September 30, 2007 (Stuttgart, Germany) — Italy’s Paolo Bettini has defended his title winning the 2007 Road Worlds Elite Men’s road race today in Stuttgart in a fast sprint finish over Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) in second and Stefan Schumacher (Ger) in third. The riders completed 14 laps of the 19.1km course for a total of 267.4km and 5679.8m of elevation.

The tough course meant it was a race of attrition as only 72 riders out of 170 starters finished the race – all of Canada’s riders Svein Tuft, Dominique Rollin and Cameran Evans were among those who did not finish. There were several attempts along the way which had promise but in the end the peloton chased down every escape until the final lap. It was then that Bettini attacked once, and then again, taking Cadel Evans (Aus), Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus), Stefan Schumacher (Ger) and Frank Schleck (Lux) with him as this group of five formed the winning break with about 5km to go.

At the finish the 2006 winner proved he was the strongest again as an emotional Bettini crossed the finish line first to take his second consecutive Road Worlds title for Italy and tifosi around the globe.

Results

1. Paolo Bettini (Italy) 6.44.43 (39.642 km/h)
2. Alexandr Kolobnev (Russian Federation)
3. Stefan Schumacher (Germany)
4. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg)
5. Cadel Evans (Australia)
6. Davide Rebellin (Italy) 0.06
7. Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spain) 0.08
8. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
9. Fabian Wegmann (Germany)
10. Martin Elmiger (Switzerland)
11. Thomas Dekker (Netherlands)
12. Michael Boogerd (Netherlands) 0.14
13. Björn Leukemans (Belgium) 0.15
14. Oscar Freire Gomez (Spain) 0.49
15. Aleksandr Kuschynski (Belarus)
16. Alexandre Usov (Belarus)
17. Beat Zberg (Switzerland)
18. Erik Zabel (Germany)
19. Thor Hushovd (Norway)
20. Radoslav Rogina (Croatia)
21. Murilo Antonio Fischer (Brazil)
22. Matej Mugerli (Slovenia)
23. George Hincapie (United States Of America)
24. Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden)
25. Chris Sörensen (Denmark)
26. Jurgen Van Goolen (Belgium)
27. Leonardo Duque (Colombia)
28. Rene Mandri (Estonia)
29. Gustav Larsson (Sweden)
30. Pierrick Fedrigo (France)
31. Thomas Lövkvist (Sweden)
32. Alexander Efimkin (Russian Federation)
33. Tomasz Marczynski (Poland)
34. Jan Valach (Slovakia)
35. Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands)
36. Christian Vandevelde (United States Of America)
37. Nuno Ribeiro (Portugal)
38. Christian Pfannberger (Austria)
39. Unai Etxebarria Arana (Venezuela)
40. David George (South Africa)
41. Ludovic Turpin (France)
42. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Norway)
43. Vladimir Efimkin (Russian Federation)
44. Sergey Lagutin (Uzbekistan)
45. Mario Aerts (Belgium)
46. Vladimir Karpets (Russian Federation)
47. Denis Menchov (Russian Federation)
48. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Poland)
49. Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spain)
50. Damiano Cunego (Italy) 0.57
51. Filippo Pozzato (Italy)
52. Alessandro Ballan (Italy)
53. Allan Davis (Australia) 1.05
54. David Millar (Great Britain)
55. Matthew Lloyd (Australia) 1.1
56. Karsten Kroon (Netherlands) 1.24
57. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spain) 2.47
58. Matija Kvasina (Croatia) 3.1
59. Kristjan Fajt (Slovenia) 3.38
60. Gorazd Stangelj (Slovenia) 3.41
61. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) 5.17
62. Alessandro Bertolini (Italy) 6.01
63. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) 6.34
64. Maxime Monfort (Belgium) 6.52
65. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spain) 7.52
66. Simon Gerrans (Australia) 8.09
67. Sylvain Chavanel (France)
68. Thomas Voeckler (France) 15.51
69. Erki Pütsep (Estonia)
70. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) 17.1
71. Vladimir Tuychiev (Uzbekistan) 21.57
72. Hossein Askari (Islamic Republic Of Iran)
DNF Carlos Sastre Candil (Spain)
DNF Stéphane Goubert (France)
DNF Robert Gesink (Netherlands)
DNF Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spain)
DNF Serguei Yakovlev (Kazakhstan)
DNF Hernani Broco (Portugal)
DNF Marcus Burghardt (Germany)
