Kevin Ledanois (France) came home with a thrilling victory in the men’s U23 World Championships in Richmond, Virginia after a well-timed attacked in the closing stages of the race. Despite a late surge from the bunch, the Frenchman was able to hold off Simone Consonni (Italy) and Anthony Turgis (France) who finished in second and third.
The race, as predicted, came down to the final lap of 10, with Italy and France well positioned before the final set of three climbs. A crash on Libby Hill from Belgian Nathan Van Hooydonck initially split the field but Ledanois made his move on the climb of 23rd Street.
He only had a small margin of a few seconds at the foot of Governor Street with Italy setting a frantic late chase. With 500 meters to go it looked as though Ledanois would be reeled in as Consonni and Gianni Moscon (Italy) gave chase but with Turgis sitting in and Ledanois just having enough in the tank, France were able to celebrate a rainbow jersey and a bronze medal.
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Italy had ridden an intelligent race throughout with Davide Martinelli in two key moves. They had strength in depth in the finale too but the French had numbers as well and timed their offensive play to perfection.
Turgis and Ledanois swept by a fading Martinelli near the summit of Libby Hill and Ledanois, son of former rider Yvon Ledanois – now a team director at BMC Racing – surged clear. The 22-year-old only held a thin margin over the splinted field but the Bretagne - Séché Environnement rider ground his way up the final two climbs. He desperately sprinted out of the saddle when Italy started to close the gap and held off Consonni.
How it unfolded
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