# 2020 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race

The Men's road race of the 2020 UCI Road World Championships was a cycling event that took place on 27 September 2020 in Imola, Italy. Mads Pedersen was the defending champion, but he did not compete in the race.
For the first time since 1997, a French male rider won the rainbow jersey as Julian Alaphilippe attacked on the final climb of the Cima Gallisterna; he managed to hold off a chasing group of five riders by 24 seconds to take victory at the finish line, at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The silver medal went to Belgium's Wout van Aert – his second of the week – while the bronze medal was taken by Marc Hirschi from Switzerland.
The race took place on a 28.8 kilometres (17.9 mi) course, starting and finishing at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari (a motor racing circuit). Heading out from the Autodromo into the Emilia-Romagna countryside, the course used two climbs with an average gradient of 10% separated by the town of Riolo Terme, before returning to the Autodromo. The men's road race lapped the course nine times, making a total of 258.2 kilometres (160.4 mi).

## Qualification

Qualification was based mainly on the UCI World Ranking by nations as of 17 March 2020.

### 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 Italy France Colombia Netherlands Germany Slovenia Australia Spain Denmark |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 11–20 | 9 | 6 | Great Britain Norway Switzerland Russia Austria Ireland Kazakhstan Poland Ecuador Slovakia |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 21–30 | 7 | 4 | Canada Portugal South Africa Czech Republic United States Estonia Eritrea Algeria New Zealand Latvia |
| UCI World Ranking by Nations | 31–52 | 2 | 1 | Turkey Belarus Luxembourg Ukraine Costa Rica Japan Greece Romania Hungary Morocco Venezuela Iran Azerbaijan Lithuania Sweden Rwanda Guatemala Mexico Hong Kong Argentina China Moldova |
| UCI World Ranking by Individuals (if not already qualified) | 1–200 | 2 | 1 | — |

### Participating nations

177 cyclists from 43 nations competed in the event. The number of cyclists per nation is shown in parentheses.
* Australia (8)
* Austria (6)
* Azerbaijan (1)
* Belarus (1)
* Belgium (8)
* Canada (4)
* Colombia (8)
* Costa Rica (1)
* Czech Republic (4)
* Denmark (8)
* Ecuador (3)
* Eritrea (3)
* Estonia (2)
* France (8)
* Germany (8)
* Great Britain (6)
* Greece (1)
* Hungary (1)
* Ireland (3)
* Italy (8)
* Japan (1)
* Kazakhstan (6)
* Latvia (3)
* Lithuania (1)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Mexico (1)
* Morocco (1)
* Netherlands (8)
* New Zealand (4)
* Norway (6)
* Poland (6)
* Portugal (4)
* Romania (1)
* Russia (6)
* Rwanda (1)
* Slovakia (5)
* Slovenia (8)
* South Africa (2)
* Spain (8)
* Sweden (1)
* Switzerland (6)
* Ukraine (1)
* United States (4)

