# 2010 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race

The Men's Individual Road Race of the 2010 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on 3 October in Melbourne and concluded in Geelong, Australia. Thor Hushovd claimed the World Championship in a sprint finish, to become the first Norwegian to win the World Championship road race.

## Route

The race started at Federation Square at Melbourne. For the first time, the World Championship route started and finished in different locations, with the riders traveling to Geelong before entering the finishing circuit. The route followed the West Gate Freeway and Princes Freeway, passing the Werribee River. Exiting at Bulban Road, the riders passed the You Yangs Regional Park, continued via Bacchus Marsh Road, then entered the Geelong circuit at Bell Parade. There were eleven laps around a 15.9 kilometre course through the Geelong suburbs, including South Geelong, Belmont, Highton, Queens Park, Newtown and Geelong West. The profile included two steep climbs, the first between 5 and 7 kilometres, the second between 9 and 11. The finish had a moderate uphill gradient.
Circuit practice, training and racing took place in Geelong from Thursday 23 September to Sunday 3 October.

## Race Report

The early breakaway consisted of 5 riders and was given a lead of up to 23 minutes by the peloton. In the break were Oleksandr Kvachuk, Mohammed Said Elammoury, Jackson Rodríguez, Diego Tamayo and Matt Brammeier. In between the break and the peloton rode Esad Hasanovic, who was chasing the lead group for several kilometres. He rode around 5 to 6 minutes behind them for some time. The breakaway almost lapped the peloton on the closing circuits, but the American and Belgian teams would increase the pace of the peloton and the gap began to fall. Elammoury was dropped by the other four with about 10 laps to go.
Kvachuk dropped Brammeier, Tamayo, and Rodriguez but by the end of the seventh lap the gap had fallen to about 5 minutes. Somewhat like the previous year's race, a large escape group went away, this time with 5 laps to go. The group contained 31 riders, including the previous year's champion Cadel Evans, his teammates Stuart O'Grady and Simon Gerrans, Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway, Belgian Philippe Gilbert, Dane Matti Breschel and 5 Italians including Vincenzo Nibali and Filippo Pozzato. The group survived until lap nine although the peloton, led on by Spain, never let them get much of a gap. On the ninth lap Nibali attacked which decimated the breakaway and the peloton behind. Evans, Gilbert, and Pozzato were chasing behind at the end of the 9th lap, with the peloton 49 seconds behind Nibali. However, the peloton kept the pressure high and had pulled back all the attackers, including the early breakaway at the beginning of the last lap.
On the final ascent of the Montpelier climb, Gilbert made an attack and Evans immediately tried to jump into his slipstream. However, Gilbert got away from Evans, who was absorbed by a chase group containing Paul Martens of Germany, Alexander Kolobnev of Russia, Koos Moerenhout of The Netherlands, and Fränk Schleck of Luxembourg. The group was not well organized and was brought back by the remnants of the peloton and Gilbert was also caught with 2 kilometers to go.
Russian Vladimir Gusev and Slovenian Janez Brajkovič attacked just before the 1 kilometer to go banner and were joined by Dutchman Niki Terpstra. Terpstra attacked with about 800 meters to go as the Danes tried to set up a sprint for Breschel. However, as soon as Terpstra was caught Belgian Greg Van Avermaet launched the sprint. Breschel passed Van Avermaet on the left-hand side but Thor Hushovd of Norway passed Breschel and held on to the finish line for the victory. Breschel would settle for 2nd while Allan Davis of Australia passed Van Avermaet for the bronze medal.

## National qualification

Nations in the top ten places of the UCI World Ranking on 15 August were permitted up to nine riders, although they were not permitted more than six unless they had at least seven riders in the rankings on that date. This happened to Kazakhstan, and as a result, one additional spot was awarded to Luxembourg, Slovenia and France (10th to 12 respectively in the rankings), although this concession had not been in the original documentation describing the allocation of places.
27 other qualifying nations were permitted no more than six riders. After allowing for the top ten in the world rankings, the continental rankings are to be used to identify sixteen further European nations, two countries from the UCI Africa Tour, five from the Americas, three Asian countries, and one representative of the Oceania tour.
Riders on teams that are members of a UCI ProTeam, but whose nation did not qualify, were eligible for additional places.

