Battistella takes the victory in the Under 23 Men’s Road Race

Italian Samuele Battistella wins the Under-23 World Road Race Championships, beating Stefan Bisseger of Switzerland and Tom Pidcock of Great Britain into second and third respectively.

The event was marred by the decision to disqualify Nils Eekhoff, the person who crossed the finish line first, for drafting, although he wasn’t the only person to be disqualified, as Katie Clouse of USA had been disqualified in the Junior Women’s Road Race earlier in the day.

That aside, the race was one of epic proportions with pouring rain, driving winds, crashes and attacks, and was entertaining from the outset.

The early breakaway saw thirteen riders get a gap which would reach around a minute before the group would dwindle to four before swelling in numbers when the peloton split into groups in the crosswinds over Greenhow, with Pidcock one of the main riders driving the split.

Pidcock had been involved in a crash with around 67km which had exacerbated the injury that he had sustained at the Tour de l’Avenir in August.

Sajnok of Poland instigated a couple of attacks towards the end of the race, with the final selection comprising Bisseger, Battistella, Foss, Pidcock and Sajnok. Sajnok’s efforts would ultimately prove too much as he was dropped on the final lap.

The final four looked precarious as the gap between them and the chasers hovered around 10 seconds, with Eekhoff, Columbia’s Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia and Denmark’s Andreas Lorentz Kron joining the quartet with about 4km to go (Higuita Garcia and Kron would eventually finish 4th and 5th in the adjusted results).

The seven leaders entered the finishing straight together on the final lap with Pidcock looking the favourite for the sprint finish until around 150m to go when his earlier efforts to get back on looked to creep up on him and Eekhoff, Battistella and Bisseger overtook him to grab the podium spots initially. The final result was then adjusted to reflect Eekhoff’s disqualification.

Note: three riders were disqualified for drafting today, and their respective teams were fined 200 Swiss Francs each. Those riders were Alexander Konychev of Italy, Andreas Nielsen of Denmark and Nils Eekhoff of the Netherlands.