September 26, 2009 (Mendrisio Switzerland) – The U23 men’s road race has just started and the men will complete 13 laps of 13.8km circuit with 3,185m of elevation, for a total of 179.4 km. Canada has 4 riders in the mix including Ryan Anderson (BC), David Veilleux (QC), Guillaume Boivin (QC) and David Boily (QC) – there are 166 riders on the start line.

Lap 1
They’re off to a quick start and the group is all together as they hit the first climb. Now there’s a break of three riders off the front including American Alex Howes.

Lap 2
The three riders have almost a minute on the peloton… the other two riders are Colombian Sarmiento Jose Cayatano and Jonathan Fumeaux (Sui).

Over the second climb and the pack is now back together as peloton wasn’t taking any chances.

Lap 3
As they start the third lap the peloton is together… up the first climb and the attacks begin. Martin Schöffmann (Aut) has broken away on his own and established 30-45s lead.

Lap 4
Schöffmann’s lead is almost 1:30s but the group seems content to let him dangle off the front… for now anyway.

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The Canadians are roughly in the middle of the pack being lead by Veilleux followed by Boivin, then Boily and Anderson is further back.

Lap 5
Schöffmann continues on his own and begins the fifth lap uncontested with a 2-min lead. But there’s still a long way to go as the race is only 1/3 completed. A Colombian rider, Betancur Gomez Carlos Albert, is off the front of the pack at 1:10 behind the leader.

Australia’s Michael Matthews has made move and is now in the mix with the leaders at 1:21. The action picks up behind as peloton advances.

Now 4 riders including Canada’s Veilleux are chasing down Schöffmann as the 5th lap is almost completed.

Lap 6
As they begin the 6th lap there are 5 leaders with Schöffmann, Veilleux, Darwin Atapuma Hurtabo (Col), Nico Keinath (Ger) and Timothy Roe (Aus) at the front with 45s on the chasers – now 1 min.

Lap 7
The five leaders with Canada’s Veilleux continue to charge ahead and there are 5-6 chasers at 1:30 followed by a dwindling peloton… the race is over the halfway point. Canada’s Boivin and Boily are further back – Anderson is out.

Lap 8
With 6 laps to go the gap is at 1:20 – CORRECTION – it’s #144 Australia’s Michael Matthews not #142 Timothy Roe with the leaders now on their 8th lap.

Lap 9
The riders are on the 9th lap with 5 to go as the pace picks up… this group of 5 with Veilleux looks like it could be the move of the day and he looks strong. Veilleux who placed 10th in the U23 ITT on Wed. has made tremendous gains since his collar bone injury earlier this year.

The chase group is not giving up as the Italians and Australians lead the charge now down to 50s… the peloton is further back at just over 2 min.

Lap 10
The gap is down to 37s as the leaders come thru with 4 to go and it looks like it’s coming back together for the final countdown to the finish – now only 9 sec. as the leaders will soon be caught.

The leaders have been caught and the attacks begin again as the peloton has swallowed up both lead groups.

A Columbian jumps out front but was reeled followed by more attacks – two splinter lead groups of about a dozen riders are now together with the peloton close behind watching every move.

Lap 11
The peloton is together on the 11th lap with 3 to go and nothing is sticking as every move is countered by the fast-moving pack.

More attacks and a group of about 6 riders have a gap off the front – the peloton is down to about 50 riders now less than 1/3 of the 166 that started.

Lap 12
On the penultimate lap the break is down to five riders with peloton at 40s with Veilleux holding on in the dwindling pack. At the climb the leaders come apart and the peloton catches up…

The pack begins to fracture as riders attack and a group of 20+ riders is off the front.

Now two riders take off – France and Netherlands we think – with a third chasing. The pace is fast and furious as riders scramble for position.

Lap 13 Final
The leaders are Romain Sicard (Fra) and Michel Kreder (Ned) now on their final lap – 13.8km to go – with the chaser and peloton at about 30s. There’s no time to waste now and an Italian rider attacks.

