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Bettini earns his stripes
Cycling’s history is full of racers who wilted under the curse of the rainbow jersey after winning the world championships.
Perennial pre-race favorite Paolo Bettini seemed fated to never win cycling’s most prized tunic, but after several close calls – including second in 2001 at Lisbon – the Italian pocket rocket bolted past Erik Zabel and Alejandro Valverde on Sunday in Salzburg, Austria, to erase any hint of a jinx.
“It’s so satisfying to win after coming close so many times. It was almost an obsession for me,” Bettini gushed. “I’ve won the world’s and the Olympics, the classics and some big stages in the Tour and the Giro, but I could never win the world’s and it’s the race I’ve wanted most.”
The Cricket’s victory came at the end of a fast-paced, attack-laden race worthy of the world championships under perfect racing conditions through the streets of sunny Salzburg and in the surrounding green hills.
With the50 strongest riders speeding into the final kilometer in front of tens of thousands of cheering fans, Bettini escaped with three others before the finishing straight to launch his sprint at the perfect moment and cap a career full of big wins, but one that was still missing the biggest.
Bettini was the strongest despite twice making strong breakaway attempts in the closing two of 12 laps, but each time the peloton was able to reel him back in to set up the mass finish.
A nail-biting finale served up one final surprise when Valverde surprised the bunch with an early sprint, following the wheel of teammate Samuel Sanchéz with about 700 meters to go. The tactic succeeded in them slipping clear of the pack but both Zabel and Bettini were able to respond.
“Samuel told me to get on his wheel with 700 meters to go and we went for it. The medal I won today was thanks to him,” said Valverde. “Later, Erik and Paolo were very strong and I wasn’t able to win, but I am very content to have this medal. It’s thanks to the labor of the team today, which was phenomenal.”
Until the final 100 meters, it looked like Zabel – not Bettini – was going to become the next world champion. The German checked Valverde’s early sprint and surged toward the elusive rainbow jersey until the Cricket bounded past his right shoulder to win by a half bike length.
“It was a dream to become world champion today, but I am very satisfied with the race today,” he said. “It’s great to race here in front of so many German-speaking public. I felt good and I stayed calm, in part because Oscar Freire wasn’t here and I knew he couldn’t pass me again [like he did in 2001 and 2004].”
With the average speed of 42.476kph, it’s the fourth-fastest world championships ever (behind Zolder, Plouay and Valkenburg).
“The speed was much faster than I expected today,” Bettini said. “I tried two times to make a selection, but the circumstances were not favorable. Then with 5km to go, I said, don’t panic, it’s still possible and gave everything to win the sprint.”
The weight of expectation surely can’t outweigh the world champion’s rainbow jersey, which Bettini will wear with pride next season.
Bettini’s win was the first by the favored Italians since Mario Cipollini won in 2002, and the 14th Italian to win the rainbow jersey.
Bettini’s victory also keeps the rainbow jersey at Quick Step-Innergetic. Defending champion Tom Boonen (Belgium) came through ninth.The Americans rode an excellent race, putting Tyler Farrar into the day’s early breakaway and then having their top six riders still in play going into the final decisive lap.Fred Rodriguez led the way in a heroic effort with 15th despite racing with “one leg” after a nagging knee problem sapped his strength in the final sprint.“I’ve been fighting with a bad knee since last week and I was basically did everything I could to get there. The Spanish guys came around me on the inside on the second to last corner and I had to go wide and I just got stuck there,” he said. “No one chased them down and I was there by myself to help me close my gap. I couldn’t sprint. My leg was [bad]. My knee is messed up and I can’t pedal with one leg. It was all I could do to stay there.”
Two final shots
A potentially dangerous 25-rider move that included Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), Stuart O’Grady (Australia) and Danilo Di Luca (Italy) was reeled in with just under two laps to go to set up the final decisive action.
Three riders – Kanstantin Siutsou (Belarus), David Loosli (Switzerland) and Moises Aldape (Mexico) – snuck before the penultimate passage over the decisive Tiefenbach climb.
