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World Championships - CM
Verona, Italy, September 27-October 3, 2004
Preview Map Course description Start List
Race 7 - Friday October 1: Road Race - U23 Men, 177 km
Commentary by Jeff Jones, with additional reporting from Tim Maloney
Complete live report
Live coverage starts: 12:30 CEST
Estimated finish time: 16:45 CEST
12:38 CEST
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Favourites include anyone wearing an Italian jersey (Giovanni Visconti, Claudio Corioni and Elio Rigotti in particular), Aussies Ashley Humbert and Aaron Kemps, Belgium's Wouter Weylandt, Holland's Thomas Dekker, Koen De Kort and Bas Giling, Slovenia's World TT champion Janez Brajkovic, Finland's Jukka Vastaranta, Ireland's Nicholas Roche, Luxembourger Andy Schleck and Americans Tyler Farrar and Saul Raisin, among others.
12:58 CEST 16km/161km to go
The large Espoir field comes through the start/finish at the end of lap 1, still
all together save for three riders off the back, who were involved in a crash
it looks like.
The weather is still fairly hazy, around 20-22 degrees, but it might burn off
and we could get a clear afternoon.
13:15 CEST 30km/147km to go
The riders have completed two laps of their allotted 12, and the pace is heating
up a little.
13:35 CEST 41km/136km to go
The U23's have ridden up the Torricelle for the third time, still as a big group
with what looks like the Ukrainian team controlling the pace. No-one has successfully
managed to attack, although Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan) tried along with two others
on the climb.
In last wheel at the top of the climb is Ireland's Philip Deignan, who doesn't
actually look to be in trouble.
13:45 CEST 46km/131km to go
The peloton has now completed three laps, and is still very watchful. An attack
on the Torricelle last time involving Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan) and two others
was caught.
13:54 CEST 50km/127km to go
Things are getting interesting again as the Espoirs hit the Torricelle for the
fourth time. Aleksejs Saramotins (Latvia) attacks and takes 20 seconds out of
the peloton. He is pursued by Dmytro Novosad (Ukraine) and Jorge Azanza Soto
(Spain), and at the top of the climb they have 30 seconds on the peloton, which
is being controlled by one of the Dutch riders.
14:01 CEST 58km/119km to go
Aleksejs Saramotins (Latvia) has 26 seconds on the two chasers, Dmytro Novosad
(Ukraine) and Jorge Azanza Soto (Spain), at the end of lap 4. The peloton is
following at a minute.
14:02 CEST 60km/117km to go
The peloton is not too worried about the three leaders, it seems, as there is
still a lot of racing to come. A Kazakh rider is in front.
Novosad rides past his team boxes and asks for a bidon. None is forthcoming
and he's annoyed.
14:05 CEST
The two chasers come through the start/finish at 24 seconds, while the peloton
has picked up the pace a little, led by a Russian at 55 seconds.
14:07 CEST 62km/115km to go
There are about 750m of cobbles after the start/finish, which would make it
pretty interesting in the wet.
In front, it's Saramotins powering along on his own with the Ukrainian and Spaniard
in pursuit.
14:11 CEST 66km/111km to go
Saramotins hits the Torricelle for the fifth time, making his way up the steady
3.1 km climb at a constant rhythm. He's not waiting for the two guys behind
them, even though they might do better as a trio.
Bernhard Kohl (Aut) is out, after crashing on lap one. His knees are all bloodied.
14:15 CEST
Novosad has now dropped Azanza Soto on the climb and is closing the gap to Saramotins.
14:17 CEST
Aleksejs Saramotins (Latvia), Dmytro Novosad (Ukraine) are now together near
the top of the climb, but the Russians have upped the tempo in the peloton and
have closed the gap to just 15 seconds.
14:21 CEST 68km/109km to go
The descent is 4.5 km, the first part being relatively non technical. The second
part is tricky, however. Artur Krol (Poland) bridges up to the two leaders and
tries to keep the break going.
In the peloton, it's still one of the Russian riders leading the charge. 2003
Junior World Champion Kai Reus (Netherlands) was off the back over the hill.
The break sits up and the peloton comes back together.
14:26 CEST 73km/104km to go
The peloton passes through the team box area with a small break of three riders,
including Chris Isaac (Canada) and Timothy Duggan (USA). Sergey Firsanov (Russia)
bridges up. There is also a Ukrainian up there Andriy Pryshchepa.
They are caught by another six or seven riders but the peloton wakes up and
closes the gap.
