There was fantastic racing in the Men's Elite Race. 196 riders lined up for the 273 km race, which contained 4470 meters of elevation gain.

However, Tadej Pogačar was the main focus as he was expected to unseat Mathieu van der Poel and take home the rainbow shirt.

The Irish contingent consisted of four riders: Eddie Dunbar, Ben Healy, Conn McDunphy, and Archie Ryan.

Commentators referred to the race as "uncontrolled chaos" since Pogačar moved earlier than anticipated. Together with Pavel Sivakov, he took a sizable lead for France with 100 km remaining. With little over 50 kilometres remaining, this year's Tour de France winner overtook Sivakov.

There were brief gaps in the peloton, but they didn't occur until 70 km remaining. Three cyclists managed to successfully break away, including Ben Healy.

Healy collaborated with Toms Skujins on Lativa and Oscar Onley on Great Britain.

Soon, Skujins and Healy were the only ones left, cooperating to keep their advantage in the peloton and attempt to overtake Pogačar.

Healy and Skujins were one minute behind Pogačar heading into the last lap, and about thirty seconds clear of the second set of chasers, which included world champion Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel.

With less than 24 km remaining, Healy briefly separated from Skujins, but he soon caught up with the Latvian. For the first time, Healy and Skujins began to close the distance to Pogačar as the race approached its last 20 km.

The Swiss cyclist Marc Hirschi started to connect with Skujins and Healy. Enric Mas joined Hirschi for Spain. Together, the two attempted to draw closer to Healy and Skujins.

With 16km remaining in the race, Healy was still very much in the lead among the seven riders in the chase group.

After leading Australia's Ben O'Connor by 34 seconds, Tadej Pogačar emerged victorious. Van van Poel lost out to Skujins in fourth place and had to settle for third.

Ben Healy, who has had an incredible season, took seventh place.

Evenepoel and Mas placed fifth and sixth, respectively.




With this triumph, Pogacar becomes the third cyclist in history to capture the Triple Crown of cycling: the World Championships, the Giro d'Italia, and the Tour de France all in the same year. Stephen Roche, an Irish cyclist, was the last rider to win the Triple Crown in 1987.

Archie Ryan, who placed 21st overall, has a bright career ahead of him.

Eddie Dunbar finished in 67th position.

114 cyclists, including Conn McDunphy, failed to complete the demanding seven circuit.