Cycling: Filippo Baroncini won the gold medal in the road race in the U23 class. The Italian broke away a few kilometers before the finish line and, as a soloist, saved himself a few seconds ahead of the chasing group across the finish line. The Norwegian Per Strand Hagenes triumphed in the juniors.
Eritrea's Biniam Ghirmay wins silver
Filippo Baroncini is the new U23 world champion in road racing. In an extremely exciting and eventful race, the Italian saved himself two seconds ahead of his pursuers across the finish line. There the Eritreans sprinted Biniam Ghirmay before the Dutchman Olav Kooij to the silver medal. At first, a trio led the race on the 161,1-kilometer course from Antwerp to Leuven. But around 35 kilometers from the finish, the escapees were caught again, also because one of them got lost. Eventually, eleven pros left the peloton, including with Mauro Schmid. The Swiss tried his luck as a soloist shortly before being caught, but was caught a few kilometers from the finish. Then Filippo Baroncini tried – with success! After the silver medal in the EM road race, the Italian can now look forward to gold at the World Championships. Best German was Nicholas Markl in rank 15. Tobias Bayer from Austria and Fabio Christians from Switzerland finished 11th and 16th.
🇮🇹The attack was planned and the plan worked 🌈# Flanders2021 pic.twitter.com/9Cosxw7KMX
- UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 24, 2021
Alexander Hajek narrowly missed out on bronze
For the first time in the history of the Road World Championships, a Norwegian has been crowned Junior World Champion. The 18 year old Per Hagenes Beach won ahead of his peers Romain Gregoire from France and Madis Mihkels from Estonia. In doing so, Per Strand Hagenes took revenge on Romain Grégoire, because only a few days earlier he had to admit defeat to him in the European Championship road race. Thanks to his courageous attack over the last 121,4 kilometers, he finished the 6-kilometer World Championship race with start and finish in Leuven with a lead of 19 and 24 seconds over his pursuers. The Austrian lost the sprint for third place Alexander Hajek as fifth was only just Best German Luis Joe Lührs as a tenth. He was part of a breakaway early in the race that was never given a big lead.
World class performance ✅
World class celebration ✅Per Hagene's beach 👏 # Flanders2021 pic.twitter.com/NyiP1PFDMK
- UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 24, 2021