THE HAGUE, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert captured the men's cycling world road race title in the Dutch province of Limburg on Sunday.
The 30-year-old broke away on the final climb to come home clear of Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen while Alejandro Valverde of Spain took the bronze.
John Degenkolb of Germany had to settle for the fourth place, and defending champion Mark Cavendish of Britain had abandoned after working for his team in the first half of the race.
In an eventful road race over 267 kilometers, starting in Maastricht, finishing near Valkenburg, the main peloton grabbed a breakaway group of 11 riders with 30 kilometers remaining. The race started all over again and in the penultimate round Russian Alexandre Kolobnev set the bunch on fire, but all favorites were attentive.
The deadlock was broken at the last climb of the Cauberg. Gilbert had the best legs and shook off all his rivals. The superior Belgian finished solo and captured his first rainbow jersey.
"It's hard to realize what happened," Gilbert said afterwards. "The Belgian team did outstanding work. We deserved to win this title."