UCI World Championships 2021 – Allez Alaphilippe!

What a fantastic race the men’s road event of the UCI World Championships 2021 was! From the beginning to the end there were significant moves that could (and did) impact the final winner. Breakaways, attacks, different nations working together at different points of the day, this race had it all. An incredible day of racing!

Results

High performers

Julian Alaphilippe – In reality, the whole French team are winners. All French riders sacrificed themselves to make the race harder for Julian to deliver the final blow. And what a final blow that was! It seemed that Alaphilippe was simply keep attacking and attacking until he left everyone behind. This finally happened with a bit less than 20km to go. He was clearly the strongest rider in these World Championships and fully deserved the win. Nobody could touch the Frenchman in the Flanders!

Dylan Van Baarle & Michael Valgren – Most top riders in the world want to win the rainbow jersey. These two riders were neither first nor second choices for their countries. Still, they were the ones on the podium in the end which is a fantastic achievement for their countries and themselves.

The fans – Okay, maybe not the Flandriens in attendance. Those that had to see a French win and no Belgian on the podium. Pretty much everybody else, though, saw one of the best World Championship races of all time. Just non-stop action, provided by the best riders in the world who were being cheered on by passionate fans. It all came together to provide a fantastic spectacle.

Poor Performers

Jasper Stuyven – I won’t put here the Belgian squad as a whole because Alaphilippe was just that much better than everybody else. I don’t believe there was anything the Belgians could do to stop the Frenchman from taking the rainbow jersey. In fact, given how much attention Wout Van Aert commanded in the peloton, the Belgian team played their cards well enough, in my opinion.

They controlled the peloton with Remco Evenepoel first, and later with Stuyven and Van Aert. Seeing as everybody was keeping Van Aert in handcuffs, they sent Stuyven up the road to make other teams have to do the work. If they do work and catch up to the front Van Aert would be fresh and hard to beat in a sprint. If not, Stuyven is a good sprinter in his own right and would be able to win a medal for the home team.

That played out perfectly except that Van Baarle and Valgren beat the Stuyven in a sprinter for the remaining podium places. There is no way a sprinter of the caliber of the Belgian should be defeated by those two riders who are, in normal conditions, much slower than him. Stuyven won Milan San Remo in 2021, so the length of this race should not have been a problem for him.

Sonny Colbrelli – I have to say that I blame the Belgian team for the outcome of the European Championships. Not for this one. They allowed Colbrelli to milk the wheel of Evenepoel for several kilometers in the Euros. Tthey didn’t even give Remco a fighting chance in what would have already been a hard sprint to win even if he was fresh. Instead, they allowed Colbrelli to milk the Belgian’s wheel and take the win in an easy sprint.

I was thrilled that didn’t happen again. I was happy when I saw Nizzolo working in the front of the peloton while the rest of the favorites sat back. And I was especially happy when I saw that nobody would allow Colbrelli wheelsuck to victory again. It was great seeing Italy’s plan fail. A plan that consisted of taking advantage of other teams’ hard work despite Colbrelli probably being the most in form rider of the whole bunch. It might have worked in the Euros but thankfully it didn’t here.

Slovenia – This team started the day with an eight rider lineup that included Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar, and Matej Mohoric. Thus, a 14th place (by Mohoric), 4 minutes behind the winner, is not a good result. There is not much to say, nobody seemed to have the legs today which happens but doesn’t erase the disappointment.