bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: Tour of California 2009

by Justin Davis

VARESE, Italy, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Matthew Lloyd took the unenviable
honor of being the only rider from Australia’s team here at the world
championships to survive the unforgiving men’s road race on Sunday.

Won in thrilling fashion by Italian Alessandro Ballan ahead of compatriot
Damiano Cunego and Matti Breschel of Denmark, the effects of persistent
attacks and counter-attacks over 15 tough laps left most of the big contenders
short.

Australia had come into the 260.2km epic hoping for a small bunch finish in
which Allan Davis or Robbie McEwen, a silver medalist in 2002, could excel.

But the pair were among the 129 non-finishers from the 202 starters who
threw their cards inside the final three laps.

Despite Mick Rogers holding on until two laps to go, Lloyd was the only
Aussie to survive the rest of the race, and in the company of Italy’s
defending champion Paolo Bettini, at 4min 53sec behind Ballan.

But the reigning Australian champion admitted the fast early pace on a
hilly 17.33km circuit was no walk in the park.

“It was pretty much on from the start and on a course where there’s around
4000m of climbing by the end of the day everyone’s legs were pretty much
nailed,” said an exhausted Lloyd after the race.

“Obviously with Robbie McEwen and his fantastic history with racing and
Allan Davis who has been doing reasonably well recently we couldn’t deny the
possibility of a sprint finish so in light of that we tried to work with those
guys and get them to the finish.

“But as you saw at the finish when it was really ‘game on’ those guys
couldn’t hold on and with Mick (Rogers) trying his best with two laps to go so
you can see how deep you have to go in the World Championships - I was
fortunate enough to just hang on longer than anyone else.”

Trent Lowe, Davis, Adam Hansen, Simon Gerrans, Will Walker and Matt Goss
pulled out after lap 12 whilst in the second chasing bunch that was at
2min25sec but with no chance of closing the gap to the leaders.

Race manager Neil Stephens said the Italians were just too strong.

“We went in with a few different options but we were not sure how Michael
Rogers would recover from time trial (Thursday) and we had a couple of quick
riders in Davis and McEwen but as it was the circuit was quite tough and the
Italians really took it to everybody,” Stephens said.

“They ramped the speed up right from the start and it proved a little bit
too hard for our fast boys.”

Lloyd, who rides for the Silence-Lotto team of two-time Tour de France
runner-up Cadel Evans, who was not racing, admitted that finishing took its
toll.

“I felt like I was in a body bag and you can try and do your best to rejoin
the groups in front but after six hours it tends to become not so much wanting
to do something but that the ability tends to disappear,” he said.

Australia’s only medal at the championships was Cameron Meyer’s bronze in
the under-23 men’s time trial.

File Photo by: CorVos Pro