Time Trial Sport
Surprising gold for Germany at the World Cycling Championships
As of: 7:16 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Antonia Niedermaier (M) from Germany celebrates with the gold medal, Cedrine Kerbaol (l) from France with the silver medal and Julie de Wilde from Belgium with the bronze medal… at the award ceremony
Source: dpa/Jane Barlow
Antonia Niedermaier is considered the greatest German talent in cycling. However, nobody expected the 20-year-old to win gold in the time trial of the U23 