Colombo gets off to a fast start. "I may have accelerated too much," admits the Ticino native. But he always stays in the top twelve. In the fourth of five laps, he saw a small phase of weakness, but was then able to turn up the pace again and make up two positions. "I was able to go full throttle again on the last lap. Tenth place is great," said a delighted Colombo.

In the battle for the title, Simon Andreassen is riding a lonely race at the front. The Dane extended his lead over the chasers to up to two minutes and then took it easy. Behind him, Egan Bernal (COL) and Luca Schwarzbauer (GER), as well as the Dutchman Milan Vader, are fighting for the remaining medals. Vader drops back on the last lap and Bernal is a little stronger on the climbs than the German, who catches up again on the last descent but can't get past in the sprint.