Cycling World Championship 2013: pouring rain, heavy crashes and the first Portuguese world champion

[EasyGallery id='radwm2013′]
(Picture gallery: Click on picture!)

On this Sunday, 29.09.2013, dark clouds darken the earth over Tuscany and it rains in torrents: No Sunday weather and certainly no splendor weather for a road cycling world championship! The riders are not looking forward to this either, because the temperatures are lower and the riding conditions more dangerous.

Confidence among the Swiss team
Fabian Cancellara still expresses confidence one day before the race in view of the strong Swiss team with 9 riders and certainly motivated by the bronze medal he won four days earlier in the individual time trial. "I have the feeling that we are as strong as we were at the Olympics, where we showed that we can be at the front, and I am convinced that we can do the same in Florence," he answers during the interview with Swiss television. Riders like Martin Elmiger or Matthias Frank go into the race confident, but especially Martin Elmiger as well as Oliver Zaugg, who are important for the "Mission World Championship", crash in the race and cannot continue. The goal of the Swiss team can therefore not be achieved.

Falls en mass
There are many crashes during the race. Sometimes the Colombian Rigoberto Uran is hit hard. The Giro d'Italia runner-up is riding in the detached leading group on the last lap of the race alongside Joaquim Rodriquez when he suddenly misjudges a rapid descent, is carried out of the corner, collides with the curb and rolls over violently. Although he gets up again quite quickly, it is clearly visible from a distance that he has injured himself and can only get back on his bike with great difficulty. The bike also suffered in the fall. The incident costs him the top spot in the World Cup and throws him back to 41st place at the end of the race. Riding at such high speeds with such thin tires in wet conditions requires a lot of courage, risk-taking, skill and also a certain amount of luck, because the line between slipping and sticking is very narrow and dangerous, and one or the other pays with a violent fall. Skill or madness is sometimes the question.

Wait until the end
The race starts in Lucca and leads over a route of about 106 km to Florence, where a circuit of 16.6 km is ridden ten times: A total of 272 km await the riders on this day. Although at the beginning of the race there will be a breakaway attempt by a group of five, the real decision for the victory will begin only in the second to last lap. From this stage on, the final positions are fought for. Joaquim Rodriguez is able to break away on a climb with three other leaders, and a gap forms between them and the peloton. With 10 kilometers to go, the group of four has pulled away from the peloton by about 30 seconds and is deciding the victory among themselves. First Rodriguez breaks away again on a climb and is in the lead until about one kilometer before the finish, when this year's Tour de Suisse winner Rui da Costa is able to catch up with the Spaniard at high speed, which leads to a final sprint, which the Portuguese rider can decide in his favor. Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali fight for the place on the podium 15 seconds later, Valverde being the luckier one. Nibali's fourth place confirms his good form for the year, which brought him victory in the Giro and second place in the Vuelta, and unheard of fighting spirit, as he had crashed at kilometer 238. He clearly deserved to be on the podium. For this he lacked only the little race luck, which it just needs.

Fabian Cancellara is the best Swiss in 10th place. His team colleague Gregory Rast crosses the finish line about six minutes later and takes 45th place as the second-best Swiss. After the race, Cancellara said he was happy to have finished the race without crashing. It would have been difficult conditions and on the second-last climb the climbers would have accelerated and for him it would simply not have been enough.

Ranking list
1 FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto POR POR19861005 7:25:44 +0
2 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin ESP ESP19790512 " "
3 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro ESP ESP19800425 7:25:59 +15
4 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA ITA19841114 " "
5 GRIVKO Andriy UKR UKR19830807 7:26:15 +31
6 SAGAN Peter SVK SVK19900126 7:26:18 +34
7 CLARKE Simon AUS AUS19860718 " "
8 IGLINSKIY Maxim KAZ KAZ19810418 " "
9 GILBERT Philippe BEL BEL19820705 " "
10 CANCELLARA Fabian SUI SUI19810318 " "
11 MOLLEMA Bauke NED NED19861126 " "
12 NORDHAUG Lars Petter NOR19840514 " "
13 MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel ESP ESP19810905 " "
14 GESCHKE Simon GER GER19860313 " "
15 HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis COL19871210 " "
16 SCARPONI Michele ITA ITA19790925 " "
17 POZZATO Filippo ITA ITA19810910 7:26:49 +1:05
18 VICHOT Arthur FRA FRA19881126 " "
19 PATERSKI Maciej POL POL19860912 " "
20 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald NOR19870517 " "
21 FUGLSANG Jakob DEN19850322 " "
22 KONOVALOVAS Ignatas LTU LTU19851208 7:27:10 +1:26
23 VAN AVERMAET Greg BEL BEL19850517 " "
24 TROFIMOV Yury RUS RUS19840126 " "
25 WEENING Pieter NED NED19810405 7:27:28 +1:44
26 STYBAR Zdenek CZE CZE19851211 7:27:43 +1:59
27 SARAMOTINS Aleksejs LAT LAT19820408 7:27:45 +2:01
28 BARDET Romain FRA FRA19901109 " "
29 PAUWELS Serge BEL BEL19831121 " "
30 KVASINA Matija CRO CRO19811204 " "
31 HOWES Alex USA USA19880101 "
32 SORENSEN Chris Anker DEN DEN19840905 " "
33 GOLAS Michal POL POL19840429 " "
34 ATAPUMA HURTADO Darwin COL19880115 " "
35 BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos Alberto COL19891013 " "
36 MACHADO Tiago Jose Pinto POR POR19851018 "
37 STETINA Peter USA USA19870808 " "
38 DENIFL Stefan AUT AUT19870920 7:27:49 +2:05
39 BURGHARDT Marcus GER GER19830630 7:29:24 +3:40
40 POLANC Jan SLO SLO19920506 " "
41 URAN URAN Rigoberto COL COL19870126 7:30:11 +4:27
42 DEGENKOLB John GER GER19890107 7:30:37 +4:53
43 CHERNETSKI Sergei RUS RUS19900409 7:30:39 +4:55
44 ROUX Anthony FRA FRA19870418 " "
45 RAST Gregory SUI SUI19800117 7:32:08 +6:24