A major crash five laps from the finish on the tight Copenhagen circuit ended New Zealand’s hopes in the UCI Road Cycling World Championships today.
The trio of Julian Dean, Jack Bauer and Greg Henderson were among approximately 100 riders affected by a major crash that blocked the road 76 kms from the finish of the 266km elite men’s race.
The group, including the kiwis, time trial world champion Tony Martin (GER) and defending champion Thor Hushovd (NOR), lost more than a minute before they could get going and by then the elastic had been cut to a flying main peloton.
With speeds up to 50kph in the main bunch, the crash-affected group were never able to mount a serious challenge, forced to ride through to the finish several minutes behind winner Mark Cavendish who prospered from a relentless Great Britain attack.
A pesky break, which grew to more than seven minutes, was only quelled on the last of 17 lap as Australia and Great Britain worked best to deliver their sprinters to the front. Cavendish latched on to the Australian train to edge out his fellow HTC Highroad teammate Matt Goss in the final blistering sprint to the line.
It was disappointing for the New Zealand riders who had been sitting comfortably in the massive peloton on the narrow 14km circuit in Copenhagen.
“I really wanted to do a good result today to show the New Zealand selectors that I am able and capable for the Olympics so it was disappointing for that regard,” said Julian Dean.
“I’m really disappointed and I know that Greg and Jack feel the same because we all had good legs today.
“The crash just split the field and we were stuck there for more than a minute and the peloton just split in two basically. It was the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I had just taken my last feed with 75km to go. When you take your feed bag you lose a lot of places in the peloton and after that we came down the decent the crash happened.
“We did try to get back for a few laps but there were a number of threats in the group and anyone with riders in the front does not want to work to bring any potential threats back up to the field. At the same time the pace was really on at the front and so with some teams not helping we were doomed really.
“Looking at the result and talking with Hendy, we know we had the capability to have featured in that finish which makes it doubly disappointing and frustrating.”
Results, elite men, 266km: Mark Cavendish (GBR) 5:40.27, 1; Matt Goss (AUS) same time, 2; Andre Greipel (GER) st, 3; Fabian Cancellara (SUI) st, 4; Jurgan Roelandts (BEL) st, 5; Romain Feillu (FRA) st, 6; Borut Bozic (SLO) st, 7; Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) st, 8; Oscar Freire (ESP) st, 9; Tyler Farrar (USA) st, 10. Also New Zealanders: Greg Henderson 5:49:21, 118; Jack Bauer st, 121; Julian Dean st, 152.
IAN HEPENSTALL
Media Liaison, BikeNZ High Performance
Sports Media NZ Ltd
