September 24, 2006 (Salzburg, Austria) – Paolo Bettini won his first Road World Cycling Championship title, and Italy’s first since Mario Cipollini’s 2002 victory, today in Salzburg, Austria. It was a rare display of Italian team unity that helped Bettini win the 265-km race and Cipo himself was on hand to witness his country’s first medal of the Championships.

After escaping with three others from a large group of 45 riders just 2 kms before the finish, Bettini timed his sprint perfectly to beat Erik Zabel (Germany) in second and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) into third.

The 32 year-old rider’s face was a picture of ecstasy as he crossed the line, immediately coming to a halt and raising his bike above his head before being swamped by Italian team members, media and teammates.

“This is a big day for me after so many years trying,” he said. “It’s very important for Italian cycling and it’s as if I have closed a circle in my career.”

An estimated 300,000 spectators lined the route on a perfect day for bike racing. Clear skies and a minimal breeze contributed to the party atmosphere as hordes of mainly Belgian, Dutch and Italian fans indulged in singing, playing music and numerous other alcohol-fueled festivities.

Canada’s lone entrant, Ryder Hesjedal, didn’t have the legs today on a course which demanded top fitness. The Phonak pro, who rode strong recently at the Vuelta, was dropped two thirds of the way through the race and abandoned shortly after.

It was an intriguing championship race and one that initially looked as though it may leave the favourites behind. A group of 12 riders moved clear on the second of twelve 22-km laps and quickly gained substantial time on the cruising bunch.

With riders of virtually all top teams, the peloton was content to ride tempo and by the end of lap four the break was almost fifteen minutes ahead. Not represented in the lead group were home nation Austria and Switzerland who eventually began the chase on lap five.

The gap was reduced almost as rapidly as it had formed and at the start of lap ten, everything was back together. It soon became a hectic scramble with some of the big guns trying their luck and attacking over the two short but steep climbs that lead up to Hallwang and Eixhausen.

Italian riders were determined to get away, but breaks by Davide Rebellin, Danilo Di Luca and Filippo Pozzato failed to gain more than a few hundred metres over a watchful pack policed by Dutch, Spanish and Belgian riders.

On the last lap the ferocity of the constant attacks caused a split as 45 riders found themselves with empty road between them and the pack. Littered with big names, the attacks continued as Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan), Fabian Wegmann (Germany) and David Millar (Great Britain) tried their luck.

Passing under the red-kite, Spain began their sprint lead-out for Valverde. Sanchez-Gonzalez had the Vuelta Espana runner-up on his wheel, with Zabel and Bettini tucked in behind. His effort was such that the four gained a dozen or so metres on the rest of the group.

It was no looking back from there as Zabel lead down the finishing straight only to watch Bettini move past on his left-hand side with 30m to go.

“Zabel is a good friend and we have raced together for many years,” Bettini said. “We have a lot of respect for each other.”

“The Squadra did very well today. There was a lot of co-operation with the whole team and we had tried to make a decisive move over the last 100km,” he added.

For Zabel, 36, whose resurgence in recent weeks saw him win two stages at the Vuelta after seemingly being doomed to second places for the whole season, was not as disappointed as might have been expected.

“It’s a dream of mine to win a world championship but I’m happy enough,” the 2004 silver medallist said. “I stayed calm in the sprint because (Spaniard) Oscar Freire was not here today – he usually comes past with a much smaller margin!”

As the 2006 Road Championships close in Salzburg, Austria the night has only just begun for the masses of fans celebrating a highly popular victory and a worthy champion.


