Mathieu van der Poel ended a 38-year wait for a Dutch victory in the elite world road race championships on Sunday, soloing to a dominant win despite a crash in the closing stages plus a broken shoe.
Van der Poel was clearly the strongest rider on the very tough city circuit in Glasgow, his vast cyclo-cross experience aiding him perfectly when it came to repeated efforts on short, sharp climbs plus a technically demanding course. It was no coincidence that former world cyclo-cross champion Wout Van Aert (Belgium) took the silver medal, while double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) outsprinted former world champ Mads Pedersen (Denmark) for third.
Van der Poel’s win made him the first rider in history to win the cyclo-cross world title and the elite men’s road race title in the same season, but that feat could have been missed if his fall with 16km remaining had had more serious consequences. “It was not that I was stupid, because I was not taking risks,” he said. “But all of a sudden I was on the ground. Winning this means everything. It was one of the biggest goals I had left, and to win it today is amazing.”
Ireland had six entrants but on a day when just 51 out of 195 riders completed the race, they were among the non-finishers. Ben Healy rode strongly but missed a crucial split in the bunch; Rory Townsend was clear in the early break for much of the day but lost out when he punctured and then had a second mechanical issue. Sam Bennett also had a mechanical issue and then had to stop for a bike change.
There was, however, better news for Irish cycling on the track, with paracycling rider Ronan Grimes adding a bronze medal in the C4 scratch race to the bronze he took last Thursday in the individual pursuit. Three riders got clear early on and gained a lap, normally putting the medals out of reach to anyone else who didn’t do likewise. However, one of those three was later dropped by the bunch, with Grimes then attacking near the end to secure third place.
“I won’t be doing too many more world championships,” the 34-year-old said. “So just going to these and having these experiences is really what it is all about. To win a medal is an extra special thing. I am really delighted with the whole experience and to come away with two medals from the track campaign is icing on the cake.”
He will now travel to Dumfries in advance of the road events the Irish paracycling riders will target. Grimes will contest the C4 time trial next Thursday and the road race on Saturday. He won the latter last year and is hoping to defend his world title.
Also fired up are Katie-George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal, multiple world champions in the road tandem events, who will pair up this time around with Linda Kelly and Josephine Healion respectively. They are doing so to try to maximise the amount of qualification places for the Paris Paralympics.
A number of other Irish competitors were also in action on Sunday. William Clifford was ninth in the MC3 200-metre time trial and moves to seventh overall in the multi-event Omnium with one race to go. Martin Gordon and Eoin Mullen were fifth-fastest in the qualifiers for the tandem sprint, going through to the quarter finals, but did not progress further. Emily Kay competed in the elimination race but was caught out early and finished 22nd.
The world championships continue on Monday with a number of events. Alice Sharpe and Lara Gillespie team up for the women’s madison, several Irish riders will contest the Gran Fondo time trials and two Irish paracycling competitors will line out in the men’s C2 1km time trial and the women’s C3 500-metre time trial.
