UCI Road World Championships: Ashlin Barry powers to under-23 men’s title with 30-kilometre solo attack

Aubin Sparfel (France) leads the peloton early in the U23 race (Image credit: Getty Images)

The under-23 men lined up under sunny skies ready to take on 13 laps of a 13.4km circuit for a total of 174.2km and 3,497m of elevation. The circuit started on the Avenue du Parc and include two main climbs: Camillien-Houde to the top of Mount Royal, Côte de la Polytechnique, and then tackle the uphill drag to the finish back on Avenue du Parc.

Frank Ragilo (Estonia) made the first move early in the opening lap as the sun was just peaking above the skyscrapers of downtown Montreal. He was joined by Mads Landbo (Denmark), Filip Durdyk (Poland) and a rider each from Spain and the USA but the breakaway only gained ten seconds and was brought back before the end of the lap. There was plenty of action at the back, with riders getting tailed off, touching wheels and falling, or suffering mechanicals. Ben Wiggins (Great Britain) was forced to chase back on, too.

Before the end of the first lap, Kristian Egholm (Denmark) followed his teammate’s lead and attacked, pulling away with Viktor Soenens (Belgium) and William Heffernan (Australia), with Romet Pajur (Estonia) trying to bridge.

Before the end of the lap, the breakaway had swelled to 13 riders with Enea Sambinello (Italy), Pierre Basset (France), Timothee Coudiere Cantin (France), Landbo, William Holmes (Australia), Halvor Dolven (Norway), Jaider Muñoz (Colombia), Dawid Lewandowski (Poland), Mil Morang (Luxembourg) and Alejandro Granados (Costa Rica). They were chased by Enaut Urcaregui (Spain) and Jaka Marolt (Slovenia) at 13 seconds, and the majority of the peloton at 50 seconds at the end of lap 2.

When a powerful chasing group set off in pursuit, with Cameron Rogers (Australia), Noah Andersen (Denmark), Victor Loulergue and Ugo Fabries (France), Jasper Schoofs (Belgium), David Haverdings and Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands), Samuel Novak (Slovakia), Ashlin Barry (USA), Ben Wiggins (Great Britain) and Patryk Goszczurny (Poland), the peloton quickly shut it down, and the race was all back together on the fourth lap.

An attack then came from Samuel Novak (Slovakia), with William Heffernan (Australia) bridging across along with Mattie Dodd (Great Britain), Kristian Egholm (Denmark) and Ashlin Barry (USA).

By the end of the sixth lap, the five riders had pushed their lead out to just over two minutes, but an attack from Dodd at the start of the seventh lap with 75km remaining, saw him go clear of the group and force a chase from Heffernan, Novák and Barry, completely distancing Egholm from the breakaway.

The efforts were short lived and the quintet reconnected before the start of the eighth lap but their lack of cooperation had reduced the gap to 1:45.

By the time they reached the ninth lap, a six rider chase group broke off the front of the field that included Matteo Scalco (Italy), Rémi Arsac (France), Matteo Van Huffel (Belgium), Max Brok (Germany), Jacob Bush (Great Britain) and Jack Ward (Australia) and were in pursuit.

Egholm found his second wind and surged on the Camillien-Houde ascent with Barry bridging the gap. The pair gained a slim seven seconds on Dodd, Heffernan and Novák. However the remnants of that original breakaway were reabsorbed into a larger selection of 25 riders that formed behind, leaving Egholm and Barry out front with a 45-second advantage.

With riders from Belgium and Switzerland setting the pace, the gap to the two breakaway riders was slashed to just 30 seconds with 30km to go. Barry took his chances and surged distancing himself from Egholm.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

With two laps remaining, Barry pushed on in front of a chase group of five: Matisse van Kerckhove (Belgium), Hector Alvarez (Spain) Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands), and Cameron Rogers (Australia), with Egholm tucking in behind them. At the bell, Barry still held out hope with his gap hovering at 40 seconds over the quintet and 1:08 on the larger peloton.

As his rivals behind began to look at each other to chase, Barry just kept powering ahead and only extended his lead to win the gold medal.

