Austria came away from the junior men’s road race with their first medal of the 2015 World Championships in Richmond, Virginia after Felix Gall held off France’s Clement Betouigt-Suire who opted to bunny hop, rather than throw, his bike at the finish line.
The win came after 129.6km of racing on slick roads with the Americans constantly posing threat, but ultimately unable to put Adrien Costa on the podium. The opening kilometers saw a number of riders go down, most of whom would eventually abandon. Breaks formed and got reabsorbed throughout the race and it was only on the last lap that the winning group escaped. A trio of riders surged for the line, but Gall held off Betouigt-Suire and Denmark’s Rasmus Lund Pedersen to earn the rainbow jersey.
France’s riders taped cheat sheets to their stems to remember which countries and which specific riders to pay attention to.
Under a gloomy sky on a chilly morning, Colombia’s Julian Cardona quietly objected to the weather.
Belgium.
USA.
The peloton awaited the start gun.
Riding 23rd Street for the first of 8 times.
Jack Maddux and Julian Cardona grabbed a small advantage ahead of the second time up Libby Hill.
One lap later, Maddux was dropped and Belgium chased the Colombian.
Mongolia hung in for several laps despite an early crash and then suffering mechanical in the middle of climbing 23rd Street.
The peloton hit the bottom of Libby Hill.
The expected rain never amounted to more than a slight drizzle, but it was enough to leave the cobbles slick. A rider or 2 on just about every lap fishtailed at the bottom of Libby Hill, where the course dictated a tight right hand turn while hitting the cobbles.
Fishtailing and crashing weren’t problems on 23rd Street, though plenty of riders struggled to keep their momentum going.
Leo Appelt, winner of the junior men’s time trial, had a bike change and hustled to chase back to the main group.
Uzbekistan’s Dmitry Ponkratov.
Adrien Costa stayed well positioned but was forced to lead a chase when a break got a little too far up the road.
Over a dozen riders flew through the finish together to the sound of the bell.
Twenty some minutes later, Gall and Betouigt-Suire sprinted to the line with the Austrian narrowly coming out ahead.
Gall was overjoyed to climb onto the podium.
1st Felix Gall
2nd Clement Betouigt-Suire
3rd Rasmus Lund Pedersen