2011 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race


The Men's Road Race of the 2011 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on 25 September 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
In a sprint to the finish line, Great Britain's Mark Cavendish became world champion after making his move down the right-hand side of the course, and just managed to hold off the rest of the field, to become his country's first road race world champion since Tom Simpson won the event in San Sebastián in 1965. The silver medal went to Australia's Matthew Goss – a team-mate of Cavendish on the team – with the bronze medal going to Germany's André Greipel.

Route

The race started in the square at Copenhagen City Hall. For the second consecutive time, the World Championship route started and finished in different locations, with the riders completing – including a neutralised section – before reaching the finishing circuit in Rudersdal. Having reached Rudersdal, the riders then completed seventeen laps of the circuit around the suburbs of Søllerød and Nærum, to make up the racing distance of.

Race report

The field started quickly, with an average speed close to for the first half-hour of racing, as breaks went and were brought back. Finally a breakaway formed, which consisted of seven riders: in the break were Oleg Chuzhda, Maxim Iglinsky, Tanel Kangert, Robert Kišerlovski, Pablo Lastras, Christian Poos and Anthony Roux. As the lead rose up to eight minutes, the Great Britain team began to increase the pace of the peloton to start chasing the group and lower their lead. The lead was brought back to about four minutes, mainly due to the work of Steve Cummings and David Millar.
At that point, a first attack came from the main group at the end of the eleventh lap. Johan Vansummeren accelerated and took Yoann Offredo and Luca Paolini with him. Soon after they were joined by Olivier Kaisen and Simon Clarke. These five riders began to eat into the lead break's advantage, with Offredo staying mostly at the back of the line with his teammate Roux up ahead.
Both groups ahead merged, creating a group of eleven riders at the front, as Christian Poos had dropped out and fell back into the peloton. The peloton itself, still being led by the British, had split as result of a fall in the thirteenth lap, causing some big names to fall back and never catch up with the main pack, including amongst others the defending champion Thor Hushovd, 2011 time trial world champion Tony Martin and quick finisher Greg Van Avermaet.
The pack closed the gap to about one minute, with several riders trying to bridge the gap between the peloton and the leading bunch in small groups. Eventually all riders were brought back, with Anthony Roux surviving the longest, only to be caught by his countryman Thomas Voeckler as he stormed past to form a new leading group in the penultimate lap together with Nicki Sørensen and Klaas Lodewyck. These three never got more than 25 seconds and were held very close by the peloton. Johnny Hoogerland managed to bridge the gap to the leaders, but was caught together with the three a few kilometres later. No riders managed to get away from the bunch after that, allowing Mark Cavendish to finish the work of his teammates in the sprint. Matthew Goss was a close second, while André Greipel needed a photo finish to hold off Fabian Cancellara for bronze. Jürgen Roelandts completed the top five.

National qualification

After a meeting of the UCI Management Committee on 28 January 2011, the qualification system for the 2011 road race remained unchanged from 2010. Results from January to the middle of August would count towards the qualification criteria on both the UCI World Tour and the UCI Continental Circuits across the world, with the rankings being determined upon the release of the numerous tour rankings on 15 August 2011.

UCI World Tour

The top ten nations in the UCI World Tour rankings by individual nations, may register up to fourteen different riders, of which nine could compete in the event. A nation with less than nine riders in the individual classification of the UCI World Tour rankings would only be allowed to start the race with the number of riders that were classified. If this number is less than six, the country would still allocate six riders for the competition; but could still reach the original allocation via the Continental Circuits. Prior to that re-allocation, any unused allocations within the top ten placings are re-allocated to countries that were ranked eleventh downwards on 15 August 2011, until the places were filled. Other countries could also enter teams into the race through individual riders in the World Tour rankings, if they had at least one rider in the top 100 placings overall, or had one rider listed outside the top 100, but still ranked.

UCI Continental Circuits

In each of the five continental tours held beneath the UCI World Tour, places could be earned through the rankings by nation. As many as sixteen places were offered through one of these continental tours – through the UCI Europe Tour – to as few as the overall winner of the UCI Oceania Tour. Similar to the UCI World Tour, other countries could also enter teams into the race through individual riders in their continental rankings, if they had at least one rider ranked overall.

