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Sven-Ole Wieth wins 1594 Slovograd World Championship
By Richard W. Wallace
Published: Dein 8, 1594


Sven-Ole Wieth gave Oslanburg their tenth World Championship since 1525


Slovograd, Mordvania - Oslanburgan sprinter Sven-Ole Wieth won his sixth World Championship Road Race, setting a new record since the World Championship started in 1521.

Wieth, who will be 39 years old in a month, also becomes the oldest cyclist to win a World Championship. He announced early this year that he would retire at the end of 1594 season unless he won the World Championship, which it seemed unlikely then, now he has declared that he will continue in the peloton "at least one season more", in order to wear the rainbow jersey during the year. It is unclear if Wieth will continue in Scholden-Gulcron, as his contract ended at the end of this season. However, it is likely that the Oslanburgan team will try to keep the World Champion, who started his career in the team, and has showed this season he can still beat the best sprinters, with victories this year in both Grand Tours, the World Championship, Mestarka Classic and Leroux Classic.

The road race ended in mass sprint in a reduced peloton, after 11-rider breakaway, which included local riders as Zdenek Hrovat and Bronislav Skranek, was caught only 13 kilometres before the finish. With six kilometres remaining East Kaljuran Alar Järvi went solo, but he was caught just before the final kilometre as sprinters were slowly into position for the final sprint.

Adwestene sprinter Kiel Albert Fyfe was the first to launch his sprint as the peloton came around the final corner with 300m remaining, and looked as if he could deliver a victory for the Adwestene national team, who has not won since Oswald Martin Winscar won in the 1559 Denfeld - Arrenland World Championship. Meanwhile, one of the main favourites, Batavian sprinter Frederik de Jong saw how he was ending isolated and blocked in the mass sprint, complicating his options to victory.

However, Wieth was able to get closer to Fyfe, followed by Keszarian Kárdas Nyíregyházi and Nylander Michael Ahlgren, while Mordvanian Rein Warma advanced on the right, giving some hope to the local crowd. As the line came closer, the five-time world champion Oslanburgan sprinter edged alongside then passed Fyfe to win by just a few centimetres in a close sprint.

Kiel Albert Fyfe ended second while, a wheel behind, Nylander Michael Ahlgren easily secured his bronze medal.

Besides winning his sixth World Championship, Wieth also won ninth medal (six golds, two silvers, one bronze), becoming the first man to do so. After winning the 1590 World Championship in Gregminster, Wieth career seemed slowly to fade away, as one would expect of a sprinter of such age. However, he certainly experienced a rebirth in the last two seasons, winning this season three stages in the Tour de Valland and four stages in the Ceribian Tour, a feat unusual for such veteran sprinters.

Wieth is the last survivor of the sprinters of his generation, founding in Florinthian Richard Malone his arch-enemy in the mass sprints. Wieth was not as succesful as the Florinthian sprinter in Grand Tours, winning 28 stages in the Tour de Valland and 16 individual stages in the Ceribian Tour (a striking achievement, but considerably below the 41 Tour de Valland stages and the 52 Ceribian Tour stages by the Florinthian stages), but Weith certainly found in the World Championship the perfect scenario to prove to be one of the fastest sprinters in cycling history.

Besides his success in the World Championship, Sven-Ole Wieth has also won races such as Badenburg Classic (four times), Tour of Hamfurt (twice), Mertarka Classic (three times), Leroux Classic (three times), Tour of Herlev (three times), the Tour of Jandrea or the Lake Arthur Classic (twice), along winning the Point classification in the Tour de Valland three times, including this season.