There was a dramatic turn of events at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali: Julian Alaphilippe, the two-time world champion, was forced to retire after just 31 kilometers of the men's elite road race.

The French rider, who had shown signs of recovery by recently winning the GP de Québec, attempted a couple of sprints through the peloton before giving up and dropping out, sliding down the back of the pack through the team cars. According to later reports, Alaphilippe was suffering from food poisoning.

2025 proved to be a year of ups and downs for the 33-year-old Frenchman: after his success in Quebec, his first triumph in over a year, he had already been forced to abandon the following Montreal GP.

But it doesn't end there: shortly after Alaphilippe's retirement, a high-speed crash on a downhill forced other top riders to abandon the race, including Ilan van Wilder (Belgium), bronze medalist in the time trial a few days ago, and Spaniard Marc Soler.

France will now have to rely on outsiders like Pavel Sivakov and Valentin Paret-Peintre, as well as the young talent Paul Seixas, a 19-year-old making his professional world championship debut. Before the start of the competition, Dutchman Sam Oomen had also withdrawn due to illness, reducing the Dutch contingent to five.