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Rank

Name

Time

1

Ashlin Barry (United States)

04:17:35

2

Hector Alvarez (Spain)

0:00:53

3

Jesper Stiansen (Norway)

0:00:53

4

Aubin Sparfel (France)

0:00:53

5

Niels Driesen (Belgium)

0:00:55

6

Matteo Scalco (Italy)

0:00:55

7

Mattia Negrente (Italy)

0:01:19

8

Richard Riška (Slovakia)

0:01:19

9

Erazem Valjavec (Slovenia)

0:01:19

10

Jack Ward (Australia)

0:01:19

11

Daan Dijkman (Netherlands)

0:01:19

12

Marcis Shelton (United States)

0:01:19

13

Bogdan Zabelinskiy (Cyprus)

0:01:19

14

Daniel Moreira (Portugal)

0:01:19

15

Jurgen Zomermaand (Netherlands)

0:01:19

16

Matisse van Kerckhove (Belgium)

0:01:19

17

Matteo Vanhuffel (Belgium)

0:01:19

18

Mateo Ramirez (Ecuador)

0:01:19

19

Henrique Ribeiro Bravo (Brazil)

0:01:19

20

Melk Zumstein (Switzerland)

0:01:19

21

Moritz Mauss (Germany)

0:01:30

22

Patrick Frydkjaer (Denmark)

0:01:31

23

Viktor Soenens (Belgium)

0:01:33

24

Elliot Rowe (Great Britain)

0:02:29

25

David Haverdings (Netherlands)

0:02:29

26

Luke David Valenti (Canada)

0:02:29

27

Kasper Borremans (Finland)

0:02:29

28

Remi Arsac (France)

0:02:29

29

Balint Feldhoffer (Hungary)

0:02:29

30

Cameron Rogers (Australia)

0:02:29

31

Guus van den Eijnden (Netherlands)

0:02:29

32

Bert Bolle (Belgium)

0:02:29

33

Neriah Meunier Sow (Senegal)

0:02:29

34

Nicolas Halter (Switzerland)

0:02:29

35

Jose Cisneros (Mexico)

0:02:29

36

Jan Jackowiak (Poland)

0:02:29

37

Sven Aleksander Mernik (Slovenia)

0:02:29

38

Alessandro Cattani (Italy)

0:02:29

39

Ugo Fabries (France)

0:02:29

40

Max Bock (Germany)

0:02:29

41

Rafael Barbas (Portugal)

0:02:29

42

Paul Fietzke (Germany)

0:02:48

43

Juan Diego Quintero (Colombia)

0:03:44

44

Daniel Lima (Portugal)

0:03:45

45

Kevin Biehl (Denmark)

0:03:52

46

Kasper Haugland (Norway)

0:04:56

47

Riccardo Lorello (Italy)

0:05:12

48

Enea Sambinello (Italy)

0:05:12

49

Nicolas Ginter (Switzerland)

0:05:12

50

Mil Morang (Luxembourg)

0:05:12

51

Timothee Coudiere Cantin (France)

0:05:12

52

Victor Loulergue (France)

0:05:12

53

Jasper Schoofs (Belgium)

0:05:12

54

Kristian Egholm (Denmark)

0:05:59

55

Jermaine Zemke (Germany)

0:07:27

56

Enaut Urcaregui (Spain)

0:08:33

57

Jacob Bush (Great Britain)

0:08:33

58

Alberto Monti (Czechia)

0:08:33

59

Mattie Dodd (Great Britain)

0:08:33

60

Adam Rafferty (Ireland)

0:08:33

61

William Holmes (Australia)

0:08:33

62

Mads Landbo (Denmark)

0:08:33

63

Patryk Goszczurny (Poland)

0:08:33

64

Halvor Dolven (Norway)

0:08:33

65

Louis Leidert (Germany)

0:08:33

66

William Heffernan (Australia)

0:08:33

67

William Smith (Great Britain)

0:08:33

68

Anatol Friedl (Austria)

0:08:33

69

Tomaš Přidal (Czechia)

