Agence France Presse
October 11

Sergey Lagutin of Uzbekistan won the under-23 men's crown here at the world road championships.

The 22-year-old crossed the line after 172.2km of racing in 4hr 14min 05sec after craftily outsprinting Belgian Johan Van Summeren and Thomas Dekker of the Netherlands.

Lagutin had been at the front of the race throughout, pushing into all the attacks before finishing off the race in style to make up for just missing out on the medals last year.

Heading into the final bend Dekker was leading. However, the Dutch racer appeared to peak too early and in the home straight Lagutin, who was fourth in the race last year, eased past him and Van Summeren to claim his first world title.

Despite finishing third Dekker's bronze medal will also make amends for last year when he finished second but was disqualified after being adjudged to have caused a mass crash at the end of the race.

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