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Cycling Weekly
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Jack Elton-Walters

UCI World Championships Elite Men's Road Race live: Van der Poel wins – as it happened

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It's a long day in the saddle for the peloton in the UCI World Championships Elite Men's Road Race. Already the race has been interrupted by a protest and plenty of riders have gone out the back with many kilometres to go

Here we go with Cycling Weekly's live blog from the UCI World Championships Elite Men's Road Race. The biggest story of the day may have already happened, which you can read about here:

Men’s elite road race halted by protest at World Championships

163.8km to go

The peloton is 5:11 behind the breakaway and being led by determined looking Belgians

161.8km to go

Owain Doull is marshalling the breakaway to keep everyone pulling through

161.0km to go

Fernando Gaviria is down after a crash on a bend. He was holding his face and now his shoulder. A teammate had waited but has ridden off. The race appears to be over for Gaviria 

A young rider is keeping up with the peloton, albeit for a few hundred metres, safely placed the other side of a grass bank beside the road

The road surfaces look really good, but there have still been a number of punctures. Riders getting back on the rear of the peloton after wheel changes

Huge crowds out to see the race. Waving the breakaway through with an advantage of 5:00 with 152.7km to go

149.6km to go

Lucas Plapp from Australia looks to be done. He'd been working hard on the front

148.4km to go and the breakaway's gap is down to 4:25

They've lost a lot of time over the last couple of kilometres 

A reminder of the biggest story from the race so far:

Men’s elite road race halted by protest at World Championships

147.6km to go

Denmark are pulling on the front trying to get a group clear with Michael Morkov riding for his team leader Mads Pedersen

146.4km to go

It looks like Sam Bennett's race is over. He was shown going at walking pace as the peloton disappeared ahead of him

We're now well into the Glasgow circuit. Corners, twists, turns, ramps, road furniture... riders need to stay alert 

143.5km to go 

Owain Doull leads the peloton through the flamme rouge to head for the finish line ahead of 10 full laps of the circuit 

140.1km to go

The peloton is very strung out. Denmark and Belgium are grouped at the front but other riders, such as Mathieu van der Poel (NL), appear more isolated 

137.5km to go

Denmark's Mikkel Bjerg had a wheel change on a steep ascent and has now abandoned, perhaps unable to get back to the fast moving peloton

A Dutch rider has crashed, it did not look like MvdP

135.4km to go but the way the peloton is hammering around and out of corners you might think it was more like 3.5km to go 

Lukes Durbridge and Plapp have pulled off the course, reducing Australia's representation in the peloton

134.1km to go

Attack from Julian Alaphilippe. Allez Julian!

Crash further back on the steep ascent; it looks like everyone's up and riding 

133.3km to go

Denmark's Søren Kragh Andersen is on Alaphilippe's wheel. Belgium chasing 

Splits all the way down through the peloton

Norway and Italy now chasing

128.0km to go

The peloton has gone through the finish line to start the next lap, Victor Campenaerts is leading the peloton

125.0km to go

The peloton is group 3 on the road as the counter move is still dangling ahead of them and behind the main breakaway

The second group has been caught by an attack from the peloton, driven now by USA's Nielson Powless 

117.5km to go

Three-time winner Peter Sagan looks to be going out the back, ending his illustrious career at the World Championships 

116.1km to go

A very strong group of about 25 riders is pulling clear of the peloton

Despite the strength of the group, no one is pulling and the pace has slowed 

Italy has got at least four riders in the group, perhaps they'll be minded to push on

113.3km to go

The junction has been made between the peloton and the group, so it hasn't gone clear 

111.1km to go

Fred Wright is off the back and looks to be heading for an early shower 

109.6km to go

The end for Peter Sagan at the World Championships as he comes to a halt and leaves the circuit 

108.4km to go and the nine man breakaway still has an advantage of 2:12

106.5km to go

Looks like a puncture for France's Christophe Laporte 

105.7km to go

Belgium pushing hard

105.2km to go

Denmark's Asgreen, Belgium's Philipsen and France's Alaphilippe all out the back

Denmark pushing hard on the front of the vastly reduced peloton 

103.6km to go

Defending champion Remco Evenepoel closed the gap himself, bringing together two groups

97.5km to go

Evenepoel attacks!

95.0km to go 

The breakaway has lost its first member as Harold Tejada (Colombia) has been dropped 

Sad to see Fred Wright having to call it a day early. He looks understandably disappointed 

92.8km to go

Laporte's day is done. The nature of the circuit makes it near-impossible to get back on after a mechanical and it was a puncture that did for the Frenchman 

92.1km to go

Matteo Trentin is driving hard om the front of the peloton

The overhead shot of the race showing some decent cycle lanes next to a main road

90.7km to go

Van der Poel puts in a little dig and gets a gap. The group is coming back together now

89.2km to go

Tadej Pogacar is taking a turn, working with Van der Poel and others 

With less than 30 seconds over the chasers, riders from the breakaway have started to attack, the cohesion over

87.4km to go

Wout van Aert is driving group 2 (or is he slowing it down?), while his Belgian teammates in group 3 are trying to close the gap 

86.8km to go

Pogacar attacks!

