Germany’s Emil Herzog and Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Fedorov raced superbly to win Men Junior and Men Under-23 gold in Wollongong, Australia…
The fifth day of competition at the 2022 UCI Road World Championships saw Wollongong, Australia, host the first day of road races after the time trial action earlier in the week. The Men Junior and Men Under 23 took centre stage with Germany’s Emil Herzog and Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Fedorov claiming gold.
Men Junior: Herzog adds gold to bronze
The Men Junior were up first on an overcast, wet Friday. They faced eight laps of the Wollongong circuit for a total of 135.5km. The damp roads tested the handling dexterity of the world’s best young riders.
Immediately, the conditions began to take their toll as a group of six riders was floored at a roundabout. Soon after, on the descent of Mount Pleasant, three of the pre-race favourites – Josh Tarling (GBR), Hamish McKenzie (AUS) and Max van der Meulen (NED) – all hit the deck. McKenzie, who won silver in the individual time trial, and van der Meulen soon withdrew. Not long after, Tarling, who had pipped McKenzie to time trial gold a few days earlier, put in a huge effort to rejoin but eventually left the race as well with his left shoulder caked in blood.
The second lap saw a trio comprising Romet Pajur (EST), Daniel Lima (POR) and Pavel Novák (CZE) carve out a 42sec lead, which soon dropped to 20secs by lap three. Americans Artem Shmidt and Viggo Moore swelled the lead group to five, helping to stretch the advantage to over a minute.
By lap six, the five had been absorbed by a huge group, before the lead peloton of 25-plus riders delivered attack after attack. Come the end of the penultimate lap, Portugal’s António Morgado put in a superb solo effort and by the final ascent of Mount Pleasant, the 18-year-old carried a 23sec lead. Germany’s Emil Herzog spotted the danger and left the peloton for dead, catching Morgado with just over 2km to go. It meant a two-up sprint come the finish, with Herzog timing his sprint to perfection to win the rainbow jersey. Morgado won silver with Belgium’s Vlad van Mechelen taking bronze ahead of the peloton, which crossed the line 55secs later.
“I can’t believe everything worked out so well and I am now World Champion,” Herzog said after the race. “That sounds so unreal.” The gold added to Herzog’s bronze, won in the individual time trial.
Men Under 23: Fedorov sprints to gold
As the rain continued to fall, the Men Under 23 rolled out onto the Wollongong roads to face 169.8km and over 2,000m climbing, composed of 10 technical laps punctuated by the climb of Mount Pleasant.
Croatia’s Fran Miholjević, Belgium’s Fabio Van den Bossche, Switzerland’s Fabian Weiss, Germany’s Hannes Wilksch, Czech Republic’s Petr Kelemen and France’s Mathis Le Berre were the first to create a significant breakaway, forging a lead of over 3mins with four laps gone.
That disappeared as the peloton cranked up their speed and, come the final lap, a group of four nestled at the front. Belgian Alec Segaert, Czech Republic’s Mathias Vacek, Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Fedorov and Le Berre battled the elements but their lead was just 7secs over the large group behind. The motorbike followed, front light shining through the dark backdrop.
Vacek pushed on, displaying the power that’ll see him race full-time for Trek-Segafredo in 2023. Vacek’s a bright prospect and already has a stage victory at the UAE Tour (in 2022) to his name.
Behind, some of the favourites wrestled including Romain Grégoire, who was many people’s tip for the day. The 19-year-old, who’ll race professionally for Groupama – FDJ in 2023, looked strong, but would ultimately finish out of contention. Le Berre was then dropped with less than 10km to go, as Alexandre Balmer of Switzerland looked to catch the leaders.
The leading trio’s advantage was around 7secs come the base of the final climb of Mount Pleasant… but by the peak, it was a leading duo of Vacek and Fedorov, after Segaert was dropped. France’s Bastien Tronchon broke from the peloton in an effort to reach the leaders but was soon reeled in.
Come the final 5km, the lead hovered around 10secs. Could Vacek and Fedorov hold off the chasing group? Incredibly, with less than 2km to go, the lead had grown to 18secs. It was down to a head-to-head between Vacek and Fedorov, and it was the Kazakh rider who had enough left in his legs to pull away with 150m to go for victory. Vacek took silver with the time trial UCI World Champion Søren Waerenskjold (NOR) 3secs down in third.
“I knew I was in good shape after racing the Vuelta a España,” said Fedorov, who races in the UCI WorldTour for Astana - Premier Tech. “I tried to do my best and it’s great to match [Alexey] Lutsenko’s win from 10 years ago.
“I knew if I was in contention at the top of the last climb, I had a chance,” he continued. “My legs felt good at the finish and I’m delighted to win the last chance I had of racing the Under 23 UCI World Championships.”