Image 1 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 2 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 3 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 4 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 5 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) won the elite men's world championships (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 6 of 58 (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 7 of 58 (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 8 of 58 Philippe Gilbert races through flooded section of elite men's course at the World Championships (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 9 of 58 Philippe Gilbert chasing back on to the peloton after crashing (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 10 of 58 Remco Evelepoel helping Philippe Gilbert chasing back on to the peloton after crashing (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 11 of 58 Flooded section of the course during the elite men's race (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 12 of 58 Belgium trying to get Philippe Gilbert back in the race after crashing on the finish circuit in Harrogate (Image credit: Getty Images) Image 13 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 14 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 15 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 16 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 17 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 18 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 19 of 58 (Image credit: Getty IMages) Image 20 of 58 Floods affected part of the elite men's road race world championship course (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 21 of 58 Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 22 of 58 The elite men's race (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 23 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) and Stefan Küng (Switzerland) on the attack (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 24 of 58 Mads Pedersen, Stefan Küng, Gianni Moscon in the late breakaway (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 25 of 58 The elite men splash their way through Yorkshire (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 26 of 58 Mathieu van der Poel with Gorka Izagirre (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 27 of 58 Gorka Izagirre (Spain) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 28 of 58 Matteo Trentin, Mads Pedersen and Stefan Küng on the podium (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 29 of 58 Bob Jungels (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 30 of 58 Nils Politt (Germany) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 31 of 58 Gianni Moscon (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 32 of 58 Matteo Trentin, Mads Pedersen and Stefan Küng (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 33 of 58 Carlos Betancur, Toms Skujins and Gorka Izagirre on the attack (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 34 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) checks his six (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 35 of 58 Peter Sagan missed out on a fourth world title (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 36 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Denmark) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 37 of 58 Stefan Küng (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 38 of 58 The leading group with one lap to go (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 39 of 58 Belgium leads the chas (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 40 of 58 Matteo Trentin (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 41 of 58 Matteo Trentin disappointed after finishing second (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 42 of 58 Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 43 of 58 A happy Jakob Fuglsang (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 44 of 58 Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 45 of 58 Lawson Craddock on the attack (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 46 of 58 A sad Michael Matthews (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 47 of 58 Rui Costa (Portugal) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 48 of 58 Mads Pedersen wins (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 49 of 58 Mathieu van der Poel (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 50 of 58 Greg van Avermaet (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 51 of 58 Matteo Trentin steps onto the podium (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 52 of 58 Matteo Trentin (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 53 of 58 Stefan Kung (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 54 of 58 Alexander Kristoff leads the peloton to the line (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 55 of 58 Mads Pedersen with the gold (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 56 of 58 Mads Pedersen (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 57 of 58 Mathieu van der Poel on the attack group (Image credit: Getty Images Sport) Image 58 of 58 Greg Van Avermaet (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Report

Mads Pedersen emerged victorious at the UCI Road World Championships elite men's road race in a brutally wet, cold and and treacherous six plus hours of racing, smartly making the winning breakaway and then handily out-sprinting Matteo Trentin (Italy) and Stefan Küng (Switzerland).

"It's unbelievable. I didn't expect this when we started this morning. It was an unbelievable day," Pedersen said. "It's every rider's dream to wear this jersey and for me to do it now, it's unbelievable."

It was a race of attrition, luck and good timing in Yorkshire, with flooding forcing the UCI to shorten the race by 23.5km. The race was still plenty selective with many pre-race favourites including defending champion Alejandro Valverde (Spain) abandoning the race.

Küng initiated the breakaway on the fifth to last lap, with Pedersen bridging across before being joined by Gianni Moscon (Italy) and then Trentin and Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands).

Van der Poel cracked on the last lap, while Moscon lost contact on the final trip up Oak Beck with 5km to go, leaving three men fighting for the medals. Trentin waited until he saw the 200m to go sign and opened up his sprint, but found only cold, dead legs when it mattered most.

Pedersen powered past him to snatch the rainbow jersey, the first Danish men's winner in history. The 23-year-old said he only attacked to work for teammate Jakob Fuglsang, but when Belgium could not reel in the attack he took his chances.

"The plan was to get me out in the early final (laps) and then Belgium and Fuglsang would come from behind. But in the end, they didn't follow Van der Poel and Trentin when they came to my group. Then it was just survive, survive, survive and then hope for the best in the sprint," Pedersen said.

"I just hoped that when I saw the finish line all the pain would be gone and I could do a good sprint. It's six and a half hours on the bike, and everyone is on the limit. Anything could happen in that sprint.

"You have to be focussed the whole day and stay in front - but it's one of the last races of the season so it's just about being focussed for six and a half hours, not have any bad luck and hope for the best."

How it unfolded

The worst-case scenario played out in Yorkshire for the elite men's road race, with heavy rain and flooding forcing the UCI to shorten the race by 23.5km and bypass two climbs in the Yorkshire Dales.

It was so cold and wet, the peloton looked like they were out on a training run, with leg warmers, long-fingered gloves and a mishmash of trade team rain caps clashing with the national team kits.