Trentin is down and looks in pain. It looks like he clipped a barrier but it was hard to tell, even on the replay 

84.7km

Evenepoel is back on the Van Aert group, taking a couple of riders with him

78.7km 

Kevin Vermaerke (USA) is ahead alone

77.3km to go 

Nathan van Hooydonck is trying to bridge from one group to the next. Norway's Rasmus Tiller need a bike change; it was not efficient 

76.1km to go

Mattias Skjelmose (Denmark) fancies a little go off the front

74.4km to go 

The original breakaway has been caught and passed

73.5km to go

Van der Poel attacks! Van Aert follows!

Is that the winning move?

Six riders clear and working together 

71.9km to go

The supergroup has got Kevin Vermaerke in its sights

The lead group is now:

Mads Pedersen, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Alberto Bettiol, Tadej Pogacar, with original breakaway riders Kevin Vermaerke and Matthew Dinham 

Mads Pedersen on the attack

Behind Pedersen the group has grown as chasers have come back 

The distance ticker on the live television coverage was frozen for some time, then showed 84km to go before dropping to 69km. It's possible that a lap has been taken off the end of the race or the ticker wasn't working for a while or both 

67.4km to go

Cosnefroy is dropped after his huge effort earlier 

62.6km to go

Pogacar on the attack again

61.7km to go

Looks like a rear wheel puncture for Kevin Vermaerke. A shame for the American and it's very unlikely he'll make it back on

61.1km to go

Evenepoel on the move with Pedersen; Pogacar coming across

60.8km to go

The group is back together briefly before Van Aert goes next

58.4km to go

Evenepoel going again and Pedersen is trying to get back to him

Pogacar is staying alert to any moves, especially anything from Van Aert

56.3km to go

Evenepoel pushing on again with Pogacar coming over, gaps behind

55.4km to go

As everyone else grabs a bottle, Bettiol has gone on the attack

55.1km to go

It's suddenly raining and heavily 

Very localised shower as the riders are back on dry roads. Which way are the clouds going? 

50.2km to go

Bettiol cornering well on the wet roads, round 23 seconds ahead of the chase

Madouas looks done

48.1km to go

Bettiol still ahead, Belgium leading the chase 

43.2km to go

Big crash for Narvaez on a wet corner

Narvaez's crash has split the chase group

Mechanical for Skjelmose, looks like a rear wheel puncture

40.3km to go

Van Aert, Pogacar, Van der Poel and Pedersen are group 2, around 29 seconds behind Bettiol but importantly ahead of the Evenepoel group

36.7km to go

Looks like Evenepoel's day could be over as his group is now around 30 seconds behind group 2 and 52 seconds behind Bettiol

Evenepoel dropped! 

34.3km to go

Pogacar let the wheel go briefly but was soon back in the fold as Van der Poel pulled out to the side and then went back in behind him 

31.1km to go

Evenepoel is back in the second chase group. It's raining again

30.2km to go

Bettiol has been brought back within 20 seconds 

Understandably cautious cornering from all riders, especially on the bend where Narvaez went down earlier 

Two laps to go for Bettiol 

Evenepoel is solo again, off the back of group 4

27.1km to go

Toms Skujiņš, Neilson Powless and Mauro Schmid could be coming back to the Pogacar group 

25.3km to go

Bettiol's gap is down to 10 seconds, while group 2's advantage over group 3 is over 30 seconds

22.4km to go

Van der Poel launches!

Bettiol's day is over as he was caught and passed first by Van der Poel and then the others on a short rise

Pogacar pushing hard to close the gap; Pedersen and Van Aert clinging on 

The road is dry again on this part of the circuit

20.0km to go

MdvP is 15 seconds ahead and pushing hard on an uphill section 

Pogacar is trying his utmost to drop Pedersen and Van Aert, but they're still there. Bettiol is still riding but losing ground. 

Wet roads again

18.4km to go

The gap is up to 23 seconds and Pogacar is dangling off the back of the chasing trio 

It looks like a tactical move from Pogacar rather than being dropped 

16.5km to go

Van der Poel has crashed!

He was back up quickly and is still ahead; awaiting an updated time gap

Van der Poel's right shoe was broken in the crash: it's essentially a loose, undone shoe which will hinder his pedalling efficiency 

14.6km to go

Pogacar appears to be struggling to hold the wheel of Pedersen, who in turn is clinging on to Van Aert.

Van der Poel just wrenched the remainder of the top Boa dial off of his right shoe 

One lap to go

12.8km to go

Van der Poel is taking it easy on the corners but gaining time on the ascents 

Van der Poel's advantage is back out to 42 seconds despite the crash

Pogacar attacks but barely gaps Van Aert and the trio is almost instantly back together as Pedersen rolls up behind them 

7.4km to go

Van der Poel is now 1:24 ahead. Behind, Pogacar has tried to attack again but Van Aert and Pedersen were equal to it and came around him on a climb

4.4km to go 

Pogacar is struggling to keep with his co-chasers

Applause from all nations through the technical area as Van der Poel goes within 3.5km of the finish line

1km to go for Mathieu van der Poel 

Mathieu van der Poel is the new Elite Men's Road Race World Champion

Van Aert has attacked in the search for second 

Wout van Aert finishes second: who else really?

Pogacar does the sprint of his life to beat Pedersen to third

Here's a report from the race:

Mathieu van der Poel wins UCI World Championships Elite Men's Road Race despite late crash

Evenepoel has just finished. Credit to him for keeping going. 

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