0:09:20

70

Gavin Sherry (United States)

0:09:57

71

Adam Smith (Canada)

0:10:24

72

Emil Nielsen (Denmark)

0:10:44

73

Dawid Lewandowski (Poland)

0:10:44

74

Kevin Andre Sandli Messel (Norway)

0:10:44

75

Cesar Cisneros (Mexico)

0:10:48

76

Jonas Walton (Canada)

0:10:48

77

Ciro Perez (Uruguay)

0:10:48

78

Sebastian Castro (Costa Rica)

0:10:48

79

Vladislav Bashlykov (Kazakhstan)

0:11:54

80

Diego Casagrande (Switzerland)

0:11:54

81

Michael Zarate (Mexico)

0:11:54

82

Samuel Novak (Slovakia)

0:12:41

83

Vaclav Ježek (Czechia)

0:12:41

84

Liam O Brien (Ireland)

0:13:30

85

Ben Wiggins (Great Britain)

0:14:18

86

Jan Huber (Switzerland)

0:14:18

87

Noah Andersen (Denmark)

0:14:18

88

Jerome Gauthier (Canada)

0:15:30

89

Oliver Matik (Estonia)

0:16:00

90

David Gaffney (Ireland)

0:16:00

91

Miguel Marin (Colombia)

0:16:00

92

Robert Andres Plazas (Colombia)

0:16:00

93

Jaka Marolt (Slovenia)

0:17:10

94

Adria Regada (Andorra)

0:17:11

95

Anže Ravbar (Slovenia)

0:17:35

96

Mattia Proietti Gagliardoni (Italy)

0:20:15

DNF

Flavio Astolfi (Luxembourg)

Row 96 – Cell 2

DNF

Mario Sanchez (Bolivia)

Row 97 – Cell 2

DNF

Filip Surdyk (Poland)

Row 98 – Cell 2

DNF

Francisco Fernandez (Spain)

Row 99 – Cell 2

DNF

Jonas Kind Hoydahl (Norway)

Row 100 – Cell 2

DNF

Jaider Munoz (Colombia)

Row 101 – Cell 2

DNF

Gabriel Baptista (Portugal)

Row 102 – Cell 2

DNF

Pierre Henry Basset (France)

Row 103 – Cell 2

DNF

Thomas Waites (Australia)

Row 104 – Cell 2

DNF

Yevhen Testsov (Ukraine)

Row 105 – Cell 2

DNF

Nicholas van der Merwe (Bulgaria)

Row 106 – Cell 2

DNF

William Colorado (Colombia)

Row 107 – Cell 2

DNF

McNABB Lachlan (New Zealand)

Row 108 – Cell 2

DNF

Jose Antonio Prieto (Mexico)

Row 109 – Cell 2

DNF

Teodor de Luca (Sweden)

Row 110 – Cell 2

DNF

Jose Juan Prieto (Mexico)

Row 111 – Cell 2

DNF

Nahom Efriem (Eritrea)

Row 112 – Cell 2

DNF

Ferhat Emisci (Turkey)

Row 113 – Cell 2

DNF

Yusheng Chen (China)

Row 114 – Cell 2

DNF

Alejandro Granados (Costa Rica)

Row 115 – Cell 2

DNF

Daniel Cepa (Spain)

Row 116 – Cell 2

DNF

Markel Aranaz (Spain)

Row 117 – Cell 2

DNF

Davio Jonsson (Iceland)

Row 118 – Cell 2

DNF

Melvin Torres (Guatemala)

Row 119 – Cell 2

DNF

Jadian Neaves (Trinidad And Tobago)

Row 120 – Cell 2

DNF

Valentin Hofer (Austria)

Row 121 – Cell 2

DNF

Taito Shindo (Japan)

Row 122 – Cell 2

DNF

Kade Kreikemeier (United States)

Row 123 – Cell 2

DNF

Manuel Sanroma (Spain)

Row 124 – Cell 2

DNF

Blaine Kieck (South Africa)

Row 125 – Cell 2

DNF

Seth Dunwoody (Ireland)