Results – 265.8 kms

1. Paolo Bettini (ITA) 6:15:36
2. Erik Zabel (GER)
3. Belmonte A. Valverde (ESP)
4. Gonzalez Sa. Sanchez (ESP) 0:02
5. Robbie Mcewen (AUS)
6. Stuart O`Grady (AUS)
7. Uros Murn (SLO)
8. Alexandre Botcharov (RUS)
9. Tom Boonen (BEL)
10. Vladimir Gusev (RUS)
11. Bernhard Eisel (AUT)
12. Nicki Sorensen (DEN)
13. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (NOR)
14. Martin Elmiger (SUI)
15. Freddie Rodriguez (USA)
16. Karsten Kroon (NED)
17. Marcus Ljungqvist (SWE)
18. Rene Haselbacher (AUT)
19. Laszlo Bodrogi (HUN)
20. Gerben Loewik (NED)
21. Stefan Schumacher (GER)
22. Steffen Wesemann (SUI)
23. Mevel Christophe Le (FRA)
24. Anthony Geslin (FRA)
25. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ)
26. Alexandr Kolobnev (RUS)
27. Matija Kvasina (CRO)
28. Michael Boogerd (NED)
29. Frank Schleck (LUX)
30. Chavez Moises Aldape (MEX)
31. Fabian Cancellara (SUI)
32. Gorazd Stangelj (SLO)
33. Nuno Ribeiro (POR)
34. Luca Danilo Di (ITA)
35. David Millar (GBR)
36. Cabre Xav. Florencio (ESP)
37. Gregory Rast (SUI)
38. Luca Paolini (ITA)
39. David George (RSA)
40. Cadel Evans (AUS)
41. Barbosa Rui M. Sousa (POR)
42. Sergio Paulinho (POR)
43. Vladimir Karpets (RUS)
44. Alexander Arekeev (RUS)
45. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA)
46. Tadej Valjavec (SLO) :15
47. Christopher Horner (USA)
48. Davide Rebellin (ITA)
49. Candil Carlos Sastre (ESP)
50. Michael Rogers (AUS)
51. Filippo Pozzato (ITA)
52. Alexandr Vinokurov (KAZ)
53. Sergey Yakovlev (KAZ) 0:34
54. Fabian Wegmann (GER) 0:56
55. Arango Marlon. Perez (COL) 1:25
56. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR)
57. Raivis Belohvosciks (LAT) 1:53
58. Rodrigues Jos. Silva (POR)
59. Radoslav Rogina (CRO)
60. Jan Valach (SVK)
61. Alexandre Usau (BLR)
62. Roger Hammond (GBR)
63. Ruslan Pidgornyy (UKR)
64. Dainius Kairelis (LTU)
65. Georg Totschnig (AUT)
66. Stijn Devolder (BEL)
67. Heeswijk Max Van (NED)
68. Christian Vandevelde (USA)
69. Aurelien Clerc (SUI)
70. Cyril Dessel (FRA)
71. Sebastien Joly (FRA)
72. Oliver Jo. Rodriguez (ESP)
73. Michael Albasini (SUI)
74. Lars Ytting Bak (DEN)
75. Yaroslav Popovych (UKR)
76. Nick Nuyens (BEL)
77. Borut Bozic (SLO) 2:02
78. Erki Puetsep (EST) 3:33
79. Alexandre Bazhenov (RUS) 3:43
80. Przemyslaw Niemiec (POL)
81. Daniel Petrov (BUL)
82. Goolen Jurgen Van (BEL) 6:19
83. Martin Riska (SVK)
84. Kjell Carlstroem (FIN)
85. Matej Mugerli (SLO)
86. Nelson Victorino (POR)
87. Roman Kreuziger (CZE)
88. Alessandro Ballan (ITA)
89. Simon Gerrans (AUS)
90. Vladimir Efimkin (RUS)
91. Bram Tankink (NED)
92. Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
93. Thomas Voeckler (FRA)
94. Sylvain Calzati (FRA)
95. Alexander Efimkin (RUS)
96. Robert Hunter (RSA)
