders down the 19th and final descent of the 13.5km circuit along the coastline of the Spanish city. Once down from the rainy descent, Brochard jumped with 1km to go and then held off five riders for the win. Bo Hamburger of Denmark was second and Leon Van Bon of the Netherlands was third.
The top American finisher was Chris Horner, Lemon Grove, Calif., who was 28th.
"It was a good race," said Horner, who did not finish this race a year ago. "It’s hard to tell. You try to pick the right moves, but every time you look up the road, everybody up there is good."
After a few tentative opening laps -- which included a delay caused by a brief protest by Basque separatists which stopped the race near the start-finish line -- the pace picked up as the Italians were forced to work to bring back a nine-rider break midway through the race.
Perhaps the strongest American on the day was Chann McRae, Austin, Texas, who was near the leaders with two laps to go. At that time, a group of 19 riders had formed at the front, including Laurent Jalabert of France, Davide Rebellin of Italy and defending world champion Johan Museeuw of Belgium. McRae was instrumental in helping a group of six riders chase down the 19 leaders. He couldn’t sustain the pace and finished 31st.
Several other Americans, including Marty Jemison, Salt Lake City, Utah, were caught behind a crash that occurred just past the feed zone with four laps to go.
"It just split the field," Jemison said. "The (caravan) cars were blocking the road. I thought I was surrounded by strong guys. We worked to bring it back, but not hard enough."
Jemison finished 68th.
The French won their third gold medal of the championships, tying them with Italy. The United States failed to win a world championship road medal for the third consecutive year.
1. MUSEEUW Johan BEL
2. PEETERS Wilfried BEL
3. MATTAN Nico BEL
4. PLANCKAERT Jo BEL
5. FARAZIJN Peter BEL
6. WAUTERS Marc BEL
7. AERTS Mario BEL
8. VAN DE WOUWER Kurt BEL
9. MERCKX Axel BEL
10. VAN PETEGEM Peter BEL
11. DIERCKXENS Ludo BEL
12. VAN BONDT Geert BEL
13. BOMANS Carlo BEL
14. AEBERSOLD Niki SUI
15. CAMENZIND Oskar SUI
16. DUFAUX Laurent SUI
17. GIANETTI Mauro SUI
18. JAERMANN Rolf SUI
19. JEKER Fabian SUI
20. MEIER Armin SUI
21. MEIER Roland SUI
22. RICHARD Pascal SUI
23. ROMINGER Tony SUI
24. ZBERG Beat SUI
25. ZUELLE Alex SUI
26. BARONTI Alessandro ITA
27. BARTOLI Michele ITA
28. BORTOLAMI Gianluca ITA
29. BUGNO Gianni ITA
30. CASAGRANDE Francesco ITA
31. FARESIN Gianni ITA
32. FERRIGATO Andrea ITA
33. FONDRIEST Maurizio ITA
34. GUIDI Fabrizio ITA
35. REBELLIN Davide ITA
36. SCINTO Luca ITA
37. TAFI Andrea ITA
38. JALABERT Laurent FRA
39. VIRENQUE Richard FRA
40. BARTHE Stéphane FRA
41. BROCHARD Laurent FRA
42. GUESDON Frédéric FRA
43. HERVE Pascal FRA
44. JALABERT Nicolas FRA
45. MOREAU Christophe FRA
46. ROUX Laurent FRA
47. TEYSSIER Francisque FRA
48. THIBOUT Bruno FRA
49. VASSEUR Cédric FRA
50. RIIS Bjarne DEN
51. HAMBURGER Bo DEN
52. HOLM Brian DEN
53. MOLLER Claus Michael DEN
54. MICHAELSEN Lars DEN
55. LARSEN Nicolay Bo DEN
56. HOJ Frank DEN
57. PETERSEN Soren DEN
58. KYNEB Mikael Holst DEN
59. JACOBSEN Marc Strange DEN
60. SANDSTOD Michael DEN
61. JONASSON Danny DEN
62. MCCORMACK Frank USA
63. HAMILTON Tyler USA
64. JEMISON Marty USA
65. HORNER Christopher USA
66. MCRAE William Chann USA
67. VAUGHTERS Jonathan USA
68. ALONSO MONJE Marino ESP
69. GARCIA ACOSTA José Vicente ESP
70. JIMENEZ SASTRE José Maria ESP
71. CLAVERO SEBASTIAN Daniel ESP
72. GARCIA CASAS Felix M. ESP
73. GONZALEZ GALDEANO Igor ESP
74. DOMINGUEZ D. J. Carlos ESP
75. HERAS HERNANDEZ Roberto ESP
76. SERRANO RODRIGUEZ Marcos ESP
77. LEANIZBARRUTIA ABAUNZA Alb ESP
78. MAURI PRAT Melchior ESP
79. EDO ALSINA Angel ESP
80. KONYSHEV Dmitri RUS
81. IVANOV Serguei RUS
82. OUSLAMINE Sergei RUS
83. GONTCHENKOV Alexandre RUS
84. DJAVANIAN Viatcheslav RUS
85. SIVAKOV Alexei RUS
86. ZINTCHENKO Andrei RUS
87. TONKOV Pavel RUS
88. BERZIN Eugeni RUS
89. UGRUMOV Piotre RUS
90. BÖLTS Udo GER
91. DIETZ Bert GER
92. GOTTSCHLING Stephan GER
93. HENN Christian GER
94. HUNDERTMARK Kai GER
95. HENRIX Sascha GER
96. JAKSCHE Jörg GER
97. KLIER Andreas GER
98. KUMMER Mario GER