Row 126 – Cell 2

DNF

Rastko Nikačević (Serbia)

Row 127 – Cell 2

DNF

Isshin Yamasato (Japan)

Row 128 – Cell 2

DNF

Romet Pajur (Estonia)

Row 129 – Cell 2

DNF

Mohamed Amine Hamzaoui (Algeria)

Row 130 – Cell 2

DNF

Judah Thompson (Thailand)

Row 131 – Cell 2

DNF

Michiel Mouris (Netherlands)

Row 132 – Cell 2

DNF

Frank Aron Ragilo (Estonia)

Row 133 – Cell 2

DNF

Nathan Cusack (United States)

Row 134 – Cell 2

DNF

Joshua Dike (South Africa)

Row 135 – Cell 2

DNF

Zhicheng Liu (China)

Row 136 – Cell 2

DNF

Amaniel Desta (Ethiopia)

Row 137 – Cell 2

DNF

Ruben Rodrigues (Portugal)

Row 138 – Cell 2

DNF

Rizky Ridho Riyadiyanto (Indonesia)

Row 139 – Cell 2

DNF

Pablo Escajadillo (Peru)

Row 140 – Cell 2

DNF

Shi Ho Cheung (Hong Kong)

Row 141 – Cell 2

DNF

Kevin Nshutiraguma (Rwanda)

Row 142 – Cell 2

DNF

Alexander Erasmus (South Africa)

Row 143 – Cell 2

DNF

Jaylen Briceno (Belize)

Row 144 – Cell 2

DNF

Jeremy Raboude (Mauritius)

Row 145 – Cell 2

DNF

Rongqi Zhang (China)

Row 146 – Cell 2

DNF

Samuel Quevauvilliers (Mauritius)

Row 147 – Cell 2

DNF

Wilson M Sanon (Haiti)

Row 148 – Cell 2

DNF

Ramiro Videla (Argentina)

Row 149 – Cell 2

DNF

Temuulen Khadbaatar (Mongolia)

Row 150 – Cell 2

DNF

Danylo Kozoriz (Ukraine)

Row 151 – Cell 2

DNF

Mohammed Alaleeli (United Arab Emirates)

Row 152 – Cell 2

DNF

Mohamed Aziz Dellai (Tunisia)

Row 153 – Cell 2

DNF

Marouane Kharbouchi (Morocco)

Row 154 – Cell 2

DNF

Deska Raya Adya (Indonesia)

Row 155 – Cell 2

DNF

Aditya Suryadi Putra (Indonesia)

Row 156 – Cell 2

DNF

Mousa Al Naghaf (Saudi Arabia)

Row 157 – Cell 2

DNF

Hareb Almarzooqi (United Arab Emirates)

Row 158 – Cell 2

DNF

Daniel Orellana (El Salvador)

Row 159 – Cell 2

DNF

Goran Gabourel (Belize)

Row 160 – Cell 2

DNF

Khalil Francis (Jamaica)

Row 161 – Cell 2

DNF

Anthony Coque (Ecuador)

Row 162 – Cell 2

DNF

John Muchiri (Kenya)

Row 163 – Cell 2

DNF

Kaden Sutherland (Belize)

Row 164 – Cell 2

DNF

Prateek Ravla (Zimbabwe)

Row 165 – Cell 2

DNF

Denver Alphonse (Saint Lucia)

Row 166 – Cell 2

DNF

Mustafa Tarakci (Turkey)

Row 167 – Cell 2

DNF

Arda Tekirdag (Turkey)

Row 168 – Cell 2

DNF

Tekle Alemayo (Ethiopia)

Row 169 – Cell 2

DNF

Aron Tekle (Ethiopia)

Row 170 – Cell 2

DNS

Oliver Sims (Australia)

Row 171 – Cell 2

DNS

Milkiyas Maekele (Eritrea)

Row 172 – Cell 2

DNS

Jexon Ledezma (Costa Rica)

Row 173 – Cell 2

DNS

Bernardo Cambareri (Argentina)

Row 174 – Cell 2

DNS

Mateo Kalejman (Argentina)

Row 175 – Cell 2