Matthew van der Poel, previously one of the top contenders, was taken to police on the eve of the match after he got into a fight and pushed with teenagers running around the hotel corridor at night and knocking on doors, one of whom fell to the ground and was slightly injured. The Dutch classic was back at the hotel at 4am, and although he started, he quickly withdrew from the race.
A distance of 266.9 kilometers from Helensburg in clear weather was handled by 169 people, including Hungarian champion Walter Attila, as well as, for example, a competitor in the Vatican (!), 40-year-old Ryan Schorhois. During the competition with a height difference of 3,945 meters, they climbed the 473-meter Mount Kira once, and after completing the Wollongong circuit 12 times, the climb was made twice shorter with the same number of times.
Compared to the length of the race, the French team increased its speed unusually early, about 230 kilometers before the finish line, tearing the field to shreds. However, the high pace could not be tolerated, the regrouping field calmed down, so the 16-member escape group gained an advantage of nearly eight minutes. Coming to the last 80 kilometres, the field split again, and a larger group – with Remko Evenpoel, who had won the Vuelta a Espana two weeks earlier – caught the fugitives.
This chase began, the candidates who remained behind – Walther in the group – tried to close the gap, while Evenpoel began to lead 35 kilometers before the end, only Alexei Lutsenko could keep up, and after ten kilometers the Kazakh also defected to the climb. From there, Evenpoel, who won a bronze medal in the time test a week ago, increased his advantage even more, who finally celebrated in the final kilometer and reached the finish line by 2 minutes 21 seconds. Four years after his junior World Cup title, he also triumphed among adults, succeeding American Greg Lemond. After Italy’s Alfredo Penda, Belgium’s Eddie Merckx and France’s Bernard Hinault, Evenpole was fourth to win a major one-day race, a three-week race and a World Cup race in the space of a year: the gold medal in Wollongong came after winning the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Vuelta over the 16-year-old Belgian The age is 22 in the neck. (Interestingly, Velta’s winner, Dutchman Animek van Vleuten, also won the women’s field race.)
The field that overtook the former fugitives in the last kilometer fought for second place, the silver medal went to Frenchman Christophe Laporte, and the bronze medal to the delight of the local audience was won by Michael Matthews.
Walter, who was in good shape all the time and a tactical contender on the field – among others in a group with Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar – finished 23rd, for example ahead of defending champion Julien Alaphilippe.
Erik Fetter finished the U23 field competition in 12th place on Friday.
Result (based on the WC website):
Men’s Track, Helensburg Wollongong, 266.9 km,
World Champion: Remko Evenpoel (Belgium) 6:16:08
2. Christophe Laporte (France) 2:21 minutes
3. Michael Matthews (Australia) at the same time
… 23. Walter Attila ai
