UCI Road World Championships 2023

The road

At the start

Edinburgh to Glasgow, and 500 corners

The rainbow jersey is decided two weeks after the Tour de France, on the strangest Worlds course in years: 272 kilometres out of Edinburgh, then ten laps of a twisting Glasgow circuit with forty-eight corners a lap and only one real climb, the two hundred metres of Montrose Street. Remco Evenepoel defends; Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pogačar are all here; Vingegaard and Roglič are not. Rain is forecast.

How it was won

1. 174 km to go

   Van der Poel probes

   Deep into the Glasgow circuit Van der Poel throws down a first testing attack, splitting the lead group and finishing off the breakaway. The move only lasts five kilometres, but it signals exactly who intends to win.

2. 255 km to go

   Bettiol goes solo

   Alberto Bettiol slips off the front and builds thirty seconds as rain begins to sweep the finishing circuit. Belgium marshal the chase, but the roads are turning treacherous and riders start to slide out on the soaked corners.

3. 328 km to go

   Van der Poel's decisive surge

   With two laps to run Van der Poel jumps clear of the favourites, bridges up to a fading Bettiol on a short sharp climb, and simply rides straight past him. In a few brutal pedal strokes the race is broken open and the Dutchman is alone in front.

4. 417 km to go

   The crash that didn't stop him

   Forty seconds clear, Van der Poel slides out on a wet corner. He is up in an instant — skinsuit torn, road rash bared, shoe damaged — and simply carries on, barely losing a beat of his commanding lead.

5. 5At the line

   Glasgow

   Van der Poel takes the rainbow jersey by almost two minutes, arms spread wide in the Scottish rain, as Van Aert claims silver and Pogačar outsprints Pedersen for bronze far behind.

The result