DNF Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
DNF Andy Schleck (Luxembourg)
DNF Philip Deignan (Ireland)
DNF Jens Voigt (Germany)
DNF Gerald Ciolek (Germany)
DNF Amaël Moinard (France)
DNF Volodymyr Zagorodny (Ukraine)
DNF Laurens Ten Dam (Netherlands)
DNF Bobby Julich (United States Of America)
DNF Jason Mccartney (United States Of America)
DNF Christian Knees (Germany)
DNF Johan Van Summeren (Belgium)
DNF Dominique Rollin (Canada)
DNF Andriy Grivko (Ukraine)
DNF Evgeny Petrov (Russian Federation)
DNF Assan Bazayev (Kazakhstan)
DNF James Lewis Perry (South Africa)
DNF Matti Breschel (Denmark)
DNF Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spain)
DNF Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spain)
DNF Tomislav Danculovic (Croatia)
DNF Jure Golcer (Slovenia)
DNF Romain Feillu (France)
DNF Sandy Casar (France)
DNF Hrvoje Miholjevic (Croatia)
DNF Martin Mares (Czech Republic)
DNF Andrea Tonti (Italy)
DNF Matteo Tosatto (Italy)
DNF William Walker (Australia)
DNF Piotr Zielinski (Poland)
DNF Fuyu Li (People’s Republic Of China)
DNF Petr Bencik (Czech Republic)
DNF Maros Kovac (Slovakia)
DNF Glen Alan Chadwick (New Zealand)
DNF Matej Jurco (Slovakia)
DNF Yukiya Arashiro (Japan)
DNF Takashi Miyazawa (Japan)
DNF Vladislav Borisov (Russian Federation)
DNF Dmitriy Fofonov (Kazakhstan)
DNF Bruno Neves (Portugal)
DNF Marcin Sapa (Poland)
DNF Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic)
DNF Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg)
DNF Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia)
DNF Michael Rogers (Australia)
DNF Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Colombia)
DNF Krzysztof Szczawinski (Poland)
DNF Romas Sinicinas (Lithuania)
DNF Matej Stare (Slovenia)
DNF Hugo Sabido (Portugal)
DNF Martin Garrido Mayorga (Argentina)
DNF Frederik Willems (Belgium)
DNF Danail Petrov (Bulgaria)
DNF Vladimir Gusev (Russian Federation)
DNF Roger Hammond (Great Britain)
DNF John Devine (United States Of America)
DNF Tyler Farrar (United States Of America)
DNF Ronny Scholz (Germany)
DNF David Kopp (Germany)
DNF Volodymyr Bileka (Ukraine)
DNF Dmytro Grabovskyy (Ukraine)
DNF Scott Davis (Australia)
DNF Jacek Morajko (Poland)
DNF Hayden Roulston (New Zealand)
DNF Maarten Den Bakker (Netherlands)
DNF Richard Ochoa Quintero (Venezuela)
DNF Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Colombia)
DNF Martin Riska (Slovakia)
DNF Svein Tuft (Canada)
DNF Stéphane Auge (France)
DNF Bram Tankink (Netherlands)
DNF Matias Medici (Argentina)
DNF Nebojsa Jovanovic (Serbia)
DNF Stijn Devolder (Belgium)
DNF Juan Pablo Dotti (Argentina)
DNF Muradjan Khalmuratov (Uzbekistan)
DNF Darren Lill (South Africa)
DNF Bernhard Kohl (Austria)
DNF Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Colombia)
DNF Mathew Hayman (Australia)
DNF Luis Ministro Moyano (Argentina)
DNF Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Argentina)
DNF Borut Bozic (Slovenia)
DNF Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)
DNF Daryl Impey (South Africa)
DNF Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)
DNF Roman Bronis (Slovakia)
DNF Andris José Hernandez (Venezuela)
DNF Koos Moerenhout (Netherlands)
DNF Trent Lowe (Australia)
DNF Dainius Kairelis (Lithuania)
DNF Mehdi Sohrabi (Islamic Republic Of Iran)
DNF Jeremy Vennell (New Zealand)
DNF Cameron Evans (Canada)
DNF Christian Poos (Luxembourg)
DNF Kristijan Durasek (Croatia)
DNF Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)
DNF Ruslan Podgornyy (Ukraine)
DNF Sergey Kolesnikov (Russian Federation)
DNF Juan José Haedo (Argentina)
DNF Gerrit Glomser (Austria)
DNF Marlon Alirio Perez Arango (Colombia)
DNF Zolt Der (Serbia)
DNF Mads Kaggestad (Norway)
DNF Laurent Didier (Luxembourg)
DNF Seyed Mostafa Seyed Rezaei Khormizi (Islamic Republic Of Iran)
DNF Alex Cano Ardila (Colombia)
DNF David Zabriskie (United States Of America)
DNF Renato Seabra (Brazil)
DNF Ricardo Martins (Portugal)
DNF Aleksejs Saramotins (Latvia)
DNF Medhi Fahridi Kovij (Islamic Republic Of Iran)
DNF Jan Sipeky (Slovakia)
DNF Dragan Spasic (Serbia)
DNF Luciano André Pagliarini Mendonca (Brazil)
DNF Robert Hunter (South Africa)
DNF Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukraine)
DSQ Marzio Bruseghin (Italy)
DNS José Rodrigues (Portugal)