World Championship Road Race

September 2013

If like us, you relied on TV to see the closing stages of the 2013 World Championship Road Race yesterday, then you may not have got a true understanding of just how bad things were. This video from Shimano Race TV should rectify that…

You can see just how heavy the rain was in the early stages of the race, making for treacherous conditions on roads no doubt still covered in the summer’s dust and debris which resulted in numerous crashes. You realise why the British team didn’t finish and just how well the lead group did to put on such a great show in the finale. Rui Costa was a well deserved winner to have survived all of that mayhem and to be so canny when in the final four with the odds stacked in the favour of the two Spaniards.

If you missed it, here’s the final kilometres thanks to CyclingHub. It’s in Italian but basically it starts from when four riders have pulled clear of the other favourites at the top of the main climb. You’ll see some superb teamwork from the Spaniard, Rodriguez, keeping Italy’s Nibali working in pursuit to the point where he could do no more, whilst the clever Rui Costa just sits in for most of the run in to the finish. Unfortunately for the Spaniards, when it came down to it Valverde, despite being the fastest finisher on paper, couldn’t match the teamwork of Rodriguez, and for some reason just let Rui Costa go. The Portuguese rider was then able to beat a greatly fatigued Rodriguez in the sprint for a truly memorable finish.