The Men's road race of the 2014 UCI Road World Championships was a cycling event that took place on 28 September 2014 in Ponferrada, Spain. It was the 81st edition of the championship, and Portugal's Rui Costa was the defending champion.
After attacking with around 6 km (3.7 mi) remaining, Poland's Michał Kwiatkowski held off the rest of the field to become his country's first world road race champion.[2] Kwiatkowski held on by a second to beat Australia's Simon Gerrans, while Spain's Alejandro Valverde finished in third place for the third successive world championships.[3]
Qualification was based on performances on the UCI run tours during 2014. Results from January to the middle of August counted towards the qualification criteria on both the 2014 UCI World Tour and the UCI Continental Circuits across the world, with the rankings being determined upon the release of the numerous tour rankings on 15 August 2014.[4]
The race was held on the same circuit as the other road races and consisted of 14 laps. The circuit was 18.20 km (11.31 mi) long and included two hills. The total climbing was 306 m (1,004 ft) per lap and the maximum incline was 10.7%.[6]
The first 4 km (2.5 mi) were flat, after which the climb to Alto de Montearenas started, with an average gradient of 8%. After a few hundred metres the ascent flattened and the remaining 5.1 km (3.2 mi) were at an average gradient of 3.5%. Next was a descent, with the steepest point after 11 km (6.8 mi) at a 16% negative gradient.[citation needed]
The Alto de Compostilla was a short climb of 1.1 km (0.68 mi), at an average gradient is 6.5% with some of the steepest parts at 11%. The remaining distance of 4.5 km (2.8 mi) was downhill thereafter, prior to the finish in Ponferrada.[citation needed]
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