## Nation qualification

* 14 to be enrolled, 9 to start
* Spain
* Italy
* Belgium
* Australia
* United States
* Russia
* Switzerland
* Germany
* Netherlands
* 9 to be enrolled, 7 to start
* France
* Slovenia
* 14 to be enrolled, 6 to start
* Kazakhstan
* 9 to be enrolled, 6 to start
* Morocco
* Colombia
* Venezuela
* Iran
* Poland
* Portugal
* Ukraine
* Denmark
* 5 to be enrolled, 4 to start
* Luxembourg
* 5 to be enrolled, 3 to start
* South Africa
* Canada
* Brazil
* Argentina
* Japan
* South Korea
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* Lithuania
* Estonia
* Ireland
* Norway
* Great Britain
* Austria
* Serbia
* New Zealand
* Slovakia
* 3 to be enrolled, 2 to start
* Belarus
* Sweden
* 2 to be enrolled, 1 to start
* Uzbekistan
* Cuba
* Bolivia
* Uruguay
* Chile
* Guatemala
* Costa Rica
* Latvia
* Greece
* Romania

## Final classification

| Rank | Bib Number | Name | Country | Time |
| | 77 | Thor Hushovd | Norway | 6:21:49 |
| | 144 | Matti Breschel | Denmark | s.t. |
| | 3 | Allan Davis | Australia | s.t. |
| 4 | 24 | Filippo Pozzato | Italy | s.t. |
| 5 | 35 | Greg Van Avermaet | Belgium | s.t. |
| 6 | 12 | Óscar Freire | Spain | s.t. |
| 7 | 70 | Alexander Kolobnev | Russia | s.t. |
| 8 | 86 | Assan Bazayev | Kazakhstan | s.t. |
| 9 | 127 | Yukiya Arashiro | Japan | s.t. |
| 10 | 100 | Romain Feillu | France | s.t. |
| 11 | 91 | Grega Bole | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 12 | 88 | Dmitriy Fofonov | Kazakhstan | s.t. |
| 13 | 51 | Koos Moerenhout | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 14 | 63 | Fabian Wegmann | Germany | s.t. |
| 15 | 135 | André Cardoso | Portugal | s.t. |
| 16 | 66 | Fränk Schleck | Luxembourg | s.t. |
| 17 | 1 | Cadel Evans | Australia | s.t. |
| 18 | 31 | Philippe Gilbert | Belgium | s.t. |
| 19 | 53 | Niki Terpstra | Netherlands | +0:07 |
| 20 | 33 | Björn Leukemans | Belgium | s.t. |
| 21 | 68 | Vladimir Gusev | Russia | +0:13 |
| 22 | 93 | Janez Brajkovič | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 23 | 148 | Chris Sørensen | Denmark | s.t. |
| 24 | 145 | Anders Lund | Denmark | +0:15 |
| 25 | 60 | Paul Martens | Germany | s.t. |
| 26 | 104 | Yoann Offredo | France | +2:07 |
| 27 | 168 | Jonas Ljungblad | Sweden | +2:09 |
| 28 | 155 | Matija Kvasina | Croatia | +2:11 |
| 29 | 59 | Christian Knees | Germany | s.t. |
| 30 | 128 | Fumiyuki Beppu | Japan | s.t. |
| 31 | 96 | Simon Špilak | Slovenia | +2:13 |
| 32 | 101 | Cyril Gautier | France | s.t. |
| 33 | 178 | Kanstantsin Sivtsov | Belarus | s.t. |
| 34 | 111 | José Serpa | Colombia | s.t. |
| 35 | 161 | Juan José Haedo | Argentina | s.t. |
| 36 | 27 | Giovanni Visconti | Italy | s.t. |
| 37 | 19 | Marzio Bruseghin | Italy | +5:11 |
| 38 | 23 | Luca Paolini | Italy | s.t. |
| 39 | 18 | Haimar Zubeldia | Spain | s.t. |
| 40 | 21 | Vincenzo Nibali | Italy | +7:10 |
| 41 | 46 | Lars Boom | Netherlands | +7:22 |