## Final classification

177 cyclists were listed to start the 258.2-kilometre (160.4 mi)-long course. However, Alexey Lutsenko was forced to withdraw from the race after testing positive for COVID-19, while Nikias Arndt and Natnael Berhane also did not start. 88 riders completed the full distance.
| Rank | Rider | Country | Time |
| 1 | Julian Alaphilippe | France | 6h 38' 34" |
| 2 | Wout van Aert | Belgium | + 24" |
| 3 | Marc Hirschi | Switzerland | + 24" |
| 4 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Poland | + 24" |
| 5 | Jakob Fuglsang | Denmark | + 24" |
| 6 | Primož Roglič | Slovenia | + 24" |
| 7 | Michael Matthews | Australia | + 53" |
| 8 | Alejandro Valverde | Spain | + 53" |
| 9 | Maximilian Schachmann | Germany | + 53" |
| 10 | Damiano Caruso | Italy | + 53" |
| 11 | Michael Valgren | Denmark | + 53" |
| 12 | Michael Woods | Canada | + 53" |
| 13 | Guillaume Martin | France | + 53" |
| 14 | Tom Dumoulin | Netherlands | + 53" |
| 15 | Vincenzo Nibali | Italy | + 57" |
| 16 | Mikel Landa | Spain | + 57" |
| 17 | Simon Geschke | Germany | + 1' 34" |
| 18 | Alberto Bettiol | Italy | + 1' 34" |
| 19 | Rudy Molard | France | + 1' 34" |
| 20 | Pello Bilbao | Spain | + 1' 34" |
| 21 | Greg Van Avermaet | Belgium | + 1' 34" |
| 22 | Richard Carapaz | Ecuador | + 1' 34" |
| 23 | Fausto Masnada | Italy | + 1' 34" |
| 24 | Rigoberto Urán | Colombia | + 1' 34" |
| 25 | Richie Porte | Australia | + 1' 34" |
| 26 | Rui Costa | Portugal | + 2' 03" |
| 27 | Jan Polanc | Slovenia | + 2' 03" |
| 28 | Jesús Herrada | Spain | + 2' 03" |
| 29 | Toms Skujiņš | Latvia | + 3' 40" |
| 30 | Tiesj Benoot | Belgium | + 3' 44" |
| 31 | Daniel Martínez | Colombia | + 3' 44" |
| 32 | Esteban Chaves | Colombia | + 3' 44" |
| 33 | Tadej Pogačar | Slovenia | + 3' 44" |
| 34 | Valentin Madouas | France | + 5' 15" |
| 35 | Dylan van Baarle | Netherlands | + 5' 48" |
| 36 | Markus Hoelgaard | Norway | + 5' 54" |
| 37 | Kenny Elissonde | France | + 8' 30" |
| 38 | Nelson Oliveira | Portugal | + 8' 49" |
| 39 | Tim Wellens | Belgium | + 9' 24" |
| 40 | Loïc Vliegen | Belgium | + 9' 24" |
| 41 | Miguel Ángel López | Colombia | + 9' 24" |
| 42 | Tom Pidcock | Great Britain | + 9' 24" |
| 43 | Giovanni Visconti | Italy | + 10' 32" |
| 44 | Simon Clarke | Australia | + 10' 32" |
| 45 | Sam Oomen | Netherlands | + 10' 32" |
| 46 | Enrico Gasparotto | Switzerland | + 10' 32" |
| 47 | Diego Ulissi | Italy | + 10' 32" |
| 48 | Sergio Higuita | Colombia | + 10' 32" |
| 49 | Vadim Pronskiy | Kazakhstan | + 10' 32" |
| 50 | Sergio Henao | Colombia | + 10' 32" |
| 51 | Nicolas Roche | Ireland | + 10' 32" |
| 52 | Luis León Sánchez | Spain | + 10' 32" |
| 53 | Sepp Kuss | United States | + 12' 35" |
| 54 | Sebastian Schönberger | Austria | + 15' 25" |
| 55 | Georg Zimmermann | Germany | + 15' 25" |
| 56 | Andreas Leknessund | Norway | + 15' 27" |
| 57 | Andrea Bagioli | Italy | + 15' 27" |
| 58 | Krists Neilands | Latvia | + 16' 20" |
| 59 | Jan Hirt | Czech Republic | + 19' 42" |
| 60 | Jonas Gregaard | Denmark | + 19' 42" |
| 61 | Hugo Houle | Canada | + 19' 42" |
| 62 | Dmitry Strakhov | Russia | + 20' 13" |
| 63 | Nico Denz | Germany | + 21' 59" |
| 64 | Jakub Otruba | Czech Republic | + 21' 59" |
| 65 | Casper Pedersen | Denmark | + 21' 59" |
| 66 | Paul Martens | Germany | + 21' 59" |
| 67 | Merhawi Kudus | Eritrea | + 21' 59" |
| 68 | Martijn Tusveld | Netherlands | + 21' 59" |
| 69 | Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier | Eritrea | + 21' 59" |
| 70 | Łukasz Owsian | Poland | + 21' 59" |
| 71 | Adam Ťoupalík | Czech Republic | + 21' 59" |
| 72 | Maciej Paterski | Poland | + 21' 59" |
| 73 | Carl Fredrik Hagen | Norway | + 21' 59" |
| 74 | Yuriy Natarov | Kazakhstan | + 21' 59" |
| 75 | Sergey Chernetskiy | Russia | + 21' 59" |
| 76 | Attila Valter | Hungary | + 21' 59" |
| 77 | Christopher Juul-Jensen | Denmark | + 21' 59" |