14:28 CEST 74km/103km to go
Duggan keeps going and leads the peloton by five seconds at the end of lap 5.
He hammers on the cobbles and opens up a bigger gap.
Kasper Klostergaard (Den) has abandoned, looking completely disappointed.
14:29 CEST
Kai Reus has abandoned.
14:32 CEST 75km/102km to go
Konstantin Schubert (Germany) has snapped his rear gear cable, and the neutral
service is trying to fix it. He needs another bike, but he's past the team boxes.
Duggan looks back and sees that he has 15 seconds at the foot of the Torricelle.
14:35 CEST
Duggan is joined on the climb by Polish rider Tomasz Marczynski (Poland). The
peloton follows at 10 seconds.
14:38 CEST 78km/99km to go
Artur Krol joins the two leaders and straight away goes to the front and hammers.
Duggan has problems following, and drops off as a Canadian and Bielorussian
bridge the gap. Four leaders, but not by much.
14:39 CEST 80km/97km to go
No dice - it's all back together with less than 100 km to go.
14:45 CEST 83km/94km to go
A crash on the descent as two French riders miss one of the sharp corners. Sebastian
Minard is one of them, Arnaud Gerard is the other. They are both up and riding
again. An American rider also crashed - not sure who he is.
A Spanish rider has attacked at the foot of the descent.
14:48 CEST 86km/91km to go
The Spaniard is Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil, who gets 15 seconds as he reaches the
boxes at the end of lap 6. Duggan is back on the front of the peloton.
Schubert gets his bike change - beats riding in the 39 or 53 x 12 all the time.
14:49 CEST 88km/89km to go
Rojas Gil sits up and the peloton, led by Duggan, catches him again. All together.
Duggan decides to have another go. This time he gets one of the Aussies with
him.
14:51 CEST 89km/88km to go
Jorge Azanza Soto (Spain) has abandoned. He was one of the first attackers.
At the end of lap 6, the two leaders Duggan and Peter Dawson (Aus) have 20 seconds.
Dawson is riding on a borrowed bike after his got stolen last night.
14:54 CEST 91km/86km to go
Dawson powers the break with Duggan also doing his turns, and the two now have
40 seconds lead as they approach the Torricelle.
14:57 CEST 94km/83km to go
One of the Kazakhstan riders attacks the peloton in pursuit of Dawson and Duggan,
who hold a 59 second lead on the peloton on the seventh climb of the Torricelle.
This is an interesting break, but perhaps too early.
14:58 CEST
Now a Spaniard sets off in pursuit of the two leaders. Dawson is doing most
of the work on the climb, but now takes a break behind Duggan.
15:00 CEST 96km/81km to go
Visconti is leading the peloton now in pursuit of Dawson and Duggan, who are
nearly at the top. In between is Andrei Kunitski (Belarus), who is chasing solo.
He has bridged the gap at the top.
15:02 CEST
A Polish rider attacks from the peloton, but straight away has Australian Ben
Johnson on his wheel. The pace slows again.
15:04 CEST 97km/80km to go
The three leaders are just 18 seconds ahead of the peloton, which has split
on the climb, led by the Italians. Visconti is one of them. We now have 9 leaders
on the descent, including two Italians.
15:11 CEST 101km/76km to go
Two Italians drive the nine man break, but the peloton - very strung out - is
coming back to them on the descent. The Irish riders are towards the rear of
the field at the moment.
Nibali and Visconti are in the break, along with Breschel (Den), Machado (Ven),
Dawson (Aus), Duggan (USA), Kunitski (Blr) and two more. But the gap is nearly
closed at the foot of the descent.
15:13 CEST 103.3km/73.7km to go
The peloton is really thinning down as it approaches the start/finish for the
end of lap 7. Dawson and Duggan are still driving it, as Thomas Dekker chases
back on in a small group. Another Aussie counters, but gets two Italians for
company, followed by another 150 or so riders. That's not a desirable breakaway
composition.
At the end of lap 7, the average speed is a tad over 38 km/h.
Stian Remme (Norway) has abandoned.
15:15 CEST
Ashley Humbert (Australia) has attacked at the start of Lap 8. The Aussies want
to keep the tempo high, it seems.
Wouter Weylandt (Belgium) won't be sprinting for the win today - he's already
in a group 1'20 off the back.
15:17 CEST 105km/72km to go
Humbert is brought back to the peloton.
Andriy Buchko (Ukraine) abandons with a puncture.
