Ledanois wins U23 worlds road race by the skin of his teeth

Grit, determination, and a good teammate — that’s what earned Kevin Ledanois France’s first world championship title in Richmond, Virginia. On a rainy Friday afternoon, Ledanois attacked the hardest part of the course, Libby Hill, which had dangerously slick cobbles due to the rain. Then, he drove home alone over two more hills to hold off a charging Italian sprint train, which was derailed by Ledanois’ teammate, Anthony Turgis, who sat on to ensure his compatriot took the rainbow jersey. Turgis claimed bronze for his troubles, behind Italian Simone Consonni.

“I can’t believe it yet. It was my dream to become world champion. Last year, I had attacked a lap too early,” said the winner, 22. “This time, I was sure to wait. When I saw it began to rain, I thought it was my chance.”

Top-10 results

• 1. Kevin Ledanois, France, in 3:54:45
• 2. Simone Consonni, Italy, at :00
• 3. Anthony Turgis, France, at :02
• 4. Gianni Moscon, Italy, at :02
• 5. Alexander KampEgested, Denmark, at :05
• 6. Fabian Lienhard, Switzerland, at :05
• 7. Michal Schlegel, Czech Republic, at :05
• 8. Lucas Gaday Orozco, Argentina, at :05
• 9. Adam DeVos, Canada, at :10
• 10. Lennard Kamna, Germany, at :12

The early breakaway included three men: Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar, Chile’s Jose Luis Rodriguez, and Davide Martinelli of Italy. With about 85 kilometers remaining, Kazahkstan’s Oleg Zemlyakov bridged the gap after chasing solo for nearly a complete lap. Another rider, German Max Schachmann, also bridged up with a solo move.

With 50 kilometers left, Dunbar was dropped on the steep climb of 23rd street. A light rain began to fall on Richmond.

Martinelli attacked on the Libby Hill climb with about 36 kilometers left, but he had mechanical trouble. Rodriguez, Schachmann, and Zemlyakov carried on at the head of affairs. It looked like the Italian had reconnected with the leaders on 23rd street, but his gears skipped again, and he was out of the break.

The three-man break had a 20-second gap to the field with two laps left.

However, on the penultimate lap, the peloton absorbed the leaders on the cobbled ascent of Libby Hill. Denmark’s Soren Andersen was quick with a counterattack. He crested the 23rd Street climb alone. With one lap left, his lead was 16 seconds. However, with the Austrian team driving the chase at the front of the peloton, the Dane was caught.

Rain began to fall more heavily, and three riders got clear of the field on the twisting corners prior to Libby Hill. The new lead trio included Martinelli, the early breakaway artist.

Back in the field a crash on a hairpin turn disrupted the front of the peloton. With the catch imminent, Martinelli delivered one last-ditch attack. It was pure carnage on the cobbled Libby Hill climb. Several riders slipped out on the twisting ascent as they tried to apply the power on the slippery stones. But Turgis and Ledanois rode clear and bridged to Martinelli, then passed the Italian to forge ahead. With 2.5km left, Ledanois had a slight gap on the chase.

After Governor Street, the final climb of the circuit, Ledanois put his head down and drove up the finish straight as Italy’s last few riders chased. But France had an ace in the hole as Turgis sat right on the Italian train, helping to stymie the chase.

In the final few hundred meters, Consonni of Italy threw caution to the win and sprinted, but he had to settle for silver by only a few bike lengths. The hesitation that Turgis had caused proved costly for the Italians.The team of France was fantastic. It was I who raised his arms, which have the jersey, but it’s the team that won the world championship.

“The team of France was fantastic,” said Ledanois. “It was I who raised his arms, who has the jersey, but it’s the team that won the world championship.”

On Saturday, the junior men will race 129.8km, as will the elite women, the second race of the day.