Entrants by country

14 to be enrolled, 9 to start
12 to be enrolled, 8 to start
9 to be enrolled, 6 to start
6 to be enrolled, 4 to start
5 to be enrolled, 3 to start
2 to be enrolled, 1 to start

Final classification

Of the race's 210 entrants, 177 completed the full distance of. 32 riders failed to finish the race and Roman Kreuziger pulled out due to a wrist injury prior to the race.
RankRiderCountryTime
Mark Cavendish5h 40' 27"
Matthew Goss
André Greipels.t.
4Fabian Cancellaras.t.
5Jürgen Roelandtss.t.
6Romain Feillus.t.
7Borut Božičs.t.
8Edvald Boasson Hagens.t.
9Óscar Freires.t.
10Tyler Farrars.t.
11Denis Galimzyanovs.t.
12Peter Sagans.t.
13Anthony Ravards.t.
14Daniele Bennatis.t.
15Rui Costas.t.
16Manuel Antonio Cardosos.t.
17Philippe Gilberts.t.
18Michael Mørkøvs.t.
19David Veilleuxs.t.
20Grega Boles.t.
21Pim Ligtharts.t.
22Aleksejs Saramotinss.t.
23Denys Kostyuks.t.
24Taylor Phinneys.t.
25Gediminas Bagdonass.t.
26Jakob Fuglsangs.t.
27Yauheni Hutarovichs.t.
28Marek Rutkiewiczs.t.
29Lars Booms.t.
30Takashi Miyazawas.t.
31Michał Kwiatkowskis.t.
32Lars Baks.t.
33Aleksandr Kuschynskis.t.
34Matija Kvasinas.t.
35Johnny Hoogerlands.t.
36Matt Brammeiers.t.
37Yoann Offredos.t.
38Maciej Paterskis.t.
39Thomas Löfkvists.t.
40Sacha Modolos.t.
41André Cardosos.t.
42Heinrich Hausslers.t.
43Nicki Sørensens.t.
44Maarten Tjallingiis.t.
45Gorazd Štangeljs.t.
46Thomas Rohreggers.t.
47Gabriel Raschs.t.
48Nick Nuyenss.t.
49Juan José Haedos.t.
50Janez Brajkovičs.t.
51Nicolas Roches.t.
52Björn Leukemanss.t.
53Tony Gallopins.t.
54Fredrik Kessiakoffs.t.
55Rene Mandris.t.
56Oleg Chuzhdas.t.
57Anders Lunds.t.
58Filipe Cardosos.t.
59Ricardo Mestres.t.
60Pieter Weenings.t.
61José Joaquín Rojass.t.
62Bauke Mollemas.t.
63Klaas Lodewycks.t.
64Pavel Brutts.t.
65Brent Bookwalters.t.
66Jure Kocjans.t.
67Ignatas Konovalovass.t.
68Peter Velitss.t.
69Martin Velitss.t.
70Sylvain Chavanels.t.
71Aidis Kruopiss.t.
72Christopher Suttons.t.
73Grégory Rasts.t.
74Baden Cookes.t.
75Danilo Hondos.t.
76Robert Kišerlovskis.t.
77Francesco Gavazzis.t.
78Carlos Barredos.t.
79Simon Gerranss.t.
80Elia Vivianis.t.
81Geraint Thomass.t.
82Daniel Osss.t.
83Juan Manuel Gárate+ 16"
84Kurt Asle Arvesen+ 16"
85Vladimir Isaichev+ 16"
86Michael Albasini+ 19"
87Martin Kohler+ 19"
88Wout Poels+ 19"
89Steven Kruijswijk+ 19"
90Dan Martin+ 19"
91Stuart O'Grady+ 19"
92Imanol Erviti+ 19"
93Kevin De Weert+ 19"
94Ben King+ 19"
95Juan Antonio Flecha+ 19"
96Marcel Sieberg+ 26"
97Pablo Lastras+ 29"
98Thomas Voeckler+ 31"
99Ian Stannard+ 34"
100Mathew Hayman+ 34"
101Michael Rogers+ 38"
102Simon Clarke+ 38"
103Manuel Quinziato+ 42"
104Matteo Tosatto+ 49"
105Kristijan Koren+ 49"

