2015 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race
Cycling race
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The Men's road race of the 2015 UCI Road World Championships was a cycling event that took place on September 27, 2015, in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It was the 82nd edition of the championship, and Poland's Michał Kwiatkowski was the defending champion.
| 2015 UCI Road World Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Race details | ||||||||||
| Dates | September 27, 2015 | |||||||||
| Stages | 1 | |||||||||
| Distance | 261.40 km (162.43 mi) | |||||||||
| Winning time | 6h 14' 37"[1] | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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Peter Sagan of Slovakia attacked on the final climb up 23rd Street and managed to stay clear of the field to take his first world title.[2] Three seconds behind, Australian rider Michael Matthews and Lithuania's Ramūnas Navardauskas led home a 24-rider group to take the silver and bronze medals respectively.[1][3][4]
Course
All road races took place on a challenging, technical and inner-city road circuit, 16.22 km (10.08 mi) in length. The elite men's race consisted of 15 laps – plus a start lap of 18.1 km (11.2 mi) – for a total of 261.4 km (162.4 mi).
The circuit headed west from Downtown Richmond, working its way onto Monument Avenue, a paver-lined, historic boulevard that's been named one of the "10 Great Streets in America". Cyclists took a 180-degree turn at the Jefferson Davis monument and then maneuvered through the Uptown district and Virginia Commonwealth University. Halfway through the circuit, the race headed down into Shockoe Bottom before following the canal and passing Great Shiplock Park, the start of the Virginia Capital Trail. A sharp, off-camber turn at Rockets Landing brought the riders to the narrow, twisty, cobbled 200 meters (660 feet) climb up to Libby Hill Park in the historic Church Hill neighborhood. A quick descent, followed by three hard turns led to a 100 meters (330 feet) climb up 23rd Street. Once atop this steep cobbled hill, riders descended into Shockoe Bottom. This led them to the final 300 meters (980 feet) climb on Governor Street. At the top, the riders had to take a sharp left turn onto the false-flat finishing straight, 680 meters (2,230 feet) to the finish.
Qualification
Qualification was based on performances on the UCI run tours during 2015. Results from January to the middle of August counted towards the qualification criteria on both the 2015 UCI World Tour and the UCI Continental Circuits across the world, with the rankings being determined upon the release of the numerous tour rankings on August 15, 2015.[5]
The following 51 nations qualified.
| Number of riders | Nations |
|---|---|
| 14 to enter, 9 to start |  Australia,  Belgium,  Colombia,  France,  Germany,  Great Britain,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Spain |
| 9 to enter, 6 to start |  Algeria,  Canada,  Czech Republic,  Denmark,  Iran,  Norway,  Poland,  Russia,  Slovenia,  Ukraine,  United States,  Venezuela |
| 5 to enter, 3 to start |  Argentina,  Austria,  Belarus,  Brazil,  Costa Rica,  Croatia,  Estonia,  Ireland,  Japan,  Kazakhstan,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  Morocco,  New Zealand,  Portugal,  Slovakia,  South Africa,  South Korea,  Switzerland,  Turkey |
| 2 to enter, 1 to start |  Azerbaijan,  Chile,  Ecuador,  Eritrea,  Greece,  Guatemala,  Latvia,  Romania,  Serbia,  Tunisia |
The qualification process became subject to criticism after several nations, including Iran, Turkey and Morocco did not take up their allocation.[6]
Schedule
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).[7]
| Date | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| September 27, 2015 | 9:00–15:40 | Men's road race |
Final classification
Of the race's 192 entrants, 110 riders completed the full distance of 261.4 km (162.4 mi).[1]
