Rechitsa-born Kiriyenko came third in the staggered start race, behind winner Tony Martin from Germany and Taylor Phinney from the USA. Kiriyenko covered 54km in 1 hour and 23 seconds, just 1 minute 45 seconds behind Martin. The race wasn’t successful for young Belarusian Andrey Krasilnikov (a prize winner of the national championship); he has missed part of the season through injury and came a disappointing 53rd.
The medal was Vasily’s first for an international road event, having taken gold and bronze in track cycling previously. In recent years, the 31 year old has cycled for Spanish Movistar team and, from next season, will be racing for one of the best cycling groups worldwide: British Sky. This was the first Belarusian medal in men’s road cycling, although Zinaida Stagurskaya claimed a gold medal in the women’s World Championship in 2000 and Konstantin Sivtsov did the same in the under 23 junior category in 2004.
