BEING the son of a famous father can have its disadvantages, and it just may have worked against Nicolas Roche in Saturday’s Olympic road race.

Italy's Paolo Bettini capped a turbulent week by retaining his rainbow jersey in the elite men's road race at the cycling world championships in Stuttgart, Germany on Sunday.

Lance Armstrong fought off a brave attack from Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan to retain the leader‘s yellow jersey in what remains one of the closest races ever in the 100-year history of the Tour de France.