Since yesterday at the latest, cycling-mad Belgium has been completely at his feet – just two weeks after his triumph at the Vuelta a Espana, 22-year-old Remco Evenepoel clinched victory after 266.9 kilometers and 6:16:08 hours in Wollongong, Australia in the World Championship road race. His legendary compatriot had succeeded in 1967 at the same age. The best Austrian was Sebastian Schönberger from the Innviertel, who finished 40th, 3:01 minutes behind.
“I won’t see my bed tonight,” predicted Evenepoel, who relegated Christophe Laporte and local hero Michael Matthews to the next places and laid the foundation for success with an attack 72 kilometers from the end.
The great excitement on the eve of the World Cup was provided by Holland’s co-favorite Mathieu van der Poel, who has meanwhile been arrested for assaulting the hotel. There had been an altercation with two children who had knocked on his door several times during the night. A girl’s arm was reportedly injured. The 27-year-old was charged with two counts of assault and released on bail early Sunday morning. Van der Poel has to appear in court on Tuesday. The former cross world champion still started in the road race, but gave up after just over an hour.
Victory with broken elbow
Annemiek van Vleuten underlined what an exceptional phenomenon she is in women’s cycling. After Giro, Tour and Vuelta, the Dutchwoman won the street competition in Wollongong despite a broken elbow.
Daniela Schmidsberger from Vöcklabruck also flew home from “Down Under” with a great result. She finished in a strong 13th place in the junior race.
Source: Nachrichten
