World Cycling : Italy’s Fondriest Avoids Crash to Win Championship

RONSE, Belgium —  Italy’s Maurizio Fondriest won the World Cycling Championships Sunday in a dramatic three-man sprint finish in which Canada’s Steve Bauer forced Claude Criquielion into a roadside fence, denying the Belgian the victory.

As Criquielion’s bike hit a concrete block holding the fence along the final stretch, Bauer looked back, saw the Belgian falling and continued. Bauer placed second but was disqualified.

Fondriest, the rising star of Italian cycling, profited from the incident and claimed the first major win of his career.

Criquielion got up slowly and crossed the line after the first pursuing group had finished. The pursuers were led by France’s Martial Gayant, who won the sprint to take the silver medal. Spain’s Juan Fernandez was third.

Heading for the finish, Criquielion began to sprint past Bauer. Bauer moved to the right, jamming Criquielion into a policeman and the roadside fence.

“I passed him without problems,” Criquielion said later. “But when he felt me passing him, he elbowed me and I completely lost my balance.

“Then I hit the ground. I was going to be the winner.”

He did seem ready to take the title. He already had a lead of two lengths over Fondriest when he pulled even with Bauer.

After the incident, Bauer said, “I really didn’t do it on purpose.”

Bauer had joined Fondriest and Criquielion with only about 700 meters to go and launched into his final sprint on the uphill finishing straight. But he faltered 70 meters from the line and moved to the right, stopping Criquielion.

The 164-mile race was run on a hilly circuit in this town 31 miles west of Brussels. The finishing line was halfway up the Kluisberg, the circuit’s steepest climb.

Going into the last 13.7-kilometer lap, Fondriest and Criquielion escaped from a leading group on the Kruisberg, the toughest part of the course, and quickly led by 20 seconds.

Earlier in the race, Belgium’s Eddy Plankaert attempted a breakaway with 18 miles to go. He pulled countryman Jan Nevens, Italian Franco Ballerini and West German Rolf Goelz with him.

But Plankaert and Goelz, careful to not to spend their energy too early, awaited a pursuing group of five.

Plankaert’s break had ripped the pack wide open and it took almost nine miles for the pack, led by the Spaniards, to regroup.

It was the first major break by potential winners since the pack had caught several outsiders 42 miles from the finish.

At that stage, the favorites came to the forefront to quicken the pace. Spurred by France’s Charly Mottet and Goelz, 15 men got away.

The breakaway cyclists included pre-race favorites Gert-Jan Theunisse and Peter Winnen from the Netherlands, Davis Phinney of the United States, Italy’s Guido Bontempi and Plankaert.