A devastating late attack saw Italian Lorenzo Finn scorch a remarkable direct line from victory as the junior road race World Champion in 2024 to a triumph 12 months later in the equivalent U23 men’s event in 2025.
The 18-year-old Italian climber powered clear from his most persistent opponent, Jan Huber (Switzerland), with six kilometres to go, after which his second road race World Championships gold in as many years was never really in doubt.
One of the pre-race favourites, Finn then attacked from the break on the hardest ascent of the course, the Côte de Kimihurara, to be joined shortly afterwards by Huber.
The Swiss rider initially proved tricky to shake off, but finally cracked on the easier Côte de Kigali Golf ascent, leaving Finn to celebrate his second rainbow jersey in as many years by raising two fingers in victory as he reached the line.
“It’s exactly one year, it’s like last year, it’s just unreal… The crowds here, in the last 500 metres, my ears were hurting cos there were so many people from different nations cheering me on,” Finn said.
“The people here in Kigali are fantastic, it’s been a wonderful week. Obviously there’s the result, but I’ll remember here for the rest of my life as the experience of a lifetime.
“We wanted to see what [pre-race favourite team] Belgium would do and they controlled the race for the first half, so I tried to save some energy. Then all hell broke loose, there were attacks everywhere.
“It was a hard part of the race, but the team were perfect, the staff too, and I’m just glad I could finish it off after all they did. If I’d finished in a sprint, chances are I’d lose so I had to go solo.”
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