| 78 | Louis Meintjes | South Africa | + 21' 59" |
| 79 | Pieter Weening | Netherlands | + 21' 59" |
| 80 | Jonathan Caicedo | Ecuador | + 21' 59" |
| 81 | James Shaw | Great Britain | + 21' 59" |
| 82 | Ivan Rovny | Russia | + 21' 59" |
| 83 | Michał Gołaś | Poland | + 21' 59" |
| 84 | Torstein Træen | Norway | + 21' 59" |
| 85 | Lucas Eriksson | Sweden | + 21' 59" |
| 86 | Ethan Hayter | Great Britain | + 22' 03" |
| 87 | Anatoliy Budyak | Ukraine | + 28' 05" |
| 88 | Ivo Oliveira | Portugal | + 32' 08" |
| Rider | Country | Time |
| Gianluca Brambilla | Italy | DNF |
| James Knox | Great Britain | DNF |
| Jai Hindley | Australia | DNF |
| Dion Smith | New Zealand | DNF |
| Luke Rowe | Great Britain | DNF |
| Jasper Stuyven | Belgium | DNF |
| Pieter Serry | Belgium | DNF |
| Pascal Eenkhoorn | Netherlands | DNF |
| Antwan Tolhoek | Netherlands | DNF |
| Vegard Stake Laengen | Norway | DNF |
| Jesper Hansen | Denmark | DNF |
| Chris Hamilton | Australia | DNF |
| George Bennett | New Zealand | DNF |
| Nick Schultz | Australia | DNF |
| Yukiya Arashiro | Japan | DNF |
| Nans Peters | France | DNF |
| Julien Bernard | France | DNF |
| Quentin Pacher | France | DNF |
| John Degenkolb | Germany | DNF |
| Luka Mezgec | Slovenia | DNF |
| Enric Mas | Spain | DNF |
| David de la Cruz | Spain | DNF |
| Marc Soler | Spain | DNF |
| Alexander Cataford | Canada | DNF |
| Tanel Kangert | Estonia | DNF |
| Oliver Naesen | Belgium | DNF |
| Harold Tejada | Colombia | DNF |
| Denis Nekrasov | Russia | DNF |
| Jonas Koch | Germany | DNF |
| Alexandr Riabushenko | Belarus | DNF |
| Damien Howson | Australia | DNF |
| Janez Brajkovič | Slovenia | DNF |
| Neilson Powless | United States | DNF |
| Brandon McNulty | United States | DNF |
| Peeter Pruus | Estonia | DNF |
| Jan Tratnik | Slovenia | DNF |
| Jefferson Cepeda | Ecuador | DNF |
| Niklas Eg | Denmark | DNF |
| Ben Gastauer | Luxembourg | DNF |
| Vyacheslav Kuznetsov | Russia | DNF |
| Michael Albasini | Switzerland | DNF |
| Guillaume Boivin | Canada | DNF |
| Evaldas Šiškevičius | Lithuania | DNF |
| Domen Novak | Slovenia | DNF |
| Luke Durbridge | Australia | DNF |
| Tobias Bayer | Austria | DNF |
| Josef Černý | Czech Republic | DNF |
| Patrik Tybor | Slovakia | DNF |
| Mikkel Frølich Honoré | Denmark | DNF |
| Michael Schär | Switzerland | DNF |
| Ruben Guerreiro | Portugal | DNF |
| Cristian Camilo Muñoz | Colombia | DNF |
| Felix Gall | Austria | DNF |
| Riccardo Zoidl | Austria | DNF |
| Kamil Małecki | Poland | DNF |
| Daniil Fominykh | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Ben Healy | Ireland | DNF |
| Nick van der Lijke | Netherlands | DNF |
| Petr Rikunov | Russia | DNF |
| Silvan Dillier | Switzerland | DNF |
| Simon Pellaud | Switzerland | DNF |
| Finn Fisher-Black | New Zealand | DNF |
| Abderrahim Zahiri | Morocco | DNF |
| Odd Christian Eiking | Norway | DNF |
| Stanisław Aniołkowski | Poland | DNF |
| Viesturs Lukševics | Latvia | DNF |
| Patrick Bevin | New Zealand | DNF |
| Martin Haring | Slovakia | DNF |
| Kevin Rivera | Costa Rica | DNF |
| Luka Pibernik | Slovenia | DNF |
| Nicholas Dlamini | South Africa | DNF |
| Ulises Alfredo Castillo | Mexico | DNF |
| Eduard-Michael Grosu | Romania | DNF |
| Marco Friedrich | Austria | DNF |
| Hugh Carthy | Great Britain | DNF |
| Lawson Craddock | United States | DNF |
| Ján Andrej Cully | Slovakia | DNF |
| Marek Čanecký | Slovakia | DNF |
| Polychronis Tzortzakis | Greece | DNF |
| Juraj Bellan | Slovakia | DNF |
| Samuel Mugisha | Rwanda | DNF |
| Elchin Asadov | Azerbaijan | DNF |
| Dmitriy Gruzdev | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Markus Wildauer | Austria | DNF |
| Ryan Mullen | Ireland | DNF |
| Zhandos Bizhigitov | Kazakhstan | DNF |
| Nikias Arndt | Germany | DNS |
| Alexey Lutsenko | Kazakhstan | DNS |
| Natnael Berhane | Eritrea | DNS |