The sharp, 15-percent grades of the short, but steep climb blew apart the main pack. Bettini and Fabian Wegmann (Germany) bounced away from the shattered peloton, weary from nearly six hours of racing. Spain gave a desperate chase to bring back the Cricket after missing the acceleration.
Davide Rebellin (Italy) counterattacked to reel in Loosli who was still off the front to set a two-man lead coming in for the bell lap. Sylvain Chavanel (France) dug deep to bridge out to the leading pair to hold a slim, 10-second gap.
Six Americans – Guido Trenti, Jackson Stewart, Pat McCarty, Fred Rodriguez, Christian Vande Velde and Chris Horner – were still in the thick of things, while Danny Pate would also finish the race.
Just as the Rebellin trio was caught, Trenti bolted out of the pack, drawing with him Alexander Efimkin (Russia) and Sylvain Calzati (France). Two Italians set a brutal pace to quickly snuff the move.
Spain’s Sanchéz tried to shake loose on the first climb of the last lap, but the group was still too big. Karsten Kroon (Netherlands) then led the way up the Tiefenbach climb, but it was Bettini who blazed clear to a solo lead.
Chasing were Wegmann, Vinokourov, Millar, Kroon and Boogerd, but they were all reeled in by the Spanish-led chase with 7km to go. Rebellin and Schumacher next tried to counterattack, but they were closed down with 3km still to go.
Sanchéz set up Valverde, but Zabel, the German veteran, looked to have the miracle within his grasp when Bettini surged past his right shoulder to relegate the evergreen German to silver. Valverde took bronze for his third career world’s medal in four years.
That’s when pandemonium broke out in Salzburg. The Bettini party was just starting.
Things heat up
After an early 11-man breakaway set the pace in the opening four hours of racing, the sparks started to fly in earnest with four laps to go. Luca Paolini (Italy) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Spain) triggered important attacks out of the main bunch on the steep Tiefenbach hill midway through the ninth lap, but were caught.
Pulling through were Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), Danilo Di Luca and Filippo Pozzato (Italy), Stijn Devolder and Philippe Gilbert (Belgium), Stuart O’Grady (Australia), Carlos Sastre and Sanchéz (Spain), Andrey Kashechkin (Kazakhstan), Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden), Vladimir Efimkin (Russia), Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia), Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukraine), Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Norway) and Nicki Sørensen (Denmark).
These 15 riders bridged up to join the day’s early breakaway of 11 riders, which featured Tyler Farrar (USA), who attacked in the opening two laps. The two groups joined forces at the end of nine laps to create a lead group of 25 riders to hold a 40-second gap going into the decisive final three laps.
Although racers compete in their national jerseys, their professional obligations often come into play. Team CSC had five riders - Sørensen, Arvesen, O’Grady, Cancellara and Sastre – represented in the potentially dangerous move while the Belgians and Spanish had three each and the Italians four.
“It was too bad that we couldn’t stay away because I had great legs today,” said Cancellara, winner of the world time trial championship on Thursday. “I tried to attack later and thought I could time trial it home because I don’t have a sprint. I am satisfied because I was an animator in the race and this just proves that my road racing is getting better and better.”
Cancellara, Di Luca and O’Grady drove the breakaway, but the peloton was chasing hard in the back to squelch the move with just under two laps to go.
Farrar marks move
Crowds officially estimated at 300,000 turned out for the elite men’s road race. Fans were lining up at two hours before the start to snag finish-line seats and fans were lined up six-deep on the steep Tiefenbach climb.
Some 198 starters signed in for the 12-lap, 265.9km race. The weather was picture-perfect, with highs in the high 70s, a northeasterly breeze and crystal-clear skies.
The 22.156km circuit featured two climbs; the first a long hill with ramps as steep as 8 percent at 7km. The second, more decisive climb at Tiefenbach at 12km into the lap was a 500-meter wall with ramps as steep as 15 percent.
