Cycling: Rain, falls, tears & triumphs. The 2019 Road World Championships offered us fans a lot. After a little over a week, the pros have survived the hardships in Yorkshire. We look back on an impressive World Cup.
It was a World Cup full of surprises
Who would have expected Mads Pedersen to win the men's road race? Has anyone guessed that Chloe Dygert can beat the Dutch in the women's ITT? How likely did we think it was that a race would be decided by a 100+ kilometer solo? We probably didn't expect any of these things.
The Road World Championships in Yorkshire can therefore be described as the World Championship of surprises. Even during the races, we were repeatedly overwhelmed by twists and turns that make for an exciting bike race. Mathieu van der Poel looked like the sure winner before suddenly having the plug pulled out of nowhere. In the time trial competitions, the participants sometimes divided their strength so differently that the intervals between intermediate times changed drastically.
Winners of the World Cup: The Netherlands, USA & Italy
As with any sporting competition, there will be winners and losers at the 2019 Road World Championships. Although the Dutch may have hoped for even more, their haul ranks them among the more successful nations. As expected, it was mainly the women who raked in the cash. Annemiek van Vleuten secured gold and bronze, Anna van der Breggen twice silver. In addition, the orange national team easily won the mixed team time trial. The medal wins of Lieke Nooijen, Shirin van Anrooij and Enzo Leijnse show that there is no need to worry in the future either. The disqualification of Nils Eekhoff and the surprising collapse of Mathieu van der Poel show that the series of medals could have been even better.
In addition to the Netherlands, you can also look forward to a bright future in cycling in the USA and Italy. After there were only a few strong Americans and Italians to admire in recent years, this will change again in the coming years. While silver medalist Matteo Trentin is already one of the older irons, the future belongs to Samuele Battistella, Antonio Tiberi, Alessio Martinelli and Filippo Ganna. Interesting: The Netherlands won all the women's medals except for one. The Italians, on the other hand, were only successful in the men's category. The successes in the USA were divided up better. Chloe Dygert, Megan Jastrab and Quinn Simmons secured gold, Ian Garrison silver and Brandon McNulty and Magnus Sheffield bronze.
| Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| Netherlands | 2 | 4 | 2 | 7 | |
| Italy | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| Denmark | 2 | 2 | |||
| Australia | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Russia | 1 | 1 | |||
| Belgium | 2 | 2 | |||
| Germany | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Great Britain | 3 | 3 |
Rohan Dennis becomes world champion and is fired
Although there were “only” eleven competitions at the Road World Championships, there are numerous curious stories to tell. Aigul Gareyeva and Antonio Tiberi will be able to laugh about it afterwards. While the Russian made a wrong turn shortly before the finish line in the junior women's individual time trial and followed the road for the support vehicles, the Italian's bike suffered a broken crank right after the start of the junior time trial. However, the two 18-year-olds did not let this put them off and were able to celebrate gold in the end.
Nils Eekhoff was already happy about gold after the road race in the U23 class - but only for 15 minutes. The jury then informed him of the disqualification. After a fall lasting several minutes, the Dutchman let the slipstream of the team car bring him back up the field.
The saga of Rohan Dennis is certainly one of the curious stories. Already at the Tour de France he fell out with his team Bahrain – Merida. Since the Australian didn't get the best material from his team in his opinion, he dropped out before the time trial. He did not compete in any more races until the World Championship time trial. Now he reported back - and how! The 29-year-old confidently defended his title. However, Rohan Dennis was almost exclusively on the road with material from companies that are not among the sponsors of his Bahrain – Merida team. There, the team management reacted immediately: the old and new world champion were immediately dismissed.
| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| street racing Elite men | Mads pedersen (Denmark) | Matteo Trentin (Italy) | Stefan Kung (Schweiz) |
|
| individual time trial Elite men | Rohan Dennis (Australia) | Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) | Filippo Gana (Italy) |
|
| street racing Elite ladies | Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) | Anna van der breggen (Netherlands) | Amanda Spratt (Australia) |
|
| individual time trial Elite ladies | Chloe Dygert (United States) | Anna van der breggen (Netherlands) | Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) |
|
| street racing U23 | Samuele Battistella (Italy) | Stephen Bissegger (Schweiz) | thomas pidcock (Great Britain) |
|
| individual time trial U23 | Mikkel Bjerg (Denmark) | Ian Garrison (United States) | Brandon McNulty (United States) |
|
| street racing Juniors | Quinn Simmons (United States) | Alessio Martinelli (Italy) | Magnus Sheffield (United States) |
|
| individual time trial Juniors | Antonio Tiberi (Italy) | Enzo Leijnse (Netherlands) | Marco Brenner (Germany) |
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| street racing Juniorinnen | Megan Jastrab (United States) | Julie De Wilde (Belgium) | Like Nooijen (Netherlands) |
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| individual time trial Juniorinnen | Aigul Gareyeva (Russian) | Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands) | Elynor Backstedt (Great Britain) |
|
| team time trial mixed relay | Netherlands | Germany | Great Britain |