| 42 | 52 | Wout Poels | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 43 | 56 | André Greipel | Germany | s.t. |
| 44 | 97 | Gorazd Štangelj | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 45 | 7 | Stuart O'Grady | Australia | s.t. |
| 46 | 157 | Radoslav Rogina | Croatia | s.t. |
| 47 | 48 | Karsten Kroon | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 48 | 94 | Jure Kocjan | Slovenia | s.t. |
| 49 | 67 | Pavel Brutt | Russia | s.t. |
| 50 | 80 | Fabian Cancellara | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 51 | 177 | Yauheni Hutarovich | Belarus | +13:53 |
| 52 | 139 | Denys Kostyuk | Ukraine | s.t. |
| 53 | 174 | Martin Velits | Slovakia | s.t. |
| 54 | 150 | Petr Benčik | Czech Republic | s.t. |
| 55 | 81 | Martin Elmiger | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 56 | 133 | Hernani Broco | Portugal | s.t. |
| 57 | 73 | Egor Silin | Russia | s.t. |
| 58 | 62 | Marcel Sieberg | Germany | s.t. |
| 59 | 83 | Steve Morabito | Switzerland | s.t. |
| 60 | 115 | Bartosz Huzarski | Poland | s.t. |
| 61 | 75 | Eduard Vorganov | Russia | s.t. |
| 62 | 47 | Koen de Kort | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 63 | 99 | Sylvain Chavanel | France | s.t. |
| 64 | 114 | Michał Gołaś | Poland | s.t. |
| 65 | 169 | Bernhard Eisel | Austria | s.t. |
| 66 | 170 | Peter Wrolich | Austria | s.t. |
| 67 | 142 | Oleksandr Sheydyk | Ukraine | s.t. |
| 68 | 165 | David McCann | Ireland | s.t. |
| 69 | 78 | Alexander Kristoff | Norway | s.t. |
| 70 | 103 | Sébastien Hinault | France | s.t. |
| 71 | 55 | Bert Grabsch | Germany | s.t. |
| 72 | 129 | Yukihiro Doi | Japan | s.t. |
| 73 | 38 | Ted King | United States | s.t. |
| 74 | 175 | Peter Velits | Slovakia | s.t. |
| 75 | 167 | Gustav Larsson | Sweden | s.t. |
| 76 | 143 | Lars Bak | Denmark | s.t. |
| 77 | 152 | Julian Dean | New Zealand | s.t. |
| 78 | 117 | Przemysław Niemiec | Poland | s.t. |
| 79 | 44 | Christian Vande Velde | United States | s.t. |
| 80 | 41 | Danny Pate | United States | s.t. |
| 81 | 37 | Tyler Farrar | United States | s.t. |
| 82 | 57 | Danilo Hondo | Germany | s.t. |
| 83 | 102 | Anthony Geslin | France | s.t. |
| 84 | 159 | Tanel Kangert | Estonia | s.t. |
| 85 | 107 | Svein Tuft | Canada | s.t. |
| 86 | 98 | William Bonnet | France | s.t. |
| 87 | 151 | Leopold König | Czech Republic | s.t. |
| 88 | 87 | Alexsandr Dyachenko | Kazakhstan | s.t. |
| 89 | 149 | Ignatas Konovalovas | Lithuania | s.t. |
| 90 | 137 | José João Mendes | Portugal | s.t. |
| 91 | 49 | Steven Kruijswijk | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 92 | 50 | Sebastian Langeveld | Netherlands | s.t. |
| 93 | 140 | Oleksandr Kvachuk | Ukraine | s.t. |
| 94 | 6 | Mathew Hayman | Australia | s.t. |
| 95 | 9 | Wesley Sulzberger | Australia | s.t. |
| 96 | 8 | Michael Rogers | Australia | s.t. |
| 97 | 166 | Nicolas Roche | Ireland | s.t. |
| 98 | 64 | Laurent Didier | Luxembourg | +21:51 |
| 99 | 171 | Zsolt Dér | Serbia | +22:50 |

