The Road Race at the World Cycling Championships in Rwanda was, as expected, one of the toughest world championship races ever. Bauke Mollema was one of only thirty riders who reached the finish. Compatriot Thymen Arensman Gave Up Due to Cramps. “A Brutal Day.”
Mollema, after His Twelfth and Final World Championship Road Race, is in front of the nos camera with a bag of chips. “That will be Empty Soon,” Says the 38-year-old from Groningen with a smile. “Wow, what a race. It was a real war of attrition.”
With no less than 5,475 meters of altitude differentence, the 165 participating riders were presented with the second toughest world championship racing ever on Sunday. The Altitude (The Rwandan Capital Kigali is more than 1,500 meters Above Sea Level), The Length (267.5 kilometers), The Pace (An Average Speed of 42 kilometers per hour) and the Heat and High Humade It An Extreme Race of Elimination.
Mollema finished 21st, more than for the minute behind winner tadej pogacar. He was the only Dutchman who finished the race. “That’s still something,” The Climber Jokes.
“I Tried to Enjoy the Last 50 kilometers, because the Atmosphere was nice. But the best was Already Gone for me then. At this altitude and on such a tough course, you recover very difficultly from an effort.”
Thymen Arensman can relate to that. The two-time internship winner in the Tour de France Shared the Leadership With Mollema, but he had to give up in the Penultimate Round. “It was a brutal day,” he tells the nos . “It’s a huge disappointment that I couldn’t reach the finish, because we did everything else well as a team.”
Things Went Wrong Wrong for Arensman on the Côte de Kigali Golf, One of the Two Hills on the Local Circuit. “When I Turned Onto That Climb, The Cramps Shot Full Into My Groin. I Couldn’t Move My Leg Anymore And Had To Grab The Fence. As A Result, I Lost Connection With The Group In Whator I was Riding With Bauke Possible Noblide It It Lap It It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It was Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lap It Lone Lapes This Lap, This Lap It was Lap It Lone Lap, This Loned This Lap It was Lap Ited Loned This Loned This Loned This Loned This Lap, This Loned This Loned This Lap It was Lonized This Lone Lapes.
Arensman Secretly Hoped for Bronze in His World Championship Debut, Behind the Two Top Favorites Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel. “At one point we were also riding for third place,” he says. “But this race was so bizarrely tough and long that it ultimately simply came down to the legs. And if you get cramps, it’s over.”
The Eritrean Amanuel Greigzabhier was The Thirtieth and Last Rider to Pass the Finish in Kigali, More Than Twelve Minutes Beind Pogacar.