RankRiderCountryTime
106Luca Paolini+ 52"
107Giovanni Visconti+ 1' 02"
108Bradley Wiggins+ 3' 14"
109Olivier Kaisen+ 4' 00"
110Mart Ojavee+ 4' 00"
111John Degenkolb+ 4' 00"
112Maxim Iglinsky+ 4' 00"
113Anthony Roux+ 6' 34"
114David Millar+ 8' 22"
115Jeremy Hunt+ 8' 22"
116Miguel Ubeto+ 8' 54"
117Jonas Ljungblad+ 8' 54"
118Greg Henderson+ 8' 54"
119Rafael Andriato+ 8' 54"
120Fumiyuki Beppu+ 8' 54"
121Jack Bauer+ 8' 54"
122Nelson Oliveira+ 8' 54"
123Mehdi Sohrabi+ 8' 54"
124José Serpa+ 8' 54"
125Ioannis Tamouridis+ 8' 54"
126Hossein Askari+ 8' 54"
127Carlos José Ochoa+ 8' 54"
128Miguel Ángel Rubiano+ 8' 54"
129Chris Anker Sørensen+ 8' 54"
130Tomás Gil+ 8' 54"
131Christian Knees+ 8' 54"
132Lucas Sebastián Haedo+ 8' 54"
133Yukiya Arashiro+ 8' 54"
134Andrei Nechita+ 8' 54"
135Rigoberto Urán+ 8' 54"
136Maximiliano Richeze+ 8' 54"
137Hrvoje Miholjević+ 8' 54"
138Winner Anacona+ 8' 54"
139Svein Tuft+ 8' 54"
140Radoslav Rogina+ 8' 54"
141Iván Casas+ 8' 54"
142Kristijan Đurasek+ 8' 54"
143Daniel Teklehaymanot+ 8' 54"
144Yuriy Metlushenko+ 8' 54"
145Oleksandr Sheydyk+ 8' 54"
146Carlos Oyarzun+ 8' 54"
147Anatoliy Pakhtusov+ 8' 54"
148Gonzalo Garrido+ 8' 54"
149Gregory Panizo+ 8' 54"
150Laurent Didier+ 8' 54"
151Michał Gołaś+ 8' 54"
152Julian Dean+ 8' 54"
153Oleksandr Kvachuk+ 8' 54"
154Ben Gastauer+ 8' 54"
155Maciej Bodnar+ 8' 54"
156Bartosz Huzarski+ 8' 54"
157Matthew Busche+ 8' 54"
158Bernhard Eisel+ 8' 54"
159Mikhail Ignatiev+ 8' 54"
160Alexander Porsev+ 8' 54"
161Timofey Kritskiy+ 8' 54"
162Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy+ 8' 54"
163Sergey Renev+ 8' 54"
164Luis León Sánchez+ 8' 54"
165Niki Terpstra+ 8' 54"
166Tony Martin+ 8' 54"
167John Murphy+ 8' 54"
168Kanstantsin Sivtsov+ 8' 54"
169Dmitry Fofonov+ 8' 54"
170Thor Hushovd+ 8' 54"
171Andreas Klier+ 8' 54"
172Samuel Dumoulin+ 8' 54"
173Jeff Louder+ 8' 54"
174Timmy Duggan+ 8' 54"
175Greg Van Avermaet+ 9' 10"
176Marcel Kittel+ 9' 16"
177Johan Vansummeren+ 9' 16"
Steve Cummings
Tanel KangertDNF
Chris FroomeDNF
Abdelati SaâdouneDNF
Honorio MachadoDNF
Amir ZargariDNF
Ferekalsi DebesayDNF
Jan BártaDNF
Andrei SartassovDNF
Krisztián LovassyDNF
Semere MengisDNF
Adil JelloulDNF
Bert GrabschDNF
Jempy DruckerDNF
Fränk SchleckDNF
Ivan StevićDNF
Michael BarryDNF
Stefan DeniflDNF
Tomislav DančulovićDNF
Mert MutluDNF
Leonardo DuqueDNF
Blel KadriDNF
Petr BenčíkDNF
Artur GarcíaDNF
Andrew TalanskyDNF
Vicente ReynèsDNF
Christian PoosDNF
Adnane AarbiaDNF
Mouhssine LahsainiDNF
Ismail AyouneDNF
Mohammed Said El AmmouryDNF
Otávio BulgarelliDNF
Roman Kreuziger