# 2021 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race

The men's road race of the 2021 UCI Road World Championships was a cycling event that took place on 26 September 2021 from Antwerp to Leuven, Belgium. Defending champion Julian Alaphilippe of France won the event in a solo victory.

## Qualification

Qualification was based mainly on the UCI World Ranking by nations as of 17 August 2021.

### UCI World Rankings

The following nations qualified.
| Criterium | Rank | Number of riders | Number of riders | Nations |
| Criterium | Rank | To enter | To start | Nations |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 1–10 | 13 | 8 | Belgium Slovenia France Netherlands Great Britain Italy Spain Denmark Australia Colombia |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 11–20 | 9 | 6 | Germany Ecuador Switzerland PortugalRussian Cycling Federation Norway Ireland Poland United States Canada |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 21–30 | 7 | 4 | New Zealand South Africa Austria Kazakhstan Czech Republic Estonia Slovakia Ukraine Eritrea Latvia |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 31–50 | 2 | 1 | Luxembourg Belarus Sweden Algeria Panama Romania Lithuania Hungary Greece Mexico Thailand Guatemala Mongolia Japan Uruguay Chile Finland Venezuela Puerto Rico Albania |
| UCI World Ranking by Individuals (if not already qualified) | 1–200 | 2 | 1 | — |

### Continental champions

| Name | Country | Reason |
| Richard Carapaz | Ecuador | Olympic Champion |
| Julian Alaphilippe | France | Outgoing World Champion |
| Ryan Gibbons | South Africa | African Champion |

### Participating nations

194 cyclists from 45 nations competed in the event. The number of cyclists per nation is shown in parentheses.
* Albania (1)
* Australia (8)
* Austria (4)
* Belarus (1)
* Belgium (8)
* Canada (6)
* Colombia (8)
* Czech Republic (4)
* Denmark (8)
* Ecuador (6)
* Eritrea (4)
* Estonia (4)
* France (9)
* Germany (6)
* Great Britain (8)
* Greece (1)
* Hungary (1)
* Ireland (3)
* Italy (8)
* Japan (1)
* Kazakhstan (4)
* Latvia (4)
* Lithuania (1)
* Luxembourg (2)
* Mexico (1)
* Mongolia (1)
* Netherlands (8)
* New Zealand (4)
* Norway (6)
* Panama (1)
* Poland (6)
* Portugal (5)
* Romania (1)
* Russian Cycling Federation (6)
* Slovakia (4)
* Slovenia (8)
* South Africa (4)
* Spain (8)
* Sweden (2)
* Switzerland (6)
* Thailand (1)
* Ukraine (4)
* Uruguay (1)
* United States (6)
* Venezuela (1)