It was a day for the hard men, and group of heavy hitters went clear in the early kilometres after a fast start, with 11 men away after 25km, including Nairo Quintana (Colombia), Richard Carapaz (Colombia), Primoz Roglic (Slovenia), Jan Polanc (Slovenia), Magnus Cort (Denmark), Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic), Silvan Dillier (Switzerland), Maciej Bodnar (Poland), Jonas Koch (Germany), Hugo Houle (Canada) and Alex Howes (USA).

They built up more than four minutes over the peloton that was afflicted with punctures, crashes, mechanicals and misery. Favourite Mathieu van der Poel had a flat, Pavel Sivakov and Tadej Pogacar tangled and crashed, Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg) was run into by the Irish team car and needed a new bike.

Belgium sacrificed Remco Evenepoel to help Philippe Gilbert get back on after a crash at the start of the nine finishing circuits, but neither rider made it to the finish.

Other big names abandoned in the finishing circuits, with Ireland losing both Dan Martin and Sam Bennett. With six laps to go, defending champion Alejandro Valverde (Spain) was dropped and abandoned. It was more tired legs and frozen bodies that led to the attrition rather than aggressive racing.

The peloton encountered one very deep puddle (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Closing laps, time for attacks

With five laps to go, the USA's Lawson Craddock attacked and was joined by Stefan Kung (Switzerland) and they began to forge a small gap.

The move seemed to settle the peloton a bit, as France, Italy and Belgium amassed on the front of the bunch and led through a much-needed feed zone. Pre-race favourite Alexey Lutsenko, who suffered several mechanicals, dropped out of the race with 53km to go.

Although the rain let up somewhat, the course was still treacherous as Michael Albasini (Switzerland) found out when he hit a drain cover and crashed with 47km to go.

As the chaos disrupted the bunch, Mads Pederson (Denmark) attacked out of the peloton and bridged to the two leaders. He came with such speed that Craddock could not hang on and was forced to chase with Dutchman Mike Teunissen before again losing touch and going backwards.

Gianni Moscon (Italy) set off in pursuit of the leaders, passing Craddock. Under the banner for three laps to go, Teunissen had joined Pederson and Küng while Italian soon clawed his way up to the group. The peloton, led by Oliver Naesen (Belgium) loomed not too far back at 20 seconds.

The gap went out to 27 seconds before Nils Politt (Germany) launched an attack, and he was closely marked by Belgium's Dylan Teuns, and soon joined by Lukas Pöstlberger (Austria) and Dani Martinez (Colombia).

With 33km to go, Van der Poel made his move, leaping out of the peloton and ploughing past the first chasers with Matteo Trentin (Italy). Martinez hung on for a time but dropped back, as Van der Poel and Trentin joined the trio ahead.

Just 30km to go and it was Van der Poel, Moscon, Pedersen, Küng and Trentin - advantage Italy.

Another counterattack came from the peloton with Gorka Izagirre (Spain) joined by Toms Skujins (Latvia) and Carlos Betancur (Colombia) at 12 seconds with two laps to go, the peloton at 25 seconds and the cold British rain pounding harder on the race.

The storm dampened the motivation of the chasers, and the gaps began to widen as Trentin and Van der Poel took big pulls with 25km remaining.

Tim Wellens (Belgium) came to the front to reel in the attackers, but stronger pulls by the leaders saw the gap yawn out to 51 seconds with 20km to go with the Izagirre group in sight of the peloton.

It was a precarious situation for the peloton with Van Avermaet, Alaphilippe and Sagan still biding their time. Finally, Alberto Bettiol (Italy) pegged back the Izagirre trio on the Oak Beck ascent, but still the gap persisted.

Trentin, Van der Poel, Küng and Moscon on the move (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

Final lap, Van der Poel cracks

With one lap to go, the leaders had 48 seconds and although Moscon had a moment of weakness, he fought his way back in and set to work for Trentin.

Six full hours into the race, the rain had let up, leaving a dank mist hanging over the elite men's race. The rain vests were unzipped and discarded as the heat of pure effort shielded the riders from the cold.

Inexplicably, with 12.7km to go, Van der Poel cracked - his inexperience in this length of a race finally coming back to bite him. Advantage Italy, with a 50 per cent make up in the leading group and a minute on the bunch.

Desperation rose in the peloton as the kilometres ticked down and still the gap would not close. Germany tried but simply could not make a dent.

Küng pushed the pace up Oak Beck and cracked Moscon, leaving all the medals at the front of the race. His face a rictus of pain, the Swiss rider seemed to put Pedersen into some difficulty but made no dent in Trentin's reservoir of strength.

Peter Sagan (Slovakia) attacked out of the peloton with 4km to go but it was far too late. Trentin parked himself on the back of the lead group with 2km to go, just biding his time for the finish line to come into sight.

But when the sprint came the Italian, who on any other occasion should have been the obvious winner, had nothing left in his legs and Pedersen powered past to the finish line to make history as the first Danish winner in the men's race three years after Amalie Dideriksen became the country's first elite world champion.

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