On a calm, sunny day in Austria, the stage was set for the 2018 World Road Race Championships.
Riders were tasked with a 252.9-kilometer route beginning in the mountainous Tyrol town of Kufstein, near Austria's border with Germany. The peloton would then head south-west for approximately 85 kilometers before reaching the city of Innsbruck. Once in Innsbruck, riders were to complete six laps around the city, which included a grinding 450-meter climb up to the resort town of Igls and decent back to Innsbruck. Finally, the route included a long final lap up the grueling Gramartboden, before descending once again to Innsbruck.
Favorites for the race included, but was not limited to, the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Thibaut Pinot, Nairo Quintana, Tom Domoulin, Adam Yates, Warren Barguil, Ryan Mullen, Simon Yates, Greg van Avermaet, Vincenzo Nibali, Romain Bardet, and defending champion Peter Sagan.
While Sagan dutifully dropped from the race, the intensity remained high throughout the race. As riders had already covered 160 kilometers and the final 90 kilometers remained, the peloton began to quickly thin out as the challenge of the long, mountainous course began to set in. The race began with eleven riders in the breakaway, with the final two remaining riders in the original break, Vegard Stake Laengen and Kasper Asgreen, being swept up by the chase pack 22 kilometers from the finish.
Peter Kennaugh made the first move in the lead pack of the final 20 kilometers, as Thibault Pinot soon joined him in the charge at the front.
Michael Valgren escaped off the front from Kennaugh and Pinot, seeking to make his move and hold of the field in the final kilometers. As the race got within 10 kilometers of the finish, Kennaugh and Pinot were joined by the likes of Julian Alaphilippe, Romain Bardet, Mike Woods, and Tom Domoulin.
Valverde, Bardet, and Woods came in as the clear top-three riders at the peak of the final climb before the descent of six kilometers would lead the riders to the finish. Tom Domoulin chased the top-three riders at this point, seeking to make a final push to reconnect with the front pack. With three kilometers remaining, Domoulin began to catch the lead group, as Bardet led the riders to the finish.
In the final 150 meters, Valverde was able to make the strongest final push and beat out Bardet, Woods, and Domoulin at the line to to take the title of world champion.
Bardet ultimately edged out Woods for second place, as Domoulin crossed the line in fourth place.
Gianni Moscon, who had been chasing the front four riders in the final kilometer finished in fifth, only thirteen seconds back.
The sixth-through-eleventh-place riders all finished together 43 seconds backs of the leaders, with Roman Kreuziger taking sixth, Michael Valgren ending up in seventh, Julian Alaphilippe in eighth, Thibault Pinot finishing ninth, Rui Costa taking tenth, and Ion Izagirre rounding out the group in eleventh place overall.
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