A five-man lead group narrows in the fourth of seven laps as Max Brandl pushes the pace. The Dane Simon Andreassen loses the connection. In addition to the three eventual medal winners, the Spaniard Jofre Cullell is also in the race.
Colombo takes the lead, Dascalu goes with him and there is a small gap to Brandl and Cullell, which is closed again on the flat.

Then the U23 World Cup leader Vlad Dascalu takes the lead and chases up the first climb.

Colombo follows and the gap opens up again at the back. The Romanian, who has won the last three U23 World Cup races, keeps the pressure on and pushes Colombo to his limits.

On the first climb of the final lap, it was over for the Swiss rider. "I was able to keep up for one lap, but on the last lap it was no longer possible," confessed the rider from Ticino. "He doesn't attack that hard, but he can keep the pace very high for a long time."

The gap quickly increases, but the difference to third place is also growing towards the back, meaning that Colombo wins silver for the second time since 2018.
"I'm satisfied, I gave it my all. When someone is this strong, you have to acknowledge that," said Colombo, commenting on his result, which gave the Swiss team its fifth medal.

Joel Roth joins three Italians in the chasing group. However, the gap to the front grows to over 40 seconds, meaning that the medal option is no longer an option from lap four onwards.
The Italian Simone Avondetto mostly set the pace. "I can't complain, I was always able to ride in second position and the Italians didn't try to outmaneuver me," explains Roth.

When he saw Jofre Cullell breaking in front of him on the final lap, he attacked earlier than originally planned. About halfway through the 4.1-kilometre course, he passes the Spaniard with the Italian Gioele de Cosmo in tow.
"I then had to suffer quite a bit," says Roth. But he was determined to get around the last bend ahead of the Italian and he succeeded. As a result, de Cosmo was unable to overtake him in the sprint and Roth finished fourth, a position with which he was "completely satisfied". "Top five was my goal," said Roth.

For Fabio Püntener, his tenth place (+3:40) was a positive surprise. "I didn't feel so good the last few days, but I didn't know whether that was a good or bad sign," he said with a laugh. It was obviously a good one. Up to the fourth lap, he constantly made up positions and when he reached tenth place, he was able to maintain this position. "It went really well today," he said, beaming all over his face.