World Championships 2013 - Men's Road Race

Warm but very wet weather greeted the peloton this morning in Tuscany, as they lined up for the 2013 men's road race world championships. The 272.2 kilometre journey from Lucca to Florence was set to be one of the most open world championships on record, with many different styles of riders being fancied for the win. The main favourites mentioned were Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), Peter Sagan (Slovakia) and the defending champion Philippe Gilbert of Belgium. 

However, grand tour riders such as Joaquim Rodriguez, Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana and Chris Froome had all said they wanted to make it a hard race, to eliminate the punchier sprinters and one day specialists. A break did go away early on in the race, on the point to point section on the way into Florence. The riders who went away were Jan Barta (Czech Republic), Yonder Godoy (Venezuela), Matthias Brandle (Austria), Rafaa Chtioui (Tunisia) and Bartosz Huzarski (Poland). 

Mark Cavendish proved his selection at this point, as he laid down the pace on the section, keeping the race controlled for Froome and Great Britain. The brea had around eight minutes by the time they reached Florence, and the first of ten laps of the finishing circuit, when the entire Italian team stormed the front of the peloton. 

The team set a blistering pace on the descents on course, and it caused a number of crashes. These caused some high profile names out of the race, Chris Horner and Dan Martin being two poigniant examples. It was clear at this point that Chris Froome was no longer a real contender, he was already being distanced by the relatively calm pace compared to later in the race.

With three laps to go, Giovanni Visconti (Italy) broke away from the peloton, and joined the morning breakaway's last remaining rider out front, Bartosz Huzarski. They started working together, but back in the peloton, the race appeared to be over for the Italians. Vincenzo Nibali crashed on a greasy descent, and was thankfully okay to continue.

However, it was a long hard chase back on to the peloton, and one that surely sapped his energy levels ahead of the final showdown. By the final lap, the peloton were the front group, and it was then that the race took its final shape. Chris Anker Sorensen and Michele Scarponi laid down a fierce pace on the front of the group, and shortly afterwards Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain jumped clear.

Nibali went with the Spaniard, and soon afterwards they were joined by Alejandro Valverde, Rui Costa and Rigoberto Uran. However, Uran did not stay with the group long, he crashed soon after joining; pure bad luck had put an end to his medal hopes. Rodriguez looked the strongest, and rode clear, and it looked for a minute that he had put in the deciding move.

However, Rui Costa of Portugal jumped after the Spaniard, and when Valverde and Nibali looked unwilling to chase, it was Costa versus Rodriguez. Costa was the stronger man, and it was he that made history, becoming the first Portuguese man ever to win the rainbow jersey of World Champion. Rodriguez came home for silver, and Valverde outsprinted Nibali for bronze.

Other notable names included Peter Sagan, who finished sixth, defending champion Philippe Gilbert finished ninth, and Chris Froome, for many a pre-race favourite, did not finish the race, along with the entire Great Britain team. 

However, today is Rui Costa's day, and I will leave you with his thoughts on the race; "When there were only five of us in the last lap, I started to believe that I could win. Luckily I was feeling good. I knew I'd suffer on Via Salviati, but I knew when to attack and play it out with Purito in the sprint too."Weh