Emil Herzog outsprints Antonio Morgado in thriller to wins men’s junior road race at World Championships

A brilliant bit of bike racing in the final kilometres of the men’s junior race saw Emil Herzog deliver Germany’s first road rainbow jersey since 2016. Herzog had been the only rider with the legs to bring back a surging Antonio Morgado, who had gone solo at the start of the final lap. The Portuguese rider forced him to start the sprint first and just about drew level, but Herzog had just enough left to hang on and take the victory by a little less than a bike length.

Ad The best of the rest was Belgium’s Vlad Van Mechelen, who won the reduced bunch sprint to claim the bronze medal. World ChampionshipsJunior road race highlights: 'Speed demon' Herzog denies Morgado in two-up sprintAN HOUR AGO There was little time for the riders to settle into a rhythm, the first few laps were replete with aggression and characterised by attacking racing from the outset. With riders refusing to hold back, the wet conditions made for treacherous cornering and saw several hitting the deck in early crashes.

Time trial champion and one of the favourites, Britain’s Josh Tarling, was one of the hardest fallers. Despite his best efforts to keep going, the 18 year-old ultimately succumbed to his injuries and called it quits after four laps. An attritional course featuring the leg-sapping Mount Pleasant climb left riders all over the road and allowed a small break to get away.

With around 40km of racing completed, the dozen riders had an advantage of a minute. There was too much motivation behind for that to be that, however, and the chasers, spread across multiple countries, cooperated well to keep the race from running away from them. Midway through the race, Morgado spent several kilometres off the front on his own, an effort that may have