BiciRace.com

• News
• Races
• Photos
• Interviews
• Inside Scoop
• Gear & Gadgets

World Championships, Austria

Road Race, Salzburg, 265.2K

24 September

Bettini Conquers the World

Main
Profile, Overall Map
Photos
2005 Results

Italian Paolo Bettini conquered the 2006 World Championships, taking the sprint over Erik Zabel (Germany) and Alejandro Valverde (Spain). Il Grillo tried his luck on the climbs but was pulled back by an overly strong and large gruppo. On the final lap, after a solo effort by compatriot Rebellin, Bettini departed on the wheel of Zabel, who was led by Sánchez for Valverde. Bettini fulfilled his dream, adding the rainbow jersey to an almost flawless palmarès.

The cycling world lined up in Salzburg for 2006 World Championships. At stake was the right to wear the rainbow jersey and cycling stardom. The riders were subject to 12 laps of 22.2K before the final winner would be known; after 265.8K of international fist fighting. Every 22.2K lap the riders would face an up (Zilling, 8.4k), down, up (Elixhausen, 13.2k) and down to the start-finish (9K after the last "up".)

An early escape started to form by the end of the first lap when Mauricio Ardila Cano (Colombia) went free, being joined later by Americano Tyler Farrar. The duo became a serious force when other riders bridged up; forming the day's big escape. Joining were: Nicholas Roche (Ireland), Matteo Tosatto and Rinaldo Nocentini (Italy), Jurgen Van Goolen (Belgium), Bram De Groot (Netherlands), Daniel Petrov (Bulgaria), Luis Pérez (Spain), Stephan Schreck (Germany), Aliaksandr Kychinski (Belarus) and Thomas Voeckler (France).

Crossing the Zilling and Elixhausen lap after lap, the escape was given an advantage that was only to be taken away. They reached a max gap of 15 minutes but by 72 kilometers to go they only had 1 minute in hand. The Swiss, Austrian and Dutch teams put in a massive effort to bring the boys back into sight, and now there, the race was about ready to reshape.

Before the start of 3 laps to go, there was a power shift. Some big names made it across to the shrinking escape, including Italians Filippo Pozzato and Danilo Di Luca, making four Azzurri in the lead 25. Also joining were power-players Philippe Gilbert (Belgium), Andrey Kashechkin (Kazakhstan) and Stefan Schumacher (Germany).

Over the next 22K the newly formed escape group did little to ensure freedom. Random attacks here and there broke the dynamics of the escape group. At -2 laps and -44K, the group had 30" ahead of the peloton being led by the red and white colors of Spain. Juan Antonio Flecha was driving the front of the peloton, followed by a handful of Australians (intent on having a bunch finish for Robbie McEwen.)

Alessandro Ballan took over at the front, stringing out the group behind and setting up for a Bettini launch. Bettini went, trying to keep the race aggressive, but unfortunately was only joined by one rider. German Fabian Wegmann worked with Il Grillo but on the downhill run, after the top of the Elixhausen, the duo was brought back.

The significance was scary. A rider like Bettini could not form an escape group strong enough to stay away from sprinters like Boonen, McEwen and Zabel. Heading into the last lap, it looked like we were going to be in for a sprint finish. In fact, BiciRace.com was caught up in a long discussion with our colleagues, wondering when we were ever going to be given a Worlds parcours strong enough to produce a true attacking finish. Last one we could remember was in Hamilton, where the final climb left a rapid descent and little in the form of flat roads.

After Bettini was caught, Tin-Tin Rebellin counter attacked with David Loosli (Switzerland). Il Veronese was looking very much like a team player on the squadra Azzurra after a five year absence. The duo's move was brought back and the bunch was once again spread out by Alessandro Ballan, first with the help of compatriot Marzio Bruseghin. The two Italians were doing what they could to bust up the group, shatter the spirits of the sprinters, making it easier for a Bettini escape.

Ballan was swept up (-15K) by Samuel Sánchez and Valverde for Spain, Bettini, Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) and Schumacher. The move did not last. Vino launched at the top of the Zilling but he was quickly stomped, leaving -12K.

Italian Luca Paolini smartly launched at the base of the Elixhausen. The move made way for captain Bettini, two Dutch, Kroon and Boogerd, German Wegmann and British David Millar. Bettini immediately went off the front of this move, looking overly excited to get to the finish. Italian DS Ballerini must have been screaming in his ear piece to ease up and work with the five chasers, but by the time Bettini eased off, the peloton was there again.

Curse words were heard all around; the fans and journalists were not pleased. We were about ready to see another sprint finish to the World Championships. The organizers, once again, were leaving us with a parcours that did not weed out the sprinters.

With -6K to go, Ballerini must have been thinking, "man, I wish I had brought a sprinter like Daniele Bennati." Or maybe not. Maybe the Italian DS was had another plan.

Tin-Tin was sent up the road with 5 kilometers remaining. It put the sprinters' teams on their back foot, forcing a chase while Il Grillo was positioning himself. The small gap was hard to maintain by the Verona rider, who was pulled back by a disorganized looking bunch at -2K.

Bettini was planted on Belgian Tom Boonen's wheel when Sánchez whipped to the front with Valverde to start the final kilometer. The Spanish duo led under an overpass, back into the daylight and around the left-hand turn with a gap. On the wheel of the Spanish duo were Zabel and Bettini.

The foursome were going to play out the 2006 Worlds. Zabel was the quickest sprinter on paper but after 265 kilometers anything can happen. Sánchez peeled off, leaving Valverde who struggled to find his legs as Zabel opened the throttle. Bettini was there; ready to add a World Championship title to his 2004 Olympic Gold medal.

