1970, Sport: UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race

The 1970 UCI Road World Championships for professional riders were held on 16 August 1970 in Leicester, England. It was the 37th edition of the event. 95 professionals took the start on Sunday 16 August for a race covering 271.96 kilometres. At the age of 21 in his first season as a professional, Jean-Pierre Monseré won at an average speed of 41.42 km/h.

Jean-Pierre Monseré at the finish

Jean-Pierre Monseré receiving the rainbow jersey

Halfway through the race, Monseré was at the head of a seven-man breakaway that included four Italians: Felice Gimondi, Michele Dancelli, Gianni Motta and Giacinto Santambrogio. Eddy Merckx, the great favourite of the year, remained in the main field and, with 15 kilometres to go, was still a minute behind the breakaway. His attempt to bridge the gap came to nothing. At the finish, he was one of the first to congratulate his young compatriot on winning the title.

Leif Mortensen, Jean-Pierre Monseré and Felice Gimondi

The crowd of around 10,000 warmly applauded the Englishman Les West, who finished fourth. Strong winds made the race exceptionally hard. At one point, the wind threatened to carry away the journalists’ tent, which had to be abandoned. The circuit included two moderate climbs, with both the start and finish at Mallory Park motor racing circuit.

Leif Mortensen, Jean-Pierre Monseré and Felice Gimondi

Complete Results:

Rnk	Rider	Team	Time
1	Monseré Jean-Pierre	Belgium	6:33:58
2	Mortensen Leif	Denmark	0:02
3	Gimondi Felice	Italy	,,
4	West Les	Great Britain	0:03
5	Rouxel Charly	France	0:05
6	Vasseur Alain	France	0:09
7	Godefroot Walter	Belgium	0:18
8	Verbeeck Frans	Belgium	,,
9	Bitossi Franco	Italy	,,
10	Vianen Gerard	Netherlands	,,
11	De Vlaeminck Roger	Belgium	,,
12	Wolfshohl Rolf	Germany	,,
13	Krekels Jan	Netherlands	,,
14	Guimard Cyrille	France	,,
15	Altig Rudi	Germany	,,
16	Janssen Jan	Netherlands	,,
17	Basso Marino	Italy	,,
18	Dancelli Michele	Italy	,,
19	Tschan Jürgen	Germany	,,
20	Ottenbros Harm	Netherlands	,,
21	Lasa Miguel María	Spain	,,
22	Pijnen René	Netherlands	,,
23	Raymond Christian	France	,,
24	Barras Sid	Great Britain	,,
25	Simonetti Mauro	Italy	,,
26	Dolman Evert	Netherlands	,,
27	Spahn Erich	Switzerland	,,
28	Kisner Peter	Netherlands	,,
29	Merckx Eddy	Belgium	,,
30	Pettersson Sture	Sweden	,,
31	Pettersson Gösta	Sweden	,,
32	Wright Michael	Great Britain	,,
33	Riotte Raymond	France	,,
34	van Katwijk Jan	Netherlands	,,
35	Pfenninger Louis	Switzerland	,,
36	Rebillard Daniel	France	,,
37	Poulidor Raymond	France	,,
38	Saéz Ramón	Spain	,,
39	Motta Gianni	Italy	,,
40	Ritter Ole	Denmark	,,
41	Bernardino Firmino	Portugal	,,
42	Pettersson Tomas	Sweden	,,
43	González José Antonio	Spain	,,
44	Santambrogio Giacinto	Italy	,,
45	Jolly Brian	Great Britain	,,
46	Vifian Bernard	Switzerland	,,
47	Puschel Dieter	Germany	,,
48	Streng Ernst	Germany	,,
49	Gandarias Andrés	Spain	,,
50	Adorni Vittorio	Italy	,,
51	Wagtmans Rini	Netherlands	,,
52	Zoetemelk Joop	Netherlands	,,
53	Horton Danny	Great Britain	,,
54	Rub Kurt	Switzerland	,,
55	Glemser Peter	Germany	,,
56	Aranzabal Jesús	Spain	,,
57	Delisle Raymond	France	,,
58	Thalmann Erwin	Switzerland	,,
59	Van Springel Herman	Belgium	,,
60	Azevedo José Silva Gonçalves	Portugal	,,
61	Berland Roland	France	,,
62	Pettersson Erik	Sweden	,,
63	Perurena Domingo	Spain	,,
64	Porter Hugh	Great Britain	,,
65	Huysmans Jos	Belgium	,,
66	Zilioli Italo	Italy	,,
67	Pacheco José Luis Oliveira	Portugal	,,
68	Pintens Georges	Belgium	,,
69	Bölke Winfried	Germany	,,
DNF	Gilmore Graeme	Australia
DNF	Kelliher Toni	Australia
DNF	Maloney Gordon	Australia
DNF	Lawrie Bill	Australia
DNF	Johnson Gordon	Australia
DNF	Jiménez Giovanni José	Colombia
DNF	Frey Mogens	Denmark
DNF	Kunde Karl-Heinz	Germany
DNF	Peffgen Wilfried	Germany
DNF	Head Peter	Great Britain
DNF	Hoban Barry	Great Britain
DNF	Wiles Geoffrey	Great Britain
DNF	Lewis Colin	Great Britain
DNF	Pereira José Machado	Portugal
DNF	Leite Joaquim Magalhães	Portugal
DNF	Moreira Joaquim	Portugal
DNF	Lasa José Manuel	Spain
DNF	Tamames Agustín	Spain
DNF	Jiménez Nemesio	Spain
DNF	Ocaña Luis	Spain
DNF	Zandegù Dino	Italy
DNF	Van Lancker Alain	France
DNF	Bruyère Joseph	Belgium
DNF	Spruyt Jos	Belgium
DNF	Schutz Edy	Luxembourg
DNF	Miller Leonard	Bahamas