STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - Slovakia's Peter Velits won a mass sprint to take gold in the men's Under-23 road race at the world championships on Saturday.

Velits crossed the line at the end of the 171.9 km race, over nine laps of the Killesberg Park course, in an unofficial time of four hours 21 minutes 22 seconds to claim the rainbow jersey of world champion.

Wesley Sulzberger of Australia finished second, with Britain's Jonathan Bellis third, after they narrowly avoided a crash behind them.

Marta Bastianelli of Italy had earlier won the women's gold.

The elite men's road race closes the world championships on Sunday.