Matteo Trentin's four-letter testimonial as he crossed the finish line in Harrogate probably wouldn't have made it past the copy editor of the Italian post-race press release, but it was a good indication of how close he came to winning his first rainbow jersey in over a decade at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire It was a good representation of the state of mind of Trentin and his country after missing out on their first rainbow jersey in over a decade at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire.

Trentin and his team were nearly perfect until the last 200 meters of the grueling 260km elite men's road race. Gianni Moscon was brought out to cover a dangerous breakaway that formed on the Harrogate circuit, and Trentin was the sharpest rider in the bunch when Mathieu Van der Pol launched a devastating attack with 33km to go.

With Belgium and the Netherlands behind them, Italy looked poised to win its first elite men's title since Alessandro Ballan in 2008. Indeed, Italy's position became even more dominant when Van der Pol crashed with 12.7km to go, leaving Trentin and Moscon with only Stefan Küng and Mads Pedersen.

Moscon ducked down to hold the breakaway, and even as he slid off the back, most spectators expected Trentin to win. But after such a long race, and after such ruthless conditions, sprinting becomes as much a matter of will and determination as strength and power.

With 200 meters to go, Pedersen took the lead and Trentin began his sprint. But seconds later, as the Italian buckled down and Pedersen closed in on the front, a shocked gasp was heard in the press tent at the side of the finish straight.

Pedersen was not to be outdone, as he finished second in last year's Tour of Flanders and held off Trentin 1-0 on the Monument podium.

"The World Championships, as you can see, are never in the pocket," Trentin tried to hide his disappointment.

"It was incredibly hard today. I froze at the end. I took my jacket off on the last lap and I froze in 15 minutes. A million different things happened today. I think we proved that we were the only two guys who could cross into the breakaway group. But that's cycling and there's nothing you can do about it.

"When Gianni fell from last place, everyone knew we could win a medal. Everyone took turns and no one bargained. I was trying to recover as best I could for the final sprint, but there is no story here. Mads won. That's it."

Pedersen certainly deserved the win, but Italy and Trentin will still be reliving Sunday's finale over and over in their minds; two in a group of four would have been enough.

"If I had this guy's (rainbow) jersey, I'd be happier," Trentin said, looking at the Dane on his left.

"If you're there and you know you can get the jersey, you go for the jersey. At the end of the day, one athlete was better than me. One got the jersey, the other two got medals, and two years ago we were on the side of nothing. That was even worse."

In time, Trentin would gain courage and confidence from this performance. With Moscon today, Alberto Bettiol in Flanders, and Elia Viviani at the European Championships, Italy was once again a reliable presence on the world one-day stage.

Nevertheless, Trentin, now 30, will have no more chances to win the rainbow jersey. At the start of the race, Trentin would have done anything to be able to run the last kilometer with relatively inexperienced riders and diesel riders such as Kühn. The Italian's quest for the rainbow jersey continues.