Mathieu van der Poel took a historic win in the elite men's road race at the Glasgow World Championships, surging clear of the strongest riders in the WorldTour and then stretching the gap despite a heavy crash in the final kilometres of the technical central city circuit.
The force of the initial solo attack from his group of four race favourites surprised even Van der Poel. “I have to be honest, I knew I had an attack left but I was also surprised at my first attack that I did in the group was a was a good one,” the Dutch rider said following the race.
