| 2018 UCI Road World Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The final podium (from left to right):Romain Bardet (France),Alejandro Valverde (Spain) andMichael Woods (Canada). | ||||||||||
| Race details | ||||||||||
| Dates | 30 September 2018 | |||||||||
| Stages | 1 | |||||||||
| Distance | 258 km (160.3 mi) | |||||||||
| Winning time | 6h 46' 41"[1] | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
← 2017 2019 → | ||||||||||
| Events at the2018 UCI Road World Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Participating nations Qualification | ||
| Elite events | ||
| Elite road race | men | women |
| Elite time trial | men | women |
| Elite team time trial | men | women |
| Under-23 events | ||
| Under-23 road race | men | |
| Under-23 time trial | men | |
| Junior events | ||
| Junior road race | men | women |
| Junior time trial | men | women |
TheMen's road race of the2018 UCI Road World Championships was a cycling event that took place on 30 September 2018 inInnsbruck,Austria. It was the 85th edition of the championship, andSlovakia'sPeter Sagan was the three times defending champion, a record in the event.[2] 188 riders from 44 nations entered the competition.[3]
After previously winning six medals in the race without taking the gold medal, Spain'sAlejandro Valverde took his first world title after a four-rider sprint finish decided the medals.[4] Valverde went clear with a small group of riders on the steep Höttinger Höll climb, making headway on the descent with France'sRomain Bardet and Canadian riderMichael Woods.Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) joined the trio on the run-in to the finish, but his efforts to do so resulted in him missing out on the medals, behind Bardet (silver) and Woods (bronze).[5]
Valverde's victory was the first for Spain in the event sinceÓscar Freire won the title inVerona, Italy in2004.[6] France and Canada also ended long streaks without a medal in the event as Bardet's silver was the first medal for France sinceAnthony Geslin won the bronze medal inMadrid, Spain in2005,[7] while Woods won only the second medal for a Canadian male rider in the road race, afterSteve Bauer's bronze medal at the1984 race, also in Spain inBarcelona.[8]
The race started inKufstein and headed south-west towardsInnsbruck with a primarily rolling route, except for a climb of 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) betweenFritzens andGnadenwald – as had been in the time trial events earlier in the week – with an average 7.1% gradient and maximum of 14% in places.[9] After 84.2 kilometres (52.3 miles), the riders crossed the finish line for the first time, before starting six laps of a circuit 23.8 kilometres (14.8 miles) in length. The circuit contained a climb of 7.9 kilometres (4.9 miles), at an average gradient of 5.9% but reaching 10% in places, from the outskirts of Innsbruck throughAldrans andLans towards Igls.[10] After a short period of flat roads, the race descended through Igls back towards Innsbruck.[citation needed]
On the seventh and final lap, the race continued onto a further loop of just over 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) at Hötting, with the 2.8-kilometre (1.7 mi)-long Höttinger Höll climb towards Gramartboden starting almost immediately.[10] The climb featured an average gradient of 11.5%, with a portion of the climb reaching 28% around two-thirds up. Upon reaching the top, the race descended throughHungerburg back towards rejoining the original circuit with around 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) to go and heading towards the finish line in front of theTyrolean State Theatre. In total, the race featured 4,681 metres (15,358 feet) of climbing.[11]
Qualification was based mainly on theUCI World Ranking by nations as of 12 August 2018. The first ten nations in this classification qualified eight riders to start, the next ten nations qualified six riders to start, with the nations ranked 21st to 30th qualifying five riders to start.[12] One rider from each of the next twenty nations was also qualified to start.[12] In addition to this number, any rider within the top 200 of the UCI World Ranking by individuals that was not already qualified, the outgoing World Champion and the current continental champions were also able to take part.[13]
The following nations qualified.[13]
| Criterium | Rank | Number of riders | Nations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To enter | To start | |||
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 1–10 | 13 | 8 | |
| 11–20 | 9 | 6 | ||
| 21–30 | 7 | 4 | ||
| 31–50 | 2 | 1 | ||
| UCI World Ranking by Individuals (if not already qualified) | 1–200 | N/a | ||
| Name | Country | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Sagan |  Slovakia | Outgoing World Champion |
| Amanuel Gebrezgabihier |  Eritrea | African Champion |
| Yousif Mirza |  United Arab Emirates | Asian Champion |
188 cyclists from 44 nations were entered in the men's road race.[3] The number of cyclists per nation is shown in parentheses.
Argentina (1)
Australia (8)
Austria (6)
Belarus (4)
Belgium (8)
Brazil (1)
Canada (4)
Colombia (8)
Costa Rica (1)
Croatia (1)
Czech Republic (6)
Denmark (8)
Ecuador (2) Eritrea (2)
Estonia (3)
Ethiopia (1)
France (8)
Germany (6)
Great Britain (8)
Greece (1)
Hong Kong (1)
Iran (1)
Ireland (4)
Italy (8)
Japan (1)
Kazakhstan (4)
Latvia (2)
Lithuania (1)
Luxembourg (6)
Netherlands (8)
New Zealand (4)
Norway (6)
Poland (6)
Portugal (4)
Romania (1)
Russia (6) Slovakia (7)
Slovenia (8)
South Africa (2)
Spain (8)
Sweden (1)
Switzerland (6)
Ukraine (2)
United States (4)Of the race's 188 entrants, 76 riders completed the full distance of 258 kilometres (160 miles).[1]
112 riders failed to finish.[1]
|
|
|
La exhibición del equipo español y la buenísima forma de Alejandro Valverde, el rematador, nos han regalado la primera medalla de oro del equipo español desde la de Óscar Freire en 2004. [The exhibition of the Spanish team and the very good form of Alejandro Valverde, gave us the first gold medal for the Spanish team since Oscar Freire in 2004.]
Les Bleus décrochent quand même la première médaille mondiale depuis Anthony Geslin en 2005. [The Blues still win the first world medal since Anthony Geslin in 2005.]
It's Canada's first medal in the elite men's road race since Steve Bauer's bronze in Barcelona in 1984.
The course through the Austrian Alps was rather flat for the first 30 kilometers, until a five-kilometer climb from Fritzens to Gnadenwald with an average gradient of 7.1 percent.
 UCI Road World Champions –Men's road race | |
|---|---|
| 1927–1938 |
|
| 1946–1959 |
|
| 1960–1979 |
|
| 1980–1999 |
|
| 2000–2019 |
|
| 2020–2039 | |
