Cadel Evans wins cycling road race world championship
Cadel Evans failed to live up to expectations at this years Tour de France. He hit back with a third place in the recently completed Tour of Spain. He has now taken that a step further and done what no Australian rider has done in the past. Evans has won the world championship road racing title.
He setup the win in the 262.2km race when he made a solo break at the start of the final climb. The race was held in Switzerland not far from Evans’ home base in Europe. Next year he will defend his rainbow jersey when the championships are held near his Australian home at Barwon Heads. Geelong will host the 2010 championships.
Evans completed the race in six hours, 56 minutes and 26 seconds ahead of Russia’s Alexandr Kolobnev and Joaquin Rodriguez of Spain finished third, both were 27 seconds behind Evans. Fellow Australian Simon Gerrans was 10th.
Robbie McEwen is the only other Australian in the history of the event to win a medal. He took second place behind Mario Cipollini in 2002.
Evans had a strong team behind him. After an early breakaway he was helped by Michael Rogers who launched a crucial counter attack, then Stuart O’Grady, Wesley Sulzberger and Simon Clarke pushed the pace to help the peloton close the gap.
Later in the race a nine-man breakaway led by time trial champion Fabian Cancellara took charge. From that Evans launched a final attack which saw him claim gold.
‘‘The world’s been telling me for years I can’t win big races, can’t win one day races, because my job is to win stage races, and then today I come out and win the world championship, I don’t quite believe it.’’ Evans said after the race.
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