A FORTNIGHT after becoming Belgium’s first grand tour winner in 44 years, Remco Evenepoel became his country’s first men’s elite road race world champion in a decade to cap his breakthrough season.

The 22-year-old won the Vuelta a Espana two weeks ago and was again dominant in today’s 266.9km race in Australia as he broke away with 25 kilometres left and powered to an emphatic win, becoming the first Belgian man to win a cycling worlds road race since Philippe Gilbert in 2012.

French rider Christophe Laporte took second after winning the bunch sprint behind Evenepoel, with Australian Michael Matthews third as the chasing pack finished two minutes 21 seconds behind the Belgian.

The race featured 12 laps of a 17km finishing circuit at Wollongong, a coastal city south of Sydney.

Early breaks gained as much as eight minutes on the peloton but never looked threatening. Inside the last 40 kilometres the pace quickened and a front group started to pull away. On the second-last lap Evenepoel and Kazakh rider Alexey Lutsenko broke clear and built a small advantage.

The Belgian star, who earlier this season won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day classic, pushed clear of Lutsenko on the second-last ascent of the tough Mount Pleasant climb and was never challenged on his way to a dominant victory.

Compatriot Wout Van Aert just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth.

Before the start, news emerged that Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel, one of the title favourites, had been arrested after robustly tackling late-night pranksters at his hotel. He was cleared to start the race but pulled out shortly after.