Yes, the favourite won, but the Women's World Championships road race was a thriller where everyone was racing for the win

Because the cycling world has a short memory, most of the talk over the next few days is going to be about the men’s road race at the World Championships, and about how one of the most unpredictable races in years delivered a surprising but highly deserving winner in Brandon McNulty (USA).

The women’s race got its own spotlight on Saturday, which is fantastic and the way it should be, but it did mean that attention quite quickly switched to the men’s race, and the conversation moved on fast. Compound that with the fact that Sunday offered a surprise winner whilst Saturday’s race was won by the favourite, and we run the risk of remembering this weekend as a thrilling men’s race, and an as-predicted women’s race.

But that would betray the fact that actually, both races over the weekend were gripping, unpredictable and highly competitive in their own way, and neither played out in a way that anyone could have scripted.

If you didn’t watch the women’s race, it would be easy to look at the results and think ‘Oh, yeah, that’s exactly what we all predicted would happen’, and paint a picture in your mind of a straightforward race and a straightforward victory for Demi Vollering. She was the favourite, and she won. The podium was the exact same podium as the Tour de France Femmes. On paper, it all went as expected.

But of course, racing does not take place on paper, and the race itself will always tell you much, much more than the results sheet. In reality, this was a race that was not decided until the final few seconds, with all of the top four in the battle for victory until the final moments and – crucially – actually all trying to win, too.

There was a moment where it looked like Demi Vollering might Tadej Pogačar the race, that is to say, go long and win by brute force, riding everyone well off her wheel to take a solo victory. She capitalised on work from her teammate Puck Pieterse – which had dropped riders like Lotte Kopecky and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney – to attack solo with 38km to go, catch lone leader Maeva Squiban, and pull out a gap because no one followed her.

Except Vollering is not Pogačar, and so something happened that so rarely happens to her Slovenian peer; she was caught. It wasn’t race over, no one was conceding their chances were over and racing for the medals. Niewiadoma-Phinney and Elisa Longo Borghini regrouped and went in pursuit of the Dutchwoman, joining her with 15km to go. Not long after the catch, Longo Borghini attacked on her own, but again, there was no marking each other out behind – Niewiadoma-Phinney and Vollering brought her back, and then dropped her.

In the finale, Niewiadoma-Phinney, who is so often derided for her tactical decisions, did everything right. She couldn't just sit on Vollering and do no work, because then Longo Borghini would almost certainly come back. But she also had to save enough energy to be able to try one of the only two things that would help her win: a late solo attack, or the sprint of her life at the line.

So that's what she did, she managed her efforts with Vollering, she put in one big attack on the penultimate climb, and then when that didn't work, she sat on to save herself for the sprint. She timed her sprint really well, too, going late on one of the steeper points, giving herself the best possible chance of winning. And no, it wasn't enough, because Vollering's acceleration was simply better, but Niewiadoma-Phinney gave herself every possible chance to win, racing for the victory and believing she could until the very last moment, which isn't something we can always say in cycling.

Elisa Longo Borghini, too, pushed all the way until the line, very nearly catching the leading pair on the finishing straight, and in contention to win herself until the last few metres.

The same is true for Marlen Reusser, who came from nowhere to appear round the final corner only a few seconds behind the leaders as they started the climb to the finish line, seeing rainbow within reach and going for it until the very end.

So yes, it was a race where the favourite won, but at no point did it feel like that was the only option, or a foregone conclusion, and Vollering's rivals made sure that nothing was over until it was over.

Racing for second?

Cycling, be it men's or women's, can often fall victim to what many have playfully dubbed 'group two syndrome'. It's a catch-all for those occasions when the chase group seems close enough to catch whoever is in the lead, but they look at each other and hesitate to chase, unwilling to bring each other to the front, and instead they all lose. It's frustrating to watch, and must be even more frustrating to be a part of.

It's what happened last year when Magdeleine Vallieres surprised the world with her win in Kigali. Not to take anything away from Vallieres' bold and strong ride – certainly no one 'let' her win – but behind her, the pre-race favourites just looked at each other, marked each other out, and ultimately all missed out on even a consolation medal.

It's not an unusual occurrence, and one that can really put a dampener on the race. On Sunday, whilst the top three were beaming on the podium with their medals, no one overly disappointed because they all seemed to finish the race with no regrets, fourth-placed Reusser made some striking comments.

"I had the feeling that I'm the only one racing for first place," she told Eurosport after finding herself in the chasing group behind the top three, having missed the decisive attack as she desperately needed to take a feed.

"I thought 'let's go for first' but I had the feeling that there were a lot of teammates around, everybody racing for second. It's short after the race, this is just what's in me now and I still need to watch it back, but my feeling is that we raced for second.

"If somebody like Demi is out, you cannot just pull a bit. You [either] pull, or the race is over. I think I showed full commitment to pull, and most of them didn't. If people are just sitting in and not really pulling then nothing is going, so then Demi just wins."

Except, I'm not sure that's really what happened. Reusser often has a really sharp, no-holds-barred take on racing, but this time, I don't think she got it quite right. It's hard to know exactly what was going on in the chasing group that Reusser found herself in, because we didn't see much of that in the finale, and equally it's hard for her to know what was happening up front.

Perhaps the group Reusser was in in the finale – which included Juliette Berthet, riding for France but Vollering's teammate usually – did not give it their all, but even if that's the case, they were riding for fourth at that point, not second. Maybe what she said was in the heat of the moment of frustration and disappointment, and once she has watched the race back she may think differently.

Reusser may have rued missing the key move, but up the road, no one was there settling or racing for silver – the three leaders were all there for the win, and Vollering certainly did not 'just win' as if she were unchallenged.

We absolutely do see days where riders race for second or third with a frustrating lack of ambition or risk-taking, but Saturday was not one of those days.

And in truth, the fact that every top rider was racing for the win until the very end is what made this race so special, so memorable, and far from a predestined Vollering win.

Because she's the Tour de France Femmes champion, and the winner of so many big Classics already this year, her win won't go down in the history books as a big surprise or underdog triumph like Brandon McNulty's will. But don't let that trick you into thinking Saturday wasn't also a very special race, with the best riders in the world all giving everything they had to go for the rainbow jersey.