There was a lot of buzz at the start as no one had a clear handle on how the race might unfold. The general consensus was that no one could be certain. The course was just hard enough that a breakaway might be able to hold off the collective interests of the big teams, but not so hard that a mass sprint wasn’t out of the question
“This race could be a break, could be a sprint, either or,” said American Chris Horner. “If I was taking an educated guess, I saw it would be a sprint, with 40-60 guys coming over the hill together. I wouldn’t bet my house on that.”
It didn’t take long for the opening salvo José Ramos (Venezuela) bolting out of the pack off the gun to open up a 30-second gap going through the service tents at 1km. Giving chase on the day’s first climb were Bram de Groot (Netherlands), Rinaldo Nocentini (Italy) and Maros Kovac (Slovakia). That didn’t last long and the group came through the first passage at the Tiefenbach climb together.
Alex Cano (Colombia) went on a solo flier with about 5km to go in the first lap, drawing out Tyler Farrar (USA). The average speed at the end of the first lap was 44.226kph.
Farrar was chasing Cano at 35 seconds midway through the second lap when a group of chasers formed on the second passage at Tiefenbach.
Pulling out were: Jurgen Van Goolen (Belgium), Luis Perez (Spain), Thomas Voeckler (France), Steffen Schreck (Germany), Nocentini and Matteo Tosatto (Italy), De Groot (Netherlands), Aliaksandr Kychinski (Belarus), Nicholas Roche (Ireland) and Daniel Petrov (Bulgaria).
Farrar was absorbed and then Cano was caught on the third passage at Tiefenbach to forge the day’s early break. Two riders – Frantisek Rabon (Czech Republic) and Robert Radosz (Poland) – were chasing at 3:44 with Ramos following at 6:51 while the main bunch rolled through at 9:58 at the end of three laps.
By the end of the fourth lap, the gap grew to 14:55, bordering on downright dangerous as the leaders were already midway through the fifth lap by the time the main bunch rolled through the start-finish.
The speed picked up in the fifth lap as the Swiss, Austrian and Dutch teams put some riders on the front, trimming the gap down to a more comfortable 7:53 by the end of the sixth lap. Rabon and Radosz got scooped up and Cano dropped back from the Farrar group midway through the race.
There was some action in the seventh lap with six riders peeling off the front of the main pack on the Tiefenbach climb. In the move were: Nick Nuyens (Belgium), Pozzato (Italy) and Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine), but Spain surged to the front of the peloton to snuff out the potentially perilous aggression at the bud.
The gap was down to 2:38 coming through the eighth lap. Farrar’s presence in the long break took all the pressure off the American team, forcing the other nations to pull and allowing the U.S. riders to float safely inside the main pack. With four laps to go, all nine Americans were still in the race.
Top 20
1. Paolo Bettini (Italy) 6hr 15min 36sec
2. Erik Zabel (Germany) same time
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spain) s.t.
4. Samuel Sanchez (Spain) at 02secs
5. Robbie McEwen (Australia) s.t.
6. Stuart O'Grady (Australia) s.t.
7. Uros Murn (Slovenia) s.t.
8. Alexandre Botcharov (Russia) s.t.
9. Tom Boonen (Belgium) s.t.
10. Vladimir Gusev (Russia) s.t.
11. Bernhard Eisel (Austria) s.t.
12. Nicki Sorensen (Denmark) s.t.
13. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Norway) s.t.
14. Martin Elmiger (Switzerland) s.t.
15. Fred Rodriguez (USA) s.t.
16. Karsten Kroon (Netherlands) s.t.
17. Marcus Ljungqvist(Sweden) s.t.
18. Rene Haselbacher (Austria) s.t.
19. Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) s.t.
20. Gerben Lowik (Netherlands) s.t.
FullResults
To see how today's championship road race unfolded, simply CLICKHERE to open our Live Update Window and then check back soon for a complete race report, results and photos.