## Final classification

Of the race's 194 entrants, 68 riders completed the full distance of 268.3 kilometres (166.7 mi).
| Rank | Rider | Country | Time |
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe | France | 5h 56' 34" |
| 2 | Dylan van Baarle | Netherlands | + 32" |
| 3 | Michael Valgren | Denmark | + 32" |
| 4 | Jasper Stuyven | Belgium | + 32" |
| 5 | Neilson Powless | United States | + 32" |
| 6 | Tom Pidcock | Great Britain | + 49" |
| 7 | Zdeněk Štybar | Czech Republic | + 1' 06" |
| 8 | Mathieu van der Poel | Netherlands | + 1' 18" |
| 9 | Florian Sénéchal | France | + 1' 18" |
| 10 | Sonny Colbrelli | Italy | + 1' 18" |
| 11 | Wout van Aert | Belgium | + 1' 18" |
| 12 | Markus Hoelgaard | Norway | + 1' 18" |
| 13 | Valentin Madouas | France | + 1' 18" |
| 14 | Matej Mohorič | Slovenia | + 4' 00" |
| 15 | Giacomo Nizzolo | Italy | + 4' 05" |
| 16 | Nils Politt | Germany | + 5' 25" |
| 17 | Guillaume Boivin | Canada | + 5' 25" |
| 18 | Jan Polanc | Slovenia | + 5' 25" |
| 19 | Benoît Cosnefroy | France | + 5' 30" |
| 20 | Victor Campenaerts | Belgium | + 5' 30" |
| 21 | Alexander Kristoff | Norway | + 6' 27" |
| 22 | Mike Teunissen | Netherlands | + 6' 27" |
| 23 | Iván García Cortina | Spain | + 6' 27" |
| 24 | Diego Ulissi | Italy | + 6' 27" |
| 25 | Michael Matthews | Australia | + 6' 27" |
| 26 | Peter Sagan | Slovakia | + 6' 27" |
| 27 | Dylan Teuns | Belgium | + 6' 27" |
| 28 | Sebastian Schönberger | Austria | + 6' 27" |
| 29 | Bauke Mollema | Netherlands | + 6' 27" |
| 30 | Luka Mezgec | Slovenia | + 6' 27" |
| 31 | Tiesj Benoot | Belgium | + 6' 27" |
| 32 | Petr Vakoč | Czech Republic | + 6' 27" |
| 33 | Sven Erik Bystrøm | Norway | + 6' 27" |
| 34 | Vegard Stake Laengen | Norway | + 6' 27" |
| 35 | Ethan Hayter | Great Britain | + 6' 27" |
| 36 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Poland | + 6' 27" |
| 37 | Tadej Pogačar | Slovenia | + 6' 27" |
| 38 | Patrick Gamper | Austria | + 6' 27" |
| 39 | Rui Oliveira | Portugal | + 6' 27" |
| 40 | Artem Nych | Russian Cycling Federation | + 6' 31" |
| 41 | Stefan Küng | Switzerland | + 6' 31" |
| 42 | Gorka Izagirre | Spain | + 6' 31" |
| 43 | Imanol Erviti | Spain | + 6' 31" |
| 44 | Gonzalo Serrano | Spain | + 6' 31" |
| 45 | Silvan Dillier | Switzerland | + 6' 31" |
| 46 | Cesare Benedetti | Poland | + 6' 31" |
| 47 | João Almeida | Portugal | + 6' 31" |
| 48 | Primož Roglič | Slovenia | + 6' 31" |
| 49 | Yukiya Arashiro | Japan | + 6' 31" |
| 50 | Merhawi Kudus | Eritrea | + 6' 31" |
| 51 | Rasmus Tiller | Norway | + 6' 31" |
| 52 | Emīls Liepiņš | Latvia | + 6' 31" |
| 53 | Carlos Rodríguez | Spain | + 6' 39" |
| 54 | Michael Gogl | Austria | + 6' 40" |
| 55 | Nelson Oliveira | Portugal | + 6' 40" |
| 56 | Arnaud Démare | France | + 6' 48" |
| 57 | Lawson Craddock | United States | + 6' 49" |
| 58 | Gianni Moscon | Italy | + 6' 52" |
| 59 | Roger Adrià | Spain | + 7' 04" |
| 60 | Toms Skujiņš | Latvia | + 7' 07" |
| 61 | Yves Lampaert | Belgium | + 7' 22" |
| 62 | Remco Evenepoel | Belgium | + 7' 22" |
| 63 | Fabian Lienhard | Switzerland | + 15' 43" |
| 64 | Esteban Chaves | Colombia | + 15' 43" |
| 65 | Nelson Soto | Colombia | + 17' 18" |
| 66 | Pascal Eenkhoorn | Netherlands | + 17' 18" |
| 67 | Nikias Arndt | Germany | + 17' 18" |
| 68 | Georg Zimmermann | Germany | + 17' 18" |
| Rider | Country | Time |
| Anthony Turgis | France | DNF |
| Danny van Poppel | Netherlands | DNF |
| Tim Declercq | Belgium | DNF |
| Dmitry Strakhov | Russian Cycling Federation | DNF |
| Jake Stewart | Great Britain | DNF |
| Natnael Berhane | Eritrea | DNF |
| Caleb Ewan | Australia | DNF |
| Alex Aranburu | Spain | DNF |
| Sergey Chernetskiy | Russian Cycling Federation | DNF |
| Rigoberto Urán | Colombia | DNF |
| Łukasz Owsian | Poland | DNF |
| Hugo Houle | Canada | DNF |
| Antoine Duchesne | Canada | DNF |
| Yevgeniy Gidich | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Barnabás Peák | Hungary | DNF |
| Metkel Eyob | Eritrea | DNF |
| Nickolas Zukowsky | Canada | DNF |
| Jayde Julius | South Africa | DNF |