15:19 CEST 107km/70km to go
Dominique Cornu (Belgium) has abandoned. The peloton is now on the Torricelle,
riding a steady tempo with the Slovenian team to the fore.
15:21 CEST
Vastaranta will not be going for the win today either - he's also in the Weylandt
group.
The main peloton is still a good 100 riders strong. Dawson is now towards the
back.
15:24 CEST 110km/67km to go
Nybö Haavard (Norway) has abandoned, as has Waylon Woolcock (South Africa).
There are still a couple of South Africans left in the bunch.
A Ukrainian rider is setting the tempo on the climb, but it's not quick enough
for Fredy Orlando Piamonte Rodriguez (Colombia), who attacks and drives hard.
15:27 CEST 111km/66km to go
Piamonte Rodriguez gets a nice gap as one of the Ukrainians reacts. But the
Italians are watching the Ukrainians closely and no-one can get away.
A Slovene counters, then an Australian - Benjamin Johnson. The Colombian only
has a handful of seconds at the top as the peloton reforms.
Weylandt has abandoned, saying that he felt terrible and couldn't hang on on
any of the climbs.
15:29 CEST
Fredy Orlando Piamonte Rodriguez is actually back in the peloton and it's his
teammate Julian David Muñoz Giraldo who is attacking on the descent, driving
as hard as possible.
15:30 CEST 113km/64km to go
Muñoz Giraldo takes good advantage of the technical part of the descent, which
thins out the peloton again. He digs into his jersey for some energy, and finds
a squeezy of some sort. There is no panic in the peloton as Serge Pauwels (Bel)
leads.
15:34 CEST
The Colombian rides through the team boxes, pursued by three riders - an Italian,
Czech and a Slovenian. The peloton is very close behind.
15:38 CEST 118km/59km to go
The peloton crosses the line at the end of lap 8, 15 seconds behind a break
of seven riders, including Claudio Corioni (Italy) and Julian David Muñoz Giraldo
(Colombia). The Australian team is leading the chase.
15:39 CEST 119km/58km to go
Dustin Mcburnie (Canada) has abandoned. The breakaway is caught, thanks to the
efforts of the Australians. It's all back together for the ninth time up the
Torricelle.
15:41 CEST 121km/56km to go
The peloton hits the feed zone and one of the Irish riders attacks - Philip
Deignan. He is chased by Saul Raisin (USA) and has a small gap at the foot of
the Torricelle. The pair are now together.
15:43 CEST
Deignan and Raisin have a bit of a gap over the peloton, which is hammering
up the climb led by Visconti (Ita). Benjamin Johnson (Australia) is very attentive
at the front.
15:45 CEST 124km/53km to go
Armenia's only entrant, Tigran Korkotyan, has abandoned. As has Christopher
Myhre (Norway).
Mads Christensen (Denmark) has closed the gap to Raisin and Deignan, but the
peloton is hot on his wheels. All together again, very strung out.
Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy) counters, and again it's Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr)
on his wheel.
15:46 CEST
Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) is off in pursuit of the two leaders - he makes contact,
and we have two Italians in the lead group of three.
15:49 CEST
Vincenzo Nibali and Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus)
hammer over the top of the climb, having ridden it in 6'59, the fastest split
of the entire race. The peloton is about 15 seconds back, with a group of three
chasing, including Pauwels.
15:52 CEST 130km/47km to go
Kunitski almost misses one of the corners, but holds it up. The three chasers
include Nic Ingels (Bel), De Maar (Ned) and Christensen (Den).
15:53 CEST
At the foot of the descent, we have Vincenzo Nibali and Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy),
Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus), Nic Ingels (Belgium), Marc de Maar (Netherlands)
and Mads Christensen (Denmark) in front, with a group of 30 riders chasing at
15 seconds. The rest of the peloton is in tatters.
15:55 CEST
Another seven riders bridge the gap to the six leaders as they passe through
the team boxes. Visconti is there, meaning we have three Italians in the break.
15:59 CEST 134km/43km to go
Matti Breschel (Denmark) and Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) are two of the riders who
have bridged, and straight away they attack. They are joined by Marc de Maar,
whose teammate Thomas Dekker has joined the group.
16:01 CEST 135km/42km to go
In the lead we have: Matti Breschel (Denmark), Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) and Marc
de Maar (Netherlands), who are about to be joined by one of the Italians. It's
Nibali.
The group behind has Giovanni Visconti and Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy), Kanstantsin
Siutsou (Belarus), Nic Ingels (Belgium), Thomas Dekker (Netherlands), Mads Christensen
(Denmark), Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia), Andreas Dietziker (Switzerland) and Ashley
Humbert (Australia).
