Nicolas Roche showed himself to be one of the really strong men of the pro game, finishing among a small group that survived the final laps at the World Championships in Spain (Photo: Sirotti)
By Brian Canty
In Ponferrada
Nicolas Roche has finished best of the three-man Irish team after 6½ hours in the saddle in the elite road race at the World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, this afternoon.
He was among a 21-rider bunch of strongmen to emerge after a very testing final two laps at the end of the 254.8km contest. That group found itself pursuing eventual winner Michal Kwiatkowski up the final climbing section on the last lap.
But even when a six-man chase group set off in pursuit of him in the dying kilometres, the Pole was not taking no for an answer and doggedly hung on for the most iconic jersey in cycling.
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Australia’s Simon Gerrans was best of the chasers, just one second behind the winner in the silver medal position. Spain’s Alejandro Valverde was third.
While Roche put in a strong showing, especially for a man who told stickybottle in recent days that he was starting to feel fatigued after a long season, the other Irish men in the race endured a more difficult finale.
A crash with just over two laps to go forced Dan Martin to change his bike and he lost contact with the bunch at a time when all three Irish men were still in contention.
Martin would try to fight back on and got very close to the bunch; riding just 40 seconds back for long periods on the penultimate lap. But with the action going forward after such a long and wet race, he never saw the group again, and finished well down the field.
Our Boys: The three Irish guys looking great in their kit at the start. And despite a medal eluding them, they rode very strongly for the vast majority of the race. They, along with others not in action today, are strong enough to win it for Ireland in the years to come (Photo: Sirotti)
Philip Deignan remained in the bunch without difficulty until lap 12 before the penultimate time up the final stretch of climbing on the course saw him lose contact and he would abandon.
But the day belonged to Kwiatkowski.
The Pole seized the day on the final ascent on the last lap of 14 to attack a four man breakaway, which also featured Cyril Gautier (France), Michael Valgren Andersen (Denmark), Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) and Alessandro De Marchi (Italy).
Kwiatkowski first attacked the bunch alone on the final lap as Spain looked like it was about to take over the action. And he made short work of bridging across to the four men dangling off the front at the time after a series of earlier moves had been swept up.
After catching the leading quartet, it took him another couple of surges to drop them. But he finally broke clear alone and slugged it out all the way to the finish.
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Michal Kwiatkowski can't believe he's done it; but he was a great winner and he'll be the victor of great races wearing the rainbow bands (Photo: Sirotti)
The race was relatively boring for the opening 10 to 12 laps; with an early escape going clear and gaining 15 minutes. But without any big names it always looked doomed, with Poland riding on the front for lap after lap to make sure the gap did not get unwieldy.
And those efforts were repaid by an aggressive Kwiatkowski in the finale.
On the final as he was shaking off the four man group that had made its way up the road to lead late in the day, the attacking finally began in the depleted peloton just behind.
At first Joaquim Rodriguez took it up for Spain, followed by former champion Philippe Gilbert of Belgium. And those digs at the head of affairs saw the peloton disintegrate up that final climb before the short descent into the finish.
The jumping around by the big guns resulted in a really powerful group going clear of the remains of the bunch. It hunted down lone leader Kwiatkowski, who had 18 seconds at the top of the final hill.
In that chase group were Gilbert, Gerrans, Valverde, Matti Breschel (Denmark), Tony Gallopin (France) and Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium).
When the head of the race came off the descent and hit the flat run in to the finish of less than 2km, it was Gilbert who hit the front of the chasers in an effort to close down Kwiatkowski.
The Pole now enjoyed a lead of just seven seconds, with the bunch another handful of seconds behind the chase group.
But with nobody willing to help Gilbert, the chase group stalled a little as Kwiatkowski ploughed on. Despite the chasers breathing down his neck up the home straight, Kwiatkowski sat up for the victory salute a considerable distance from the line and in the end took the title by just one second.
Gerrans took the sprint for silver, with Valverde just behind in bronze.
One of the pre race favourites, Alexander Kristoff (Norway) won the sprint from the bunch for 8th place just seven seconds down.
Roche was in that 30-strong group and finished in 26th place. Martin would come home in 84th, some 8:25 down while Deignan was a non finisher, abandoning with two laps remaining.
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