Surprising victories by Greig and Chen on the road at the World Roller Games

The road races portion of the World Roller Games came to end with the marathon on Sunday in Barcelona.

By Jackob Savard

Photo: Erika Zanetti - World Skate

If Colombia dominated the track portion of the World Roller Games winning nine out of the twelve senior titles up for grab, the rest of the world had more success on the road with six of the ten available titles. 

Unexpected wins on the road

The road championships were punctuated by surprising yet well deserved victories. One of them came from Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yan-Cheng in the points race. The twenty-four-year-old skater was in a long breakaway with twenty-two-year-old Timothy Loubineaud from France. The principal contenders for the win on the distance came back on them a bit too late. Chen Yan-Cheng won the race followed by Loubineaud. Bart Swings took third. Many were hyped by a potential Edwin Estrada versus Ioseba Fernandez confrontation for the win on 100m, but none of them reached the four skater final. Australian Daniel Greig, who eliminated reigning world champion Fernandez in the semifinal won the big final and the world title on the distance.

Lollobrigida, Swings and Beddiaf led Europe

Francesca Lollobrigida took her first win of the championships in the elimination race and closed the games with another win in the marathon. Belgian Bart Swings, who had already won two world titles on the track, added the road elimination race champion title to his collection. Nolan Beddiaf won his second marathon world champion title in career being the fastest in the bunch sprint at the end of the 42k. Among European skaters, Simon Albrecht, Felix Rijhnen, Gwendal le Pivert and Sandrine Tas all managed to step on the second or third step of a podium on the road. 

Colombian were still strong

The Colombian team continued to collect titles and podiums on the road as Edwin Estrada and Jhoanna Viveros both claimed their third title of the championships respectively on the one lap sprint and the points race. Geiny Pajaro got her second world champion title of these World Roller Games with a strong performance on 100m while Andrea Canon completely dominated the one lap final to get herself a title and make Colombia’s national anthem play once again. 

Sabien Tinson steals the show in the juniors

American Sabien Tinson was the only junior skater to win two world champion titles on the road as he won the one lap sprint and the 100m. Colombian Maria Quiroz Alfonso, Juan Mantilla Pinilla and Sheila Munoz, Italian Asja Varani and Giorgia Valanzano and Belgian Jason Suttels were the other world junior champions.

For our recap of the track races, click HERE

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