16:05 CEST 137km/40km to go
The four leaders hit the Torricelle for lap 10, with a disorganised chase happening
in the group behind them. Nibali attacks the break, and De Maar follows. Brajkovic
chases them, as do Dekker and Pozzovivo. Kunitski and one of the Danes is closing
the gap.
Nibali goes again!!
16:07 CEST
Dekker chases down Nibali and the Italian slows again. We have seven leaders,
with Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Thomas Dekker and Marc de Maar (Netherlands),
Matti Breschel (Denmark), Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy), Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus),
Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia).
Pozzovivo and Kunitski counter.
16:11 CEST 141km/36km to go
Pozzovivo and Kunitski ride to the top of the climb with a 20 second gap over
a chase group of nine with Vincenzo Nibali and Giovanni Visconti (Italy), Thomas
Dekker and Marc de Maar (Netherlands), Nic Ingels (Belgium), Mads Christensen
and Matti Breschel (Denmark), Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia), Andreas Dietziker
(Switzerland), Andriy Grivko (Ukraine).
Humbert comes over the top with a Russian rider, another 20 seconds down.
16:12 CEST 143km/34km to go
The Dutch and Danish riders are trying to organise a chase, as they're not going
to get any help from the Italians. Pozzovivo and Kunitski have a nice gap on
the descent.
16:16 CEST
The chase group is working, but the gap is 26 seconds to the two leaders, who
are working very well together.
Visconti is sitting on the back of the chase group, suffering from cramps.
16:18 CEST 147km/30km to go
Pozzovivo misses a bidon through the team boxes, definitely not his own fault
as the soigneur sort of threw it at him. The chasers do a bit better, grabbing
plenty of bidons. There's a Portuguese(?) rider in the chase group too - not
sure of the name.
16:21 CEST 148km/29km to go
This is interesting - Visconti attacks the chase group, perhaps to disrupt the
rhythm. The gap is 30 seconds at the end of lap 10. Two laps to go!
Humbert, Mazur and Kozantchouk are another 30 seconds behind the group, which
is attacking each other. Breschel goes just past the start/finish, but sees
Visconti on his wheel and sits up.
The peloton is a good minute behind the main chase group.
16:21 CEST
Filipe Cardoso (Portugal) is the 11th rider in the chase group.
16:23 CEST 150km/27km to go
The smallish peloton passes under the start/finish banner 2'13 behind Pozzovivo
and Kunitski.
Dekker has started a little counter move from the chase group behind. Ingels,
Brajkovic, Visconti, Breschel and Christensen are there.
16:25 CEST
In front it's still the tall Bielorussian Kanstantsin Siutsou and the pocket
climber Vincenzo Nibali in the lead. They start the Torricelle for the second
last time.
Dekker is hammering in pursuit, but those with him do not want to let him go.
The rest of the group is coming back up to Dekker's five man chase. It's 32
seconds to the two leaders.
16:28 CEST 153km/24km to go
With two riders half a minute up the road, there is no time for playing games
in the chase group. But no-one wants to bury themselves in pursuit and the Italians
have the race well in hand. It's now 45 seconds as Grivko attacks. He takes
Christensen with him, but he blows up. The Italians ride the gap closed.
16:29 CEST
Grivko's effort was too much and he's now off the back of the chase group. Ouch.
It's 47 seconds as De Maar does a turn. There's no cooperation though. Grivko
realises this and gets to the front again! He has Visconti on his wheel.
16:31 CEST 155km/22km to go
Grivko swings off but no-one goes round. The gap is now 51 seconds, and the
two leaders are definitely not coming back. The chase group is racing for bronze.
16:33 CEST
Kunitski and Pozzovivo now have a minute on the chasers as they reach the top
of the Torricelle for the second last time. Grivko is still leading the chase
group, which means that they're not going fast enough. The Ukrainian is really
suffering. The rest don't seem interested.
16:35 CEST
Breschel, De Maar and Ingels lead the chase group on the descent, but they'll
have to do an amazing lap to catch the two leaders. Brajkovic tows the rest
of the chase group up.
16:37 CEST
An important correction, Kanstantsin Siutsou is the Belarus rider in the lead,
not Kunitski. Our apologies!
16:40 CEST 162km/15km to go
In the lead we have Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus),
being chased (in the loosest sense of the word) by Vincenzo Nibali and Giovanni
Visconti (Italy), Thomas Dekker and Marc de Maar (Netherlands), Nic Ingels (Belgium),
Mads Christensen and Matti Breschel (Denmark), Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia), Andreas
Dietziker (Switzerland), Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) and Filipe Cardoso (Portugal)
at 1'03.
