Maltese cyclists failed to make an impact in yesterday's road race which covered 108km over 23 laps of the same course used for last Tuesday's time trial.

The first Maltese in was David Treacy who was 10th in 2 hours 48 minutes and 30 seconds. Etienne Bonello finished in 20th and last place while Dermot Galea and Roderick Muscat retired from the race.

The winner of the race was Liechtenstein's Russian cyclist Dimitri Jiriakov who covered the distance in 2 hours 44 minutes and 52 seconds, well ahead of second placed Tom Flammang of Luxembourg who was 2.49 minutes slower. Third was Cyrille Heymans, also of Luxembourg, who was 3.38 minutes behind the winner.

Treacy was 3.44 minutes behind the winner. Until three laps from the end, Treacy was among the leading bunch, but then Jiriakov opened a good lead which he never relinquished.

In last Tuesday's time trial, Roderick Muscat had clinched a bronze medal after finishing a creditable third. Yesterday, however, he frustrated his team-mates when after retiring following nine laps, he simply left on his own to the hotel saying that he was feeling sick.