(Adds details, byline)
By Mark Meadows
VARESE, Italy, Sept 28 - Italy's Alessandro Ballan
pulled away from the pack on the final lap to comfortably win
the world road title on Sunday.
Ballan, the first man to win the title on home soil since
France's Bernard Hinault in 1980, triumphed after the Italian
team had dominated the race in the final third of the 260.25 kms
course.
Italy's Damiano Cunego was second and Dane Matti Breschel
took bronze following 15 laps of the northern Italian town, with
the finish taking place in a converted horse racing track packed
with fans.
Davide Rebellin of Italy was fourth while retiring team mate
Paolo Bettini, bidding for an unprecedented third title in a
row, was in contention until the closing stages.
Bettini punched the air with delight from the peleton when
he realised Ballan had won with a time of six hours 37 minutes
30 seconds.
"I still don't really realise what's happening. Having
people chanting my name helped me a lot. Everybody, especially
the Spaniards, were marking Paolo," Ballan told Eurosport
television.
PUNISHING CLIMBS
Venezuela's Richard Ochoa Quintero, Luxembourg's Christian
Poos and Ukrainian Oleg Chuzhda made up the early leading group
and held an 18-minute advantage before the peleton, led by the
Italians, started to rein them in.
Two punishing climbs, which the riders had to tackle on each
lap, helped slow the leaders and a group of Italians and
Spaniards took over at the front before being consumed by the
pack ahead of the last 30 kms.
The spectre of doping again hung over the event with
Luxembourg's Frank Schleck competing despite media reports that
he is involved in Spain's Operacion Puerto drugs scandal.
The rider, whose hotel was raided by Italian police, has
said he has done nothing wrong and the International Cycling
Union (UCI) said it had no evidence against him.
Schleck had to have running repairs during the race and
could not challenge while Spain's Alberto Contador dropped out.
The week-long championships were also hit by a number of
withdrawals including Switzerland's Olympic time trial champion
Fabian Cancellara and Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.
In Saturday's women's race, Britain's Nicole Cooke added the
world title to last month's Olympic gold.
Next year's championships are in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
(Additional reporting by Julien Pretot in Paris; Editing by
John Mehaffey)