Under the flood at Harrogate Matteo Trentin finds the silver medal but he has to collect the biggest disappointment of his career by missing the iris, clearly beaten by the Danish Mads Pedersen when by now, the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poels having collapsed, had become the great favorite in the three-man sprint that decided the English world championship. Competition made worse by the raging rain and cold which led to the withdrawal of excellent names such as Valverde, the defending champion, Quintana, Roglic, Sam Bennett, Gilbert (also thanks to a crash), the Harrogate circuit with its short but intense turned out to be tougher than expected causing a natural selection lap after lap.
At the start of the last race, the race was headed by a quintet with two Italians, Moscon and Trentin, a Dane Pedersen, a Swiss Stefan Kung and a Dutch Van der Poel, one of the great favorites of the eve with Peter Sagan and Julien Alaphilippe. Junior world champion in Florence in 2013, cyclo-cross world champion, Van der Poel was the most dangerous client present in the pack of pacesetters who had brought the advantage over the group of Sagan, Alaphilippe and Van Avermaet up to about 1'20” where the Italians Bettiol and Colbrelli were just around the corner without ever shooting with two teammates in front. The twist that ignited the blue hopes even more took place about 12 km from the finish line when Van der Poel suddenly gave way in the grip of an evident hunger crisis, so much so that even the wheels of the chasing platoon that reached and pulled it off.
On the last stretch before the arrival, Kung accelerated and Trentin and Pedersen resisted well, while Moscon gave way, who will only arrive fourth at the finish line. The rainbow jersey was now a three-way match: at 200 meters Trentin sprinted and was the fastest of the trio but his pedaling immediately lost power so much that he was reassembled by Pedersen who won by a good margin over the Italian. Third was Kung. Then behind Moscon came fifth Sagan, who had left the group going in search of the leaders in the hope - albeit reduced to a flicker - of taking back the rainbow jersey for the fourth time. She didn't make it but like a great master of the pedal she greeted the public crossing the finish line, soaked in water. The rainbow jersey that passes from Valverde onto the shoulders of a young rider who has not yet won a race but who, by finishing second behind Niki Terpstra in the 2018 Tour of Flanders, had shown that he is not just any Carneade.
Trentin has made a mediocre Dane world champion who will probably represent the Iris shirt in an unworthy manner. A true champion would not have missed this opportunity!!! The Gimondis, the Argentins, the Moser, the Cipollini and the Bettini were of a different caliber.
Trentin wasn't better than retiring earlier!!