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Spanish surprise Gomez beats favorites in world road race
Posted: Thursday October 14, 1999 06:29 PM
VERONA, Italy (AP) -- Oscar Freire Gomez of Spain sprinted away from a star-studded lead group in the closing stretch Sunday to win the elite men's road race at the World Cycling Championships. Gomez covered the 260 kilometers (161.2 miles) in 6 hours, 19 minutes, 29 seconds. Marcus Zberg of Switzerland took the silver, 4 seconds back, with France's Jean-Cyril Robin finishing third. They were all among a group of 11 riders who pulled out front on the 15th of 16 laps around a circuit of 16.25 kilometers (10.075 miles). Gomez, 23, only turned professional last year, and is the latest in a string of unexpected winners at the championships. He picked the perfect time to make his crucial attack, and left such luminaries as Jan Ullrich, a past Tour de France winner and the world time trial champion crowned Wednesday, defending road race titlist Oskar Camenzind, and pre-race favorite Frank Vandenbroucke behind. That trio was in the lead group, which had dwindled from 11 to nine on the day's final climb, and were watching each other as the finish line neared, allowing Gomez to split away unchallenged with about 600 meters (650 yards) left. Italy's best hope for a homegrown champion, Francesco Casagrande, was fourth. Chann McRae, of Austin, Texas, was a surprising fifth, followed by Switzerland's Camenzind, Belgium's Vandenbroucke, and Germany's Ullrich. Gomez flashed his potential two years ago by finishing second in the under-23 race at the World Championships. But he came into Sunday's race having competed just 10 times in 1999 because of a knee injury, and was only 304th in the International Cycling Union (UCI) rankings. He had no major victories to his credit. Gomez finished 17th at last year's World Championships, and ranked 47th in the final 1998 World Cup standings. Now he is only the second Spaniard, following Abraham Olano in 1995, to win the elite men's road race at the championships. And Gomez joins the list of the decade's unexpected winners, including Camenzind, Laurent Brochard, Luc Leblanc and Rudy Dhaenens. There were a series of minor falls during the race, which was held under sunny skies and with a breeze. Camenzind did well to recover after he and four other riders, including Italy's Davide Rebellin, were thrown from their bikes on a straightaway during the eighth lap. While Camenzind was able to continue, Rebellin -- fourth in the UCI rankings -- was forced out with a rib injury and a bad thigh bruise. Alex Zulle, the 1996 world time trial champion, was among the leaders before quitting on the penultimate lap.
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