Alpecin-Deceuninck's Axel Laurance wins under-23 men's World Championships with breakaway and strong solo win

After Mathieu van der Poel, Alpecin-Deceuninck has taken another world title as the men's under-23 road race has been won by Axel Laurance who was part of the early breakaway of the day.

The men's under-23 race saw quite a bit of rain early on and as soon as the riders hit the circuit in Glasgow crashes were aplenty and so were attacks. Offensive racing, as expected, was rewarding, and a group containing a few breakaway survivors and attackers formed to become the most dangerous of the race.

In it were under-23 time-trial World Champion Lorenzo Milesi and Axel Laurance, a group of 8 which saw Iván Romeo bridging across, whilst in the peloton countless attacks looked to close the gap. This proved to be too difficult, and small groups slowly began forging clear of the peloton.

Laurance, perhaps the strongest in the front group, attacked with 26 kilometers to go as a small group containing António Morgado and Martin Svrcek was close to reaching the front of the group. The duo connected with other survivors of the front group which then began chasing the Frenchman.

Svrcek, Morgado, Milesi, Moritz Kretschky and Jack Rootkin-Gray formed the group that entered the final kilometers with a small gap behind Laurance. The gap remained stable but no-one could jump across the gap.

Laurance had an incredibly small gap entering the finishing straight but it was enough. Alpecin-Deceuninck have taken yet another world title as he crossed the line alone. António Morgado sprinted to second place whilst Martin Svrcek was third with the final medal.

Results powered by FirstCycling.com