1951 UCI Road World Championships
The UCI Road World Championships 1951 were held in Varese, Italy on September 2.
Racing
The professional drivers drove 295.2 km on a 15 -kilometer course on which they had to complete twelve rounds. For the first time since 1938, again six German drivers on the World Cup involved. When formed a breakaway group already during the third round of the Italian Giuseppe Minardi, was the German champion while in the individual pursuit Henry Black. The group grew over the course of the race to eight drivers, finally reached the goal together with a lead of one minute. On the final stretch of the 32- year-old Swiss Ferdy Kübler was in a sprint its competitors behind and won by a margin of two bike lengths. He had reached an average speed of 34.8 km / h. While the two local heroes Fiorenzo Magni and Antonio Bevilacqua, the medal ranks two and three erspurteten to Black secured the 6th place. Of the 45 previous to the start only 26 riders reached the goal. Among the retired, the remaining five German drivers were. The race of the pros pursued estimated to make up half a million spectators.
In the amateurs, who had to cope with 172.2 km, there was an Italian double victory on home soil. With an average speed of 36.6 km / h, 21 -year-old Gianni Ghidini won after a mass sprint in the sprint ahead of his compatriot Rino Benedetti. 41 riders reached the finish, German racing driver were not among them.