Sicard sheds Kreder and goes it alone… he smells victory – can he hold on with a 25s lead now over the chasers? The main group is less than a minute behind and Canada’s Veilleux is in the second main group.

Kreder is caught as Sicard is only 2.5km from the finish with Russia and Colombia chasing at 30s.

Results

1. Romain Sicard (France) 4:41:54
2. Betancur Gomez Carlos Alberto (Colombia) 0:27
3. Egor Silin (Russian Federation)
4. Peter Kennaugh (Great Britain) 0:49
5. Jérôme Baugnies (Belgium) 0:54
6. Marko Kump (Slovenia)
7. Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (Kazakhstan)
8. Sarmiento Tunarrosa Jose Cayetano (Colombia)
9. Matthias Brandle (Austria) 1:00
10. Damiano Caruso (Italy) 1:33
11. Alexandre Geniez (France) 1:38
12. Christer Rake (Norway)
13. Castroviejo Nicolas Jonathan (Spain) 1:40
14. Sander Maasing (Estonia)
15. Nicolas Schnyder (Switzerland)
16. Arnaud Courteille (France)
17. Nicolas Edet (France)
18. Adrian Honkisz (Poland)
19. Peter Stetina (United States Of America)
20. Dominik Nerz (Germany)
21. Anatoliy Kashtan (Ukraine)
22. Kanstantsin Klimiankou (Belarus)
23. Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg)
24. Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium)
25. Mark O`Brien (Australia)
26. Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Colombia)
27. Mirco Saggiorato (Switzerland)
28. José Alarcon (Venezuela)
29. Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (South Africa)
30. Mathias Lisson (Denmark)
31. Gianluca Brambilla (Italy)
32. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Colombia) 1:44
33. Michel Kreder (Netherlands) 1:49
34. Romain Zingle (Belgium) 2:15
35. Joel Zangerle (Luxembourg) 2:22
36. Arthur Vichot (France)
37. Alex Meenhorst (New Zealand) 5:21
38. Leopold Konig (Czech Republic)
39. Daniele Ratto (Italy)
40. Thibaut Pinot (France) 7:23
41. Alexandre Shushemoin (Kazakhstan) 8:06
42. Blaz Furdi (Slovenia) 8:31
43. Artem Topchanyuk (Ukraine) 8:48
44. Oleksandr Polivoda (Ukraine)
45. Martin Mahdar (Slovakia) 9:00
46. Nazar Jumabekov (Kazakhstan)
47. Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spain)
48. Silver Ao (Estonia) 9:04
49. Rafael Andriato (Brazil) 9:08
50. Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eritrea) 9:29
51. Carlos Alexandre Manarelli (Brazil) 9:32
52. Andrei Krasilnikau (Belarus)
52. Siarhei Papok (Belarus)
54. Viesturs Luksevics (Latvia)
55. Siarhei Novikau (Belarus)
56. Stefan Denifl (Austria)
57. Alexander Prishpetniy (Russian Federation)
57. Pit Schlechter (Luxembourg)
59. Sondre Gjerdevik Sörtveit (Norway)
60. Jan Tratnik (Slovenia)
61. Jahn Frederik Grue (Norway)
62. David Veilleux (Canada)
63. Andrey Solomennikov (Russian Federation)
64. Luke Rowe (Great Britain)
65. Vojtech Hacecky (Czech Republic)
66. Romain Beney (Switzerland)
67. Oleg Berdos (Republic of Moldova)
68. John Degenkolb (Germany) 9:37
69. Petr Ignatenko (Russian Federation) 0:16:48
70. Egidijus Juodvalkis (Lithuania)
71. Ryohei Komori (Japan) 0:18:14
72. Pedro Merino Criado (Spain)
DNF Dennis Van Winden (Netherlands)
