The Australian team rode brilliantly all day for young gun Caleb Ewan but in the end had to settle for silver in the men's under-23 road race at the world cycling championships in Spain.
The six-man Australian squad controlled much of the 182km race around the north-western city of Ponferrada before Norway's Sven Erik Bystrom attacked on the final climb to win by seven seconds.
Ewan won the bunch sprint easily from Kristoffer Skjerping, also from Norway, who took third place.
"Obviously going into a big race like this there's one plan and one medal that you really want and that's the gold," the 20-year-old Ewan told AAP.
"The team rode 100 per cent for me from the get-go and I'm so proud of how they rode and I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't pull it off.
"But at the end of the day the guys did all that they could during the race and we were down to only two guys at the end."
Ewan said he was relatively comfortable over the two climbs on the 18.2km circuit until three laps to go when the pace ramped up.
"The boys rode really good tempo for me, they made the race suit me even though the course didn't," the NSW rider said.
Ewan came an impressive fourth in 2013 on a much hillier Florence course.
He had his first race with Orica-GreenEDGE in August and will join the Australian professional outfit full-time in 2015.
That means he won't be able to ride at the U23 level again.
Fellow pre-race favourite South African Louis Meintjes launched a brave solo bid with three laps remaining.
Meintjes was second in 2013 and also clearly wanted the win in his final year as an under-23.
But the 22-year-old was caught after spending a lap out front.
The Australian squad then brought the race back together with 1.5 of the 10 laps remaining after Jack Haig, Sam Spokes and Robert Power went to the front yet again.
Campbell Flakemore, who won gold in the U23 time trial on Monday, and Alex Clements had earlier helped Australia keep the breakaways in check.
Flakemore was riding his last under-23 race after signing with the professional BMC team.
Also on Friday, Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen retained her junior women's world title following a 72.8km race.
Italy's Sofia Bertizzolo, the European champion, took second with Agnieszka Skalniak of Poland third.
Australia's best-placed rider was Alexandra Manly who finished 11th.
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