The grit and sprint of Bettini was impressive, coming around the German speedster just in time to claim the rainbow kit. The disappointed look on Zabel face was sad, but we had seen it before. Valverde and Sánchez, well heck, Spain rode a great race, second only to the Squadra Azzurra.

"I was upset because maybe this course was too easy," said Bettini after being crowned king of the cycling world." Last night, I explained to the team, 'don't worry, we will attack and attack.' The important part was to make the sprinters tired after 260 kilometers."

"In the end, when I remained solo, I knew it would be hard to remain away to the end. I rejoined the group, but did not lose focus on the race. I worked to stay with Vinokourov and the others. Rebellin gave it all and I stayed calm. Pozzato did great work. Then again, with 800 meters to go, I went into another escape. This one worked. The thing that is so impressive is the way that we worked well as a team."

"Now I can say that I have won it all; The Olympics and [interrupted by Erik Zabel]. Zabel is a great. If I did not win, I would have been very happy for him to win. With this and the Olympic Gold... It is perfect. My career has been perfect. This is magnificent. I will be back with the Worlds jersey next week, finally!"

Results: 6:15'36", 42.476 K/h
1 Paolo Bettini (Italy)
2 Erik Zabel (Germany)
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
4 Samuel Sánchez (Spain) 0.02
5 Robbie McEwen (Australia)
6 Stuart O'Grady (Australia)
7 Uros Murn (Slovenia)
8 Alexandre Botcharov (Russia)
9 Tom Boonen (Belgium)
10 Vladimir Gusev (Russia)
11 Bernhard Eisel (Austria)
12 Nicki Sørensen (Denmark)
13 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Norway)
14 Martin Elmiger (Switzerland)
15 Fred Rodriguez (USA)
16 Karsten Kroon (Netherlands)
17 Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden)
18 René Haselbacher (Austria)
19 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary)
20 Gerben Löwik (Netherlands)
21 Stefan Schumacher (Germany)
22 Steffen Wesemann (Switzerland)
23 Christophe Le Mevel (France)
24 Anthony Geslin (France)
25 Andrey Kashechkin (Kazakhstan)
26 Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia)
27 Matija Kvasina (Croatia)
28 Michael Boogerd (Netherlands)
29 Fränk Schleck (Luxembourg)
30 Moisés Aldape Chavez (Mexico)
31 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
32 Gorazd Stangelj (Slovenia)
33 Nuno Ribeiro (Portugal)
34 Danilo Di Luca (Italy)
35 David Millar (Great Britain)
36 Xavier Florencio (Spain)
37 Gregory Rast (Switzerland)
38 Luca Paolini (Italy)
39 David George (South Africa)
40 Cadel Evans (Australia)
41 Rui Miguel Sousa Barbosa (Portugal)
42 Sergio Paulinho (Portugal)
43 Vladimir Karpets (Russia)
44 Alexandr Arekeev (Russia)
45 Sylvain Chavanel (France)
46 Tadej Valjavec (Slovenia) 0.15
47 Chris Horner (USA)
48 Davide Rebellin (Italy)
49 Carlos Sastre (Spain)
50 Michael Rogers (Australia)
51 Filippo Pozzato (Italy)
52 Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan)
53 Serguei Yakovlev (Kazakhstan) 0.34
54 Fabian Wegmann (Germany) 0.56
55 Marlon Pérez (Colombia) 1.25
56 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus)
57 Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia) 1.53
58 Jose Carlos Silva Rodrigues (Portugal)
59 Radoslav Rogina (Croatia)
60 Jan Valach (Slovakia)
61 Alexandre Usov (Belarus)
62 Roger Hammond (Great Britain)
63 Ruslan Pidgornyy (Ukraine)
64 Dainius Kairelis (Lithuania)
65 Georg Totschnig (Austria)
66 Stijn Devolder (Belgium)
67 Max Van Heeswijk (Netherlands)
68 Christian Vande Velde (USA)
69 Aurélien Clerc (Switzerland)
70 Cyril Dessel (France)
71 Sébastien Joly (France)
72 Joaquím Rodríguez (Spain)
73 Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
74 Lars Bak (Denmark)
75 Nick Nuyens (Belgium)
76 Borut Bozic (Slovenia) 2.02
77 Erki Pütsep (Estonia) 3.33
78 Alexandre Bazhenov (Russia) 3.43
79 Przemyslaw Niemec (Poland)
80 Daniel Petrov (Bulgaria)
81 Jurgen Van Goolen (Belgium) 6.19
82 Martin Riska (Slovakia)
83 Matej Mugerli (Slovenia)
83 Kjell Carlström (Finland)
85 Nelson Victorino (Portugal)
86 Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic)
87 Alessandro Ballan (Italy)
88 Simon Gerrans (Australia)
89 Vladimir Efimkin (Russia)
90 Bram Tankink (Netherlands)
91 Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)
92 Thomas Voeckler (France)
93 Sylvain Calzati (France)
94 Alexander Efimkin (Russia)
95 Robert Hunter (South Africa)
96 Beat Zberg (Switzerland)
97 Alexei Markov (Russia)
98 Christian Knees (Germany)
99 Mathew Hayman (Australia)
100 Mauricio Ardila Cano (Colombia)
101 Patrick McCarty (USA)
102 Oliver Zaugg (Switzerland)
103 Tomas Buchacek (Czech Republic)
104 David Loosli (Switzerland)
105 Patrik Sinkewitz (Germany)
106 Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia)
107 Francisco José Ventoso (Spain)
108 Luis Pérez (Spain)
109 Volodymyr Zagorodniy (Ukraine)
110 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine)
111 Gabriel Rasch (Norway)
112 Thor Hushovd (Norway)
113 Iñigo Cuesta (Spain) 6.59
114 Christian Pfannberger (Austria)
115 Danny Pate (USA)
116 Marzio Bruseghin (Italy)