Sam Bennett went into the European Championships today carrying real hopes of winning the title, though he eventually came away with 6th place.
The Irish rider may have been out of the fight for the medals but it was Ireland's best ever result in a road race at the Europeans.
A 13-man breakaway stole a march on the reduced peloton with almost 70km remaining when the Italians went on the front and drilled the pace through the narrow streets of Alkmaar.
The majority of that initial damage was done by last year's winner Matteo Trentin, whose pace on the front of the group for a couple of kilometres decimated what remained of the field.
Gaps appeared through the bunch within less than a kilometre of Trentin taking it up and turning the screw.
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And once the breakaway group pulled clear, those left behind never saw the front of the race again, though six laps remained of the 11km course at that point.
From that breakaway, the medal winners would later pull clear; a trio from Italy, Belgium and Germany - gold going to Elia Viviani, silver to Yves Lampaert and bronze to Pascal Ackermann.
Sam Bennett finished in the next group, just 33 seconds behind the Italian winner; taking 3rd in the sprint from that group for 6th on the day.
Ireland's Matt Teggart, Robbie McCarthy and Rory Townsend were non finishers on a day when the field was shredded to pieces and only 42 riders completed the 172.6km event.
Before the racing reached the local technical laps, the opening 45km circuit out into the countryside saw the field significantly break up in the crosswinds.
Once the dust had settled on that initial section of the race, a small peloton of about 60 riders hit he circuits to fight for the European title.
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Sam Bennett was the lone Irishman in that group and with lots of representation from nations like Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and others, Bennett was up against it in his bid for medal.
Still, he seemed to cope well on his own; staying in the top 20-25 with apparent ease and moving to the very front of the bunch at times just as it appeared it may split up.
When the Italian train began its move on the front Bennett was well placed, though the decisive split that resulted in the 13-man breakaway moving clear occurred just ahead of him.
It looked for a time like the race was over, until the Dutch and Norwegians finally got organised on the front and began to close the gap.
However, on the third last lap just as the breakaway looked like it may falter, and riders began being dropped from it, the three-man group of Viviani, Lampaert and Ackermann got clear.
Once the three eventual medalists were clear, they cooperated well and the rest of the breakaway that they had been in was caught by Sam Bennett's group.
The three men up front shared the workload until the action dipped just under the 4km to go marker, at which point Lampaert attacked.
He pulled out a gap, which Viviani allowed to grow before jumping from behind Ackermann and catching Lampaert.
The Belgian rider seemed resigned to being beaten by the Italian sprinter and rode hard on the front deep into the final kilometre before Viviani beat him with ease to the line.
Ackermann came close to catching them but was at the end of his resources and did well to hang on for bronze, finishing just nine seconds down on Viviani.
The sprint for 4th place was won by 2017 championship winner Alexander Kristoff (Norway) from Dane Michael Mørkøv and Ireland's Bennett.
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