| Igor Boev | Russian Cycling Federation | DNF |
| Byron Guamá | Ecuador | DNF |
| Fernando Gaviria | Colombia | DNF |
| Andreas Kron | Denmark | DNF |
| Mikkel Frølich Honoré | Denmark | DNF |
| Mads Pedersen | Denmark | DNF |
| Nathan Haas | Australia | DNF |
| Alex Kirsch | Luxembourg | DNF |
| Marco Haller | Austria | DNF |
| Joel Levi Burbano | Ecuador | DNF |
| Brandon McNulty | United States | DNF |
| Rafael Reis | Portugal | DNF |
| Harry Sweeny | Australia | DNF |
| Eduard-Michael Grosu | Romania | DNF |
| Kim Magnusson | Sweden | DNF |
| Eric Antonio Fagundez | Uruguay | DNF |
| Juraj Sagan | Slovakia | DNF |
| Andriy Kulyk | Ukraine | DNF |
| Pascal Ackermann | Germany | DNF |
| Mykhaylo Kononenko | Ukraine | DNF |
| Juan Sebastián Molano | Colombia | DNF |
| Daniil Fominykh | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Yuriy Natarov | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Kevin Geniets | Luxembourg | DNF |
| Clément Russo | France | DNF |
| Reinardt Janse van Rensburg | South Africa | DNF |
| David Per | Slovenia | DNF |
| Lluís Mas | Spain | DNF |
| Ryan Mullen | Ireland | DNF |
| Pier-André Côté | Canada | DNF |
| Krists Neilands | Latvia | DNF |
| André Carvalho | Portugal | DNF |
| Quinn Simmons | United States | DNF |
| Oscar Riesebeek | Netherlands | DNF |
| Ben Perry | Canada | DNF |
| Andrea Bagioli | Italy | DNF |
| Domen Novak | Slovenia | DNF |
| Connor Swift | Great Britain | DNF |
| Patrik Tybor | Slovakia | DNF |
| Jan Tratnik | Slovenia | DNF |
| Mārtiņš Pluto | Latvia | DNF |
| Michał Gołaś | Poland | DNF |
| Matteo Trentin | Italy | DNF |
| Alessandro De Marchi | Italy | DNF |
| Marc Hirschi | Switzerland | DNF |
| Ryan Gibbons | South Africa | DNF |
| Maciej Bodnar | Poland | DNF |
| Luke Durbridge | Australia | DNF |
| Mads Würtz Schmidt | Denmark | DNF |
| Connor Brown | New Zealand | DNF |
| Ben Swift | Great Britain | DNF |
| Mark Cavendish | Great Britain | DNF |
| Magnus Cort | Denmark | DNF |
| Eddie Dunbar | Ireland | DNF |
| Mikkel Bjerg | Denmark | DNF |
| Erik Baška | Slovakia | DNF |
| Pavel Kochetkov | Russian Cycling Federation | DNF |
| Oleksandr Prevar | Ukraine | DNF |
| Petr Rikunov | Russian Cycling Federation | DNF |
| Odd Christian Eiking | Norway | DNF |
| Jambaljamts Sainbayar | Mongolia | DNF |
| Sergio Higuita | Colombia | DNF |
| Jack Bauer | New Zealand | DNF |
| Leonidas Sebastián Novoa | Ecuador | DNF |
| Michael Schär | Switzerland | DNF |
| Miles Scotson | Australia | DNF |
| Lucas Eriksson | Sweden | DNF |
| Ylber Sefa | Albania | DNF |
| Oskar Nisu | Estonia | DNF |
| Max Schachmann | Germany | DNF |
| Stefan Bissegger | Switzerland | DNF |
| Tom Scully | New Zealand | DNF |
| Evaldas Šiškevičius | Lithuania | DNF |
| Orluis Aular | Venezuela | DNF |
| Matteo Jorgenson | United States | DNF |
| Wilson Haro | Ecuador | DNF |
| Fred Wright | Great Britain | DNF |
| Cristian Pita | Ecuador | DNF |
| Josef Černý | Czech Republic | DNF |
| Norman Vahtra | Estonia | DNF |
| Karl Patrick Lauk | Estonia | DNF |
| Dmitriy Gruzdev | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Sebastian Langeveld | Netherlands | DNF |
| Gustav Basson | South Africa | DNF |
| Álvaro Hodeg | Colombia | DNF |
| Sarawut Sirironnachai | Thailand | DNF |
| Rory Townsend | Ireland | DNF |
| Polychronis Tzortzakis | Greece | DNF |
| Stanisław Aniołkowski | Poland | DNF |
| Luke Rowe | Great Britain | DNF |
| Eder Frayre | Mexico | DNF |
| Robin Carpenter | United States | DNF |
| Martin Laas | Estonia | DNF |
| José Tito Hernández | Colombia | DNF |
| John Degenkolb | Germany | DNF |
| Anatoliy Budyak | Ukraine | DNF |
| Franklin Archibold | Panama | DNF |
| Aleksandr Riabushenko | Belarus | DNF |
| Nick Schultz | New Zealand | DNF |
| Michael Kukrle | Czech Republic | DNF |
| Rémi Cavagna | France | DNF |
| Dawit Yemane | Eritrea | DNF |
| Kasper Asgreen | Denmark | DNF |
| Shane Archbold | New Zealand | DNF |
| Robert Stannard | Australia | DNF |
| Davide Ballerini | Italy | DNF |
| Christophe Laporte | France | DNF |
| Benjamín Quinteros | Ecuador | DNS |