99. STEINHAUSER Tobias GER
100. ZEMKE Jens GER
101. WUST Marcel GER
102. BOOGERD Michael NED
103. BREUKINK Erik NED
104. VAN BON Leon NED
105. NELISSEN Danny NED
106. VIERHOUTEN Aart NED
107. VAN HEESWIJK Max NED
108. MOERENHOUT Koos NED
109. VOSKAMP Bart NED
110. KNAVEN Servais NED
111. HOFFMAN Tristan NED
112. DE JONGH Steven NED
113. DEN BAKKER Maarten NED
114. SCIANDRI Maximilian GBR
115. HUNT Jeremy GBR
116. MILLAR David GBR
117. STEPHENS Matt GBR
118. TANNER John GBR
119. WALSHAM Mark GBR
120. SMITH Dan GBR
121. WINN Julian GBR
122. ANDERSSON Michael SWE
123. BACKSTEDT Magnus SWE
124. LAFIS Michel SWE
125. MAGNUSSON Glenn SWE
126. ZIVKOVIC Dragomir YUG
127. SVORADA Jan CZE
128. KONECNY Tomas CZE
129. OZOLS Dainis LAT
130. VOGELS Hendricus AUS
131. SUNDERLAND Scott AUS
132. ROGERS Peter AUS
133. HALL Jonathon AUS
134. AGUIRRE CABRERA Julio Cesa COL
135. CONTRERAS CANO Carlos A. COL
136. HERNANDEZ MONTOYA Jairo COL
137. MUNOZ FERNANDEZ Federico COL
138. PALACIO MONTOYA Hector I. COL
139. CASTELBLANCO R. José J. COL
140. RAMIREZ RODRIGUEZ Duban A. COL
141. PENA GRISALES Victor Hugo COL
142. ARROYO ROSALES Miguel MEX
143. TCHMIL Andrei UKR
144. GONTCHAR Serguei UKR
145. POULNIKOV Vladimir UKR
146. PROKOPENKO Youry UKR
147. ROTAR Alexandr UKR
148. NAKAZNI Alexei UKR
149. KIRSIPUU Jann EST
150. AUS Lauri EST
151. LUPEIKIS Remigijus LTU
152. WOHLBERG Eric CAN
153. ANAND Mat CAN
154. BARANOWSKI Dariusz POL
155. CHMIELEWSKI Piotr POL
156. JASKULA Zenon POL
157. MICKIEWICZ Jacek POL
158. PIATEK Zbigniew POL
159. SYPYTKOWSKI Andrej POL
160. WADECKI Piotr POL
161. ZAMANA Cezary POL
162. IVANOV Ruslan MLD
163. HVASTIJA Martin SLO
His build-up to Sunday's title defence has been hampered by a recurrence of a urinary infection which brought the Belgian close to being a non-starter.
After a work-out on Tuesday he declared himself ready to line up with the rest of the world's best for Sunday's 256.5 kms race but the problem is just the latest of a troublesome season.
``Before this happened I was confident about myself but now I am not sure anymore. I feel well but that is not the same as being in good shape,'' he said on Friday.
He first suffered the inflammation in the lead-up to the Tour de France. ``The Tour was to be my preparation for the classic races, but instead of improving my condition it ruined it,'' he said.
Four times he has had to restart his season, but said: ``Because of the jersey I had the morale to keep coming back.''
Five months after winning the 'rainbow' colours, Museeuw injured his knee in a mountain bike crash and needed an operation to get him fit for the season.
Then in the opening classic, the Milan to San Remo race, he was involved in a finishing-sprint pile-up.
His misfortune in classics continued in the Tour of Flanders when he was brought down. Then a week later he was with the leaders in the Paris-Roubaix race when a puncture wrecked his chances.
So Museeuw's name was added to the list of champions whose careers have been blighted after winning the title. Over the years it has become known as ``the curse of the rainbow jersey.''
``Before I won the title, I had had only one mishap in my career, -- a broken hip two days before the 1995 world championship,'' said Museeuw.
Rudy Dhaenens, Belgium's previous world number one, was winless in the year following his 1990 triumph. Then in 1992 he had to retire because of heart trouble.
Stephen Roche's 1987 victory for Ireland was followed by a season of knee problems, and Frenchman Luc Leblanc also had physical trouble after his 1994 win.
Despite the 'curse' it is still the prize all the riders want. Sunday's race has 163 starters and a string of contenders, notably world-ranked number one Laurent Jalabert, and Bjarne Riis, the Danish winner of the 1996 Tour de France.
After his unexpected time trial title win on Thursday Jalabert said: ``I just hope I have something left for Sunday.''
Alex Zuelle lost that title mainly because of two punctures, and the Swiss rider, who scored his second Tour of Spain victory last month, will be looking for a consolation.
Riis is also highly motivated after a disappointing 1997 Tour, but the race is without a firm favourite.