DNF Leigh Howard (Australia)
DNF Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands)
DNF Jens Keukeleire (Belgium)
DNF Angelo Pagani (Italy)
DNF Diego Ulissi (Italy)
DNF Jelle Wallays (Belgium)
DNF Jack Bobridge (Australia)
DNF Michael Matthews (Australia)
DNF Juan Villegas (Colombia)
DNF Thimothy Roe (Australia)
DNF Niki Ostergaard (Denmark)
DNF Higinio Fernandez Suarez (Spain)
DNF Blaz Jarc (Slovenia)
DNF Jakub Novak (Slovakia)
DNF Kamil Zielinski (Poland)
DNF Kenji Itami (Japan)
DNF Sylwester Janiszewski (Poland)
DNF Nik Burjek (Slovenia)
DNF Yoshimitsu Hiratsuka (Japan)
DNF Martin Reimer (Germany)
DNF Gregory Obando Brenes (Costa Rica)
DNF Nelson Oliveira (Portugal)
DNF Alex Howes (United States Of America)
DNF Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Colombia)
DNF Martijn Keizer (Netherlands)
DNF Tejay Van Garderen (United States Of America)
DNF Nico Keinath (Germany)
DNF Sergej Fuchs (Germany)
DNF Kris Boeckmans (Belgium)
DNF Troels Ronning Vinther (Denmark)
DNF Peter Sagan (Slovakia)
DNF Martin Schöffmann (Austria)
DNF Daniel Schorn (Austria)
DNF Fabricio Quiros (Costa Rica)
DNF Andrey Klyuev (Russian Federation)
DNF Mcevoy Jonathan (Great Britain)
DNF Rafael Valls Ferri (Spain)
DNF Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland)
DNF Vegard Stake Laengen (Norway)
DNF Jure Zagar (Slovenia)
DNF Rasmus Guldhammer (Denmark)
DNF Chris Barton (United States Of America)
DNF Ramon Sinkeldam (Netherlands)
DNF Ablay Shugaipov (Kazakhstan)
DNF Alfredo Cruz Bernaldez (Mexico)
DNF Guillaume Boivin (Canada)
DNF David Boily (Canada)
DNF Patrick Gretsch (Germany)
DNF Dementev Yehor (Ukraine)
DNF Clinton Robert Avery (New Zealand)
DNF Christian Schneeberger (Switzerland)
DNF Alexander Kristoff (Norway)
DNF Jacobus Venter (South Africa)
DNF Gabor Kasa (Serbia)
DNF Mark Christian (Great Britain)
DNF Phuchong Sai-Udomsin (Thailand)
DNF Mustafa Sayar (Turkey)
DNF Niv Libner (Israel)
DNF Armando Aguilar (Mexico)
DNF Ugur Marmara (Turkey)
DNF Ran Margaliot (Israel)
DNF Olamaei Mahdi (Islamic Republic of Iran)
DNF Erick Rowsell (Great Britain)
DNF Gideoni Monteiro (Brazil)
DNF Eyup Karagobek (Turkey)
DNF Silver Schultz (Estonia)
DNF Sam Bewley (New Zealand)
DNF Patrik Tybor (Slovakia)
DNF Christopher Juul Jensen (Denmark)
DNF Ricky Eno Jorgensen (Denmark)
DNF Edgaras Kovaliovas (Lithuania)
DNF Kirk Carlsen (United States Of America)
DNF Riccardo Zoidl (Austria)
DNF Jonathan Fumeaux (Switzerland)
DNF Patrik Stenberg (Sweden)
DNF Ryan Anderson (Canada)
DNF Juraj Sagan (Slovakia)
DNF Evaldas Siskevicius (Lithuania)
DNF Jakub Novak (Czech Republic)
DNF Sebastian Balck (Sweden)
DNF Jonathan Monsalve (Venezuela)
DNF Balazs Simon (Hungary)
DNF Burry Stander (South Africa)
DNF Gert Joeaar (Estonia)
DNF Jaroslaw Marycz (Poland)
DNF Allan Morales (Costa Rica)
DNF Mirac Kal (Turkey)
DNF Jakub Kratochvila (Czech Republic)
DNF Natthapon Jeebthaworn (Thailand)
DNF Zoltan Vigh (Hungary)
DNF Khakharman Merey (Kazakhstan)
DNF Turakit Boonratanathanakorn (Thailand)
DNF Krisztian Lovassy (Hungary)