As expected, Phillippe Gilbert is the new Elite Mens Road Road race World Champion after winning the 267km stage in Valkenburg.
Current World Champion Mark Cavendish and Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins were in the British team which started this race through South Limberg before ten laps of a circuit which included the notorious Cauberg climb.
The British team which also included Tour Of Britain winner Jonathan Tiernan Locke, were on the front before Jeremy Roy and Bert-Jan Lindeman launched the first real attack of the day.
Twice World Champion Oscar Freire and Ireland's Dan Martin crashed but were soon back in the field, chasing down Vitaliy Buts (Ukraine) and Gattis Smukulis (Latvia) who had got away.
With 215kms to go, eleven riders in Lastras (ESP), Cataldo (ITA), Duggan (USA), Howes (USA), Coppel (FRA), Anacona (COL), Mezgec (SLO), Isaichev (RUS), Buts (UKR), Ferrari (URU), and Kangert (EST) were in the lead, some three minutes ahead of a field lead by Mark Cavendish.
That was up t0 5.30 by the time they reached the Cauberg for the first time.
With 113kms left, Mark Cavendish dropped off the back of the peloton and his World Championship and his time in the rainbow jersey was over and Alex Dowsett also abandoned.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Steve Cummings got themselves into a chasing group of 29 riders to try and close down the eleven escapers.
As the escapers started to fracture, a group containing Phillippe Gilbert, who had been a little ahead of them was closed down.
Riders at the back continued to abandon as did more after a crash which left a peloton of sixty riders now chasing seventeen.
All the big guns started to come to the front with a lap and a half left as Ian Stannard and Andrew Talansky (USA) attacked.
Then Nibali attacked followed by Ireland's Dan Martin and Nicholas Roche.
We came up to the Cauberg for the last time and away went Phillippe Gilbert to win the race and take the gold medal ahead of Edvald Boason-Hagen and Valverde in a time of 6.10.41
Jonathan Tiernan Locke was 19th.