16:41 CEST
Pozzovivo and Siutsou are still cooperating well together, and we'll see soon
enough who's got the legs to win today. Their gap is around a minute as they
hit the start/finish line for the second last time.
16:43 CEST 162.5km/14.5km to go
The leaders are clearly hurting, but they are not going to give away a minute's
lead in one lap. The chase group enters the finishing straight in the centre
of Verona, led by the Danish riders and Grivko, the Ukrainian doing a lot of
work. It's 57 seconds across the line.
The sprint will be wind assisted.
16:46 CEST 165km/12km to go
Grivko does a long turn on the cobbles, keeping the gap at a constant 57 seconds.
He pulls off at last and takes a drink. Brajkovic looks nervous but it's too
late for that.
16:47 CEST 167km/10km to go
The two leaders have a short discussion, or is Pozzovivo just checking out his
opponent?
Ingels is now leading the chase group as the leaders hit the Torricelle for
the last time.
16:49 CEST
Siutsou does another turn on the climb, using a big gear but pedaling it smoothly.
Pozzovivo takes over now.
In the chase group, Grivko does another big turn and Visconti drops off his
wheel and cramps. Race over for the Italian (essentially).
Siutsou attacks!!
16:50 CEST 168km/9km to go
Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) smashes a big gear up the Torricelle, leaving
Pozzovivo for dead. He's got 10 seconds, now 15 seconds. Pozzovivo is knackered.
16:51 CEST
Pozzovivo tried to react when the Bielorussian attacked, but he exploded almost
immediately. That'll happen at the end of a tough race - the mind is willing,
but the legs are empty. Can the Italian hold on for silver?
16:54 CEST 169km/8km to go
Siutsou is hammering up the climb in his 42x15. Behind them, Dekker and Christensen
are in pursuit of the dying Pozzovivo. They could well get him. Pozzovivo is
already 30 seconds behind the leader. But Dekker and Christensen are more than
40 seconds behind the Italian,, who has recovered a little.
16:55 CEST 170km/7km to go
Siutsou reaches the top of the climb with a huge 41 second gap over Pozzovivo.
Dekker and Christensen are another 40 seconds back...
16:57 CEST 171km/6km to go
Dekker drives it all the way to the top with Christensen on his wheel, 1'18
behind the leader. Pozzovivo should be afraid, be very afraid for his silver
medal.
The rest of the group is in bits. Marc de Maar and the two Italians (how did
Visconti recover?) are in pursuit.
16:58 CEST 172km/5km to go
Siutsou has got the gold in the bag, provided he doesn't overcook it on the
descent. But Dekker and Christensen are making big inroads into Pozzovivo -
now just 9 seconds. He's gone.
17:00 CEST 173km/4km to go
Pozzovivo is caught by Christensen and Dekker on the descent, and has problems
holding on. But he does. They navigate the tricky left hander, 1'09 behind the
leader Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus), who rides for the Italian based Palazzago
team normally.
17:02 CEST 175km/2km to go
Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) keeps driving, increasing his gap all the time
over the chasers. He has 1'15 as he reaches the team boxes, and throws his bidon
towards an official. The rest of the chase group is at 1'42.
17:03 CEST 176km/1km to go
Dekker, Christensen and Pozzovivo are going for the silver medal. Pozzovivo
is sitting on, looking very sore. But this might be enough of a break to revitalise
his legs.
Siutsou is in the final kilometre.
17:06 CEST 177km/0km to go
The Bielorussian drives all the way up the finishing straight, but he has plenty
of time to celebrate his victory in the World U23 Road Championship. A fantastic
ride, and he is certainly the strongest on the day.
Christensen attacks for the silver, but Dekker is chasing him. Pozzovivo won't
get them. Dekker gets Breschel in the last 150m, sprints around the Dane and
takes silver. Pozzovivo fourth.
Results
Provisional 1 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bielorussia) 4.33.32 2 Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) 1.01 3 Mads Christensen Denmark) 1.02 4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy) 1.09 5 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) 1.30 6 Matti Breschel (Denmark) 1.38 7 Giovanni Visconti (Italy) 8 Marc de Maar (Netherlands) 9 Andreas Dietziker (Switzerland) 1.50 10 Nic Ingels (Belgium) 1.51 11 Filipe Cardoso (Portugal)
