Alberto Bettiol finished tenth, 4:03 behind new world champion Mathieu van der Poel but that simple statistic told little of his brave solo attack with 55 km to go and the emotions the Italian showed post race.
Bettiol attacked alone soon after his fellow team leader Matteo Trentin hit the foot of a barrier and crashed hard. The EF Education-EasyPost rider bravely pushed on alone, even through a rainstorm, extending his gap to 40 seconds at one point.
