Lemko Evenpoel's knockout victory in the 2022 UCI Road World Championships may make the headlines this Sunday, but as Frenchman Christophe Laporte points out, his silver medal behind the Belgian was no mean feat either

"The first time I have ever seen a Belgian win a silver medal was in the same way.

The French offensive early in the race showed that perhaps two-time champion Julien Alaphilippe was not in great form.

However, with the prospect of a World Championship gold medal long since lost by Evenpoel, Laporte also noted that the almost completely unexpected silver medal win was still a good result, given the confusion that reigned in the chase group.

"The plan in France was to race hard from the start," he said.

"Julien," who finished 51st in the end, said, "I didn't feel good today. I was here for the sprint and Benoit [Kosnefrois], Valentin Maduas, and Julien were going to follow me on the climb."

Laporte said the French team did its best, given the limitations of having to handle the super-strong Evenpoel.

And even if Alaphilippe was not in great shape, he noted, the French still sent a number of riders, along with Bardet, Sivakov, and Quentin Pascher, into the latter part of the 25-man breakaway that Evenpoel made the winning move in the last 30km.

"It wasn't enough to keep up with Lemko, but I don't think there were enough riders to keep up. Everything wasn't perfect, but I think we can be happy with today's result."

He added, "I think we can be happy with today's result.

However, once Evenpoel was gone, the pack behind him quickly began to split, as he realized that he could at best finish on the podium next to the Belgian.

The four-man group of Pascal Enkhoorn (Netherlands), Matthias Skjelmoes (Denmark), Lorenzo Rota (Italy), and Mauro Schmidt (Switzerland) seemed for a time to be in the best position to take one of them. Then Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) made a late push for the silver medal.

The fierce battle for the win in the last kilometer left Laporte wondering what was going on. But the finish line is the finish line, and after a good sprint to end the uncertainty, the 29-year-old will have his first World Championship medal in his suitcase when he takes the long flight back to Europe on Monday.

"With 3km to go, I saw a couple of groups ahead of me, but I didn't know who they were.

"I think I caught up to them with 500 meters to go. At the end they told me it was a silver medal. The last two laps were very strange, but I'm glad I finally finished second."

The silver medal was also arguably Laporte's best of the season. Laporte, who took France's only stage win at this summer's Tour, followed up his Paris-Nice victory and strong Classics win with an overall win at the Tour of Denmark and a victory in Australia. And on Sunday, he concluded:" I've won some very good races this season, but I can be happy with this medal."