Intro:

Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski won the men's elite final at UCI Road World Championships on Sunday (28th September).

Script:

The road race of the UCI World Championships took place over 254.8 km course that was made up of 14 laps around the city of Ponferrada in Spain.

Riders were forced to endure constant changes in climate, bathed in sunshine for the opening laps, before the heavens opened leaving competitors soaked under a torrential rainstorm.

Eventually, the rain cleared and Poland Michal Kwiatkowski emerged triumphant at the finish line ahead of Australia's Simon Gerrans in second and Spain's Alejandro Valverde in third.

The Polish squad worked hard in the middle of the race to help bring back a group of four riders that raced clear on the opening lap.

Once the break was caught, with around 70km remaining, several riders attacked off the front of the peloton, but no break proved decisive until Kwiatkowski made his move towards the top of the penultimate climb on the final lap.

He managed to eke out a few extra second on the final kilometre before holding off a chasing pack and sealing victory by a second on the descent into Ponferrada.