"If you build it, they will come" ... is the famed quote from the 1989 Kevin Costner baseball movie 'Field of Dreams,' in which 'Ray' (played by Costner) builds a baseball field in a cornfield to lure the ghosts of legends to play one more time.
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On Sunday, the location was not in rural America, but Wollongong, NSW.
The city was not the location for a baseball field for ghosts; but a cycling road course where the world's best - and living - male riders raced in the final event of 2022 UCI World Road championships - the elite road race.
And on this day, 'they' were the spectators who flocked in their thousands in cars, trains and bicycles to take their place on the roadside throughout the 266.9km course and cheers the peloton of riders to their respective eventual destiny.
The sight dispelled any fears that this last tussle for the world title, and gold medal and rainbow jersey that comes with it, would unravel with a disappointing turn out after a week of doubt in which crowd numbers had been largely flagging.
Australian Michael Matthews who won the bronze medal behind Belgian winner Remco Evenepoel and French runner-up Christophe Laporte was grateful for the huge turn-out, saying: "Thank you to the crowd. They were super special."
Hopes of a strong attendance really gained momentum on Saturday when a healthy crowd was rewarded for standing in rainy and windy conditions with a scintillating women's elite road race won by the Dutch star Annameik van Vleuten.
Her win was astounding not just for the result, but for her ability to win with a fractured left elbow sustained in her crash after the start of Wednesday's team time trial mixed relay.
It was a victory for the ages. A championships highlight.
And as darkness fell over Wollongong on Saturday night, hope was that the excitement of such a race might lead to the crowd numbers these championships really deserved.
And that hope was met soon after a glorious sunshine unveiled the beauty of Wollongong and its surrounding region where landmarks throughout the route were quickly filled by a public wanting to claim their best vantage spots.
Spectators began to build everywhere; from the start in Helensburgh to Bald Hill and the descent to Stanwell Park and the picturesque coastline, to Wollongong and the 37km Mount Keira circuit and 17km city loop that included Mount Pleasant and was to be covered 12 times by the peloton.
Read more: How the men's elite race looked from the sky
And the riders responded like true entertainers to the public's cheer.
They engaged in a terrific race that showcased the rigours of this Wollongong circuit with their attacks and chases that saw the race split and regroup numerous times.
After so much speculation, the course proved to be a superb platform for an attacking race.
With its hills and many turns, its design became the subject of growing discussion during the week.
Riders gleaned first-hand knowledge of it as they trained on it daily.
Sunday's race was initially set alight by the attacking flare of the French.
They started the race with their leader being the two times defending champion Julian Alaphilippe who last year usurped the fancied Belgians on their home roads by winning the world championship at Leuven, Belgium.
But on Sunday, the Belgians got deserved payback with a victory by Evenepoel, 22, the 2018 world junior champion who had already won a bronze medal in the elite time trial world title last Sunday and had arrived in Australia only one week after his overall win in the three-week Vuelta a Espana.
He rode away alone on the punishing Mount Pleasant climb with 26km to go to finish two minutes 21 second ahead of the chasing bunch led by Laporte who took the silver medal, followed by Matthews who won the bronze.
Matthews, who also won bronze in 2017 and the silver in 2015, definitely has what it takes to add an elite world championship.
But on Sunday he was happy for how his day unfolded, especially after how well his Australian teammates rode.
"It feels like a win for us today," he said, smiling.
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