### Riders who did not finish

79 riders failed to finish the race.
| Rider | Country |
| Lucas Sebastián Haedo | Argentina |
| Matías Médici | Argentina |
| Baden Cooke | Australia |
| Matthew Goss | Australia |
| Simon Gerrans | Australia |
| Frederik Willems | Belgium |
| Jan Bakelants | Belgium |
| Jürgen Roelandts | Belgium |
| Kevin De Weert | Belgium |
| Leif Hoste | Belgium |
| Mario Aerts | Belgium |
| Murilo Fischer | Brazil |
| Christian Meier | Canada |
| Dominique Rollin | Canada |
| Carlos Oyarzún | Chile |
| Diego Alejandro Tamayo | Colombia |
| Hrvoje Miholjević | Croatia |
| Alex Rasmussen | Denmark |
| Michael Mørkøv | Denmark |
| Kalle Kriit | Estonia |
| Dominic Klemme | Germany |
| Tony Martin | Germany |
| David Millar | Great Britain |
| Jeremy Hunt | Great Britain |
| Mark Cavendish | Great Britain |
| Matthew Brammeier | Ireland |
| Rider | Country |
| Andrea Tonti | Italy |
| Daniel Oss | Italy |
| Francesco Gavazzi | Italy |
| Matteo Tosatto | Italy |
| Sergey Renev | Kazakhstan |
| Valentin Iglinskiy | Kazakhstan |
| Ben Gastauer | Luxembourg |
| Abdelati Saadoune | Morocco |
| Adil Jelloul | Morocco |
| Adnane Aarbia | Morocco |
| Mohamed Elammoury | Morocco |
| Mouhssine Lahsaini | Morocco |
| Tarik Chaoufi | Morocco |
| Jos van Emden | Netherlands |
| Gregory Henderson | New Zealand |
| Hayden Roulston | New Zealand |
| Edvald Boasson Hagen | Norway |
| Jarosław Marycz | Poland |
| Maciej Bodnar | Poland |
| Marcin Sapa | Poland |
| Manuel Antonio Cardoso | Portugal |
| Samuel Caldeira | Portugal |
| Alexander Porsev | Russia |
| Artem Ovechkin | Russia |
| Vladimir Karpets | Russia |
| Yury Trofimov | Russia |
| Esad Hasanovic | Serbia |
| Rider | Country |
| Peter Sagan | Slovakia |
| Borut Božič | Slovenia |
| Kristjan Koren | Slovenia |
| Darren Lill | South Africa |
| Daryl Impey | South Africa |
| Jay Robert Thomson | South Africa |
| Carlos Barredo | Spain |
| Francisco Ventoso | Spain |
| Imanol Erviti | Spain |
| Juan Manuel Gárate | Spain |
| Luis León Sánchez | Spain |
| Rubén Plaza | Spain |
| Samuel Sánchez | Spain |
| Danilo Wyss | Switzerland |
| Grégory Rast | Switzerland |
| Martin Kohler | Switzerland |
| Michael Albasini | Switzerland |
| Andriy Hrivko | Ukraine |
| Yuriy Metlushenko | Ukraine |
| Craig Lewis | United States |
| David Zabriskie | United States |
| Jason McCartney | United States |
| Tejay van Garderen | United States |
| Thomas Peterson | United States |
| Carlos José Ochoa | Venezuela |
| Jackson Rodríguez | Venezuela |