97. Beat Zberg (SUI)
98. Alexei Markov (RUS)
99. Christian Knees (GER)
100. Mathew Hayman (AUS)
101. Alberto A. Mauricio (COL)
102. Carty Jonathan P. Mc (USA)
103. Oliver Zaugg (SUI)
104. Tomas Buchacek (CZE)
105. David Loosli (SUI)
106. Patrik Sinkewitz (GER)
107. Guido Trenti (USA)
108. Janez Brajkovic (SLO)
109. Alberdi Fra. Ventoso (ESP)
110. Rodriguez Luis Perez (ESP)
111. Volodymyr Zagorodniy (UKR)
112. Andriy Grivko (UKR)
113. Gabriel Rasch (NOR)
114. Thor Hushovd (NOR)
115. Lopez De Cas. Cuesta (ESP)
116. Ryan Cox (RSA)
117. Christi. Pfannberger (AUT)
118. Danny Pate (USA)
119. Marzio Bruseghin (ITA)
120. David Mccann (IRL) 8:45
121. Petr Bencik (CZE)
122. Matej Jurco (SVK)
123. Tomasz Marczynski (POL)
124. Fumiyuki Beppu (JPN)
125. Allan Johansen (DEN)
126. Roman Bronis (SVK) 13:38
DNF Ravalo Felix Cardenas (COL)
DNF Matteo Tosatto (ITA)
DNF Rinaldo Nocentini (x)
DNF Adrian Bonilla (CRC)
DNF Aliaksandr Kychinski (BLR)
DNF Serge Baguet (BEL)
DNF Tarmo Raudsepp (EST)
DNF Russell Downing (GBR)
DNF Cuapio Julio Perez (.)
DNF Giannoni Jua. Flecha (ESP)
DNF Kristof Szczawinski (POL)
DNF Hidenori Nodera (JPN)
DNF Philip Deignan (IRL)
DNF Stephan Schreck (GER)
DNF Petrov Andonov (Dani.)
DNF Leif Hoste (BEL)
DNF Kevin Hulsmans (BEL)
DNF Matthew White (AUS)
DNF Nicolas Roche (IRL)
DNF Nick Gates (AUS)
DNF Ronny Scholz (GER)
DNF Marcel Sieberg (GER)
DNF Guillen Jose Rujano (VEN)
DNF Tyler Farrar (USA)
DNF Leod Ian Mc (RSA)
DNF Luis Felipe Laverde (COL)
DNF Christopher Baldwin (USA)
DNF Bradley Mcgee (AUS)
DNF Hrvoje Miholjevic (CRO)
DNF Aleksejs Saramotins (LAT)
DNF Shinichi Fukushima (JPN)
DNF Luciano Pagliarini (BRA)
DNF Groot Bram De (NED)
DNF Jan Boven (NED)
DNF Maarten Tjallingii (NED)
DNF Kyrylo Pospyeyev (UKR)
DNF Mauricio Soler (COL)
DNF Ryder Hesjedal (CAN)
DNF Darren Lill (RSA)
DNF Sebastien Hinault (FRA)
DNF Martin Mares (CZE)
DNF Peter Wrolich (AUT)
DNF Linus Gerdemann (GER)
DNF Bruno Neves (POR)
DNF Murilo Fischer (BRA)
DNF Mart Ojavee (EST)
DNF Stanislav Kozubek (CZE)
DNF Marek Rutkiewicz (POL)
DNF Tomasz Kiendys (POL)
DNF Martin Prazdnovsky (SVK)
DNF Maros Kovac (SVK)
DNF Volodymyr Starchyk (UKR)
DNF Gerardo Fernandez (ARG)
DNF Svetoslav Tchanliev (BUL)
DNF Marino Manue. Medina (VEN)
DNF Thierry Marichal (BEL)
DNF Jackson Stewart (USA)
DNF Pedro Nicacio (BRA)
DNF Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA)
DNF Samuel Dumoulin (FRA)
DNF Jorge Ma. Montenegro (ARG)
DNF Joost Posthuma (NED)
DNF Bernhard Kohl (AUT)
DNF Frantisek Rabon (CZE)
DNF Robert Radosz (POL)
DNF Ardila Alex Cano (COL)
DNF Marcio May (BRA)
DNF Soelito Gohr (BRA)
DNF Querales Jose. Ramos (VEN)
DNF Abdul Wahab Sawadogo (BUR)
DNF Rabaki J. Ouedraogo (BUR)
DNF Saidou Rouamba (BUR)