Full results

• 1. Kevin Ledanois, France, in 3:54:45
• 2. Simone Consonni, Italy, at :00
• 3. Anthony Turgis, France, at :02
• 4. Gianni Moscon, Italy, at :02
• 5. Alexander KampEgested, Denmark, at :05
• 6. Fabian Lienhard, Switzerland, at :05
• 7. Michal Schlegel, Czech Republic, at :05
• 8. Lucas Gaday Orozco, Argentina, at :05
• 9. Adam DeVos, Canada, at :10
• 10. Lennard Kamna, Germany, at :12
• 11. Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedhin, Eritrea, at :12
• 12. Tom Bohli, Switzerland, at :12
• 13. Jack Haig, Australia, at :12
• 14. Tim Kerkhof, Netherlands, at :13
• 15. Mihkel Raim, Estonia, at :13
• 16. Michal Paluta, Poland, at :13
• 17. Benjamin Declercq, Belgium, at :13
• 18. Jakub Kaczmarek, Poland, at :13
• 19. Maxime Farazijn, Belgium, at :13
• 20. Miguel Angel Benito Diez, Spain, at :16
• 21. Alexander Wachter, Austria, at :16
• 22. Sam Oomen, Netherlands, at :16
• 23. Twan Brusselman, Netherlands, at :16
• 24. Imanol Estevez, Spain, at :24
• 25. Rok Korosec, Slovenia, at :24
• 26. Benjamin Perry, Canada, at :24
• 27. Lucas Eriksson, Sweden, at :24
• 28. Felix Grossschartner, Austria, at :24
• 29. Kragh AndersenSoren, Denmark, at :24
• 30. Sebastian Schonberger, Austria, at :24
• 31. Ignacio Prado, Mexico, at :29
• 32. Fabien Grellier, France, at :29
• 33. Stylianos Farantakis, Greece, at :29
• 34. Josip Rumac, Croatia, at :35
• 35. Jan Dieteren, Germany, at :37
• 36. Dylan Page, Switzerland, at :37
• 37. Laurens DePlus, Belgium, at :37
• 38. Engen Korsaeth Truls, Norway, at :37
• 39. Nuno Matos, Portugal, at :37
• 40. David Per, Slovenia, at :37
• 41. Cristian Raileanu, Republic Of Moldova, at :37
• 42. Anders Skaarseth, Norway, at :48
• 43. Metkel Eyob, Eritrea, at :48
• 44. Hector SaezBenito, Spain, at :48
• 45. Yuri Kobashi, Japan, at :48
• 46. Samir Jabrayilov, Azerbaijan, at :48
• 47. Erik Baska, Slovakia, at :48
• 48. Daniel Eaton, United States Of America, at :48
• 49. Gasper Katrasnik, Slovenia, at :48
• 50. Nils Politt, Germany, at :48
• 51. Michael Gogl, Austria, at :59
• 52. Oliviero Troia, Italy, at 1:03
• 53. Josten Vaidem, Estonia, at 1:07
• 54. Sergey Luchshenko, Kazakhstan, at 1:09
• 55. Rui Carvalho, Portugal, at 1:12
• 56. Nicholas Schultz, Australia, at 1:12
• 57. Ildar Arslanov, Russian Federation, at 1:12
• 58. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Eritrea, at 1:12
• 59. Hugo Hofstetter, France, at 1:12
• 60. Guy Gabay, Israel, at 1:12
• 61. Toshiki Omote, Japan, at 1:12
• 62. Yevgeniy Gidich, Kazakhstan, at 1:12
• 63. Ryan Gibbons, South Africa, at 1:12
• 64. Daan Myngheer, Belgium, at 1:12
• 65. Maximilian Schachmann, Germany, at 1:12
• 66. Davide Martinelli, Italy, at 1:12
• 67. Gregor Muhlberger, Austria, at 1:12
• 68. Artem Nych, Russian Federation, at 1:12
• 69. Roman Kustadinchev, Russian Federation, at 1:17
• 70. James Oram, New Zealand, at 1:20
• 71. Abdia Anass AitEl, Morocco, at 1:25
• 72. Luis RodriguezJose, Chile, at 1:25
• 73. Daniel Hoelgaard, Norway, at 1:25
• 74. Christian EikingOdd, Norway, at 1:25
• 75. Wilmar Paredes, Colombia, at 1:25
• 76. Oleg Zemlyakov, Kazakhstan, at 1:25
• 77. Lennard Hofstede, Netherlands, at 1:48
• 78. Harry Carpenter, Australia, at 2:08
• 79. Patrick Muller, Switzerland, at 2:20
• 80. Felipe OsorioJuan, Colombia, at 2:22
• 81. Marcus Faglum Karlsson, Sweden, at 2:49
• 82. Nathan VanHooydonck, Belgium, at 3:02
• 83. Adrian Banaszek, Poland, at 3:02
• 84. Dion Smith, New Zealand, at 3:02
• 85. Daniel Turek, Czech Republic, at 3:31
• 86. Josef Cerny, Czech Republic, at 3:31
• 87. Logan Owen, United States Of America, at 3:32
• 88. Leonardo Basso, Italy, at 3:34
• 89. Jayde Julius, South Africa, at 3:34
• 90. Colin Joyce, United States Of America, at 4:11
• 91. Markus Hoelgaard, Norway, at 4:25
• 92. Owain Doull, Great Britain, at 4:40
• 93. Michael Carbel Svendgaard, Denmark, at 4:40
• 94. Krists Neilands, Latvia, at 4:40
• 95. Gustav Hoog, Sweden, at 5:17
• 96. Davide Ballerini, Italy, at 5:42
• 97. Bonaventure Uwizeyimana, Rwanda, at 6:11
• 98. Thery Schir, Switzerland, at 6:53
• 99. Pedro Rodriguez, Ecuador, at 8:14
• 100. Suess Fabrizio Von Nacher, Mexico, at 8:51
• 101. Juraj Bellan, Slovakia, at 9:46
• 102. Stepan Astafyev, Kazakhstan, at 9:46
• 103. Esteban David Villareal Almeida, Ecuador, at 9:46
• 104. Joao Rodrigues, Portugal, at 10:44
• 105. Abderrahmane Mansouri, Algeria, at 10:44
• 106. Aksel Nommela, Estonia, at 10:44
• 107. Ludvig Bengtsson, Sweden, at 10:44
• 108. Eddie Dunbar, Ireland, at 10:44
• 109. Adil Barbari, Algeria, at 10:44
• 110. Dmitriy Lukyanov, Kazakhstan, at 10:44
• 111. Mamyr Stash, Russian Federation, at 11:06
• 112. Jonas Gregaard Wilsly, Denmark, at 11:06
• 113. Lubos Malovec, Slovakia, at 11:06
• 114. Franck Bonnamour, France, at 11:49
• 115. Hayden Mccormick, New Zealand, at 11:49
• 116. Juan Ignacio Curuchet, Argentina, at 12:04
• 117. Roy Goldstein, Israel, at 14:27
• 118. Tekeste Haile Yonas, Eritrea, at 14:27
• 119. Tao Geoghegan Hart, Great Britain, at 15:19
• 120. Ruben Guerreiro, Portugal, at 15:19
• 121. Aviv Yechzkel, Israel, at 15:19
• 122. Yuma Koishi, Japan, at 15:41
• 123. Jhonatan Ospina, Colombia, at 16:38
• 124. Tyler Williams, United States Of America, at 16:38
• 125. Valens Ndayisenga, Rwanda, at 17:01
• 126. Scott Davies, Great Britain, at 17:01
• 127. Alex Peters, Great Britain, at 17:01
• 128. Alejandro Morales, Chile, at 17:08
• 129. Tom Wirtgen, Luxembourg, at 17:45
• 130. Salvador Martinez, El Salvador, at 23:19
• DNF Jonas Koch, Germany
• DNF Martin Laas, Estonia
• DNF Marlen Zmorka, Ukraine
• DNF Sergiy Kozachenko, Ukraine
• DNF Nigel Ellsay, Canada
• DNF Ruslan Giliazov, Russian Federation
• DNF Alexander Cataford, Canada
• DNF Marc Fournier, France
• DNF Suguru Tokuda, Japan
• DNF Mads Wurtz Schmidt, Denmark
• DNF Caio Godoy Ormenese, Brazil
• DNF Gregory Daniel, United States Of America
• DNF Xavier SanSebastian, Spain
• DNF Rustom Lim, Philippines
• DNF Atsushi Oka, Japan
• DNF Alvaro Jose Hodeg Chagui, Colombia
• DNF Jean Bosco Insengiyumva, Rwanda
• DNF Gabriel Cullaigh, Great Britain
• DNF Nikolay Cherkasov, Russian Federation
• DNF Frantisek Sisr, Czech Republic
• DNF Andrej Petrovski, Fyr Of Macedonia
• DNF Fridtjof Roeinaas, Norway
• DNF Dominic Perez, Philippines
• DNF Sebastian Molano, Colombia
• DNF Dominique Mayho, Bermuda
• DNF Miles Scotson, Australia
• DNF Mark Camingao, Philippines
• DNF Jefferson Cepeda, Ecuador
• DNF Oskar Nisu, Estonia
• DNF Gerardo Medina, Mexico
• DNF Nassim Saidi, Algeria
• DNF Narankhuu Bat-erdene, Mongolia
• DNF Abderrahmane Bechlaghem, Algeria
• DNF Omer Goldstein, Israel
• DNF Nickolas Dlamini, South Africa
• DNF Kolya Shumov, Belarus
• DNF Jhonatan Restrepo, Colombia
• DNF Elias AbouRachid, Lebanon
• DNF Steven Lammertink, Netherlands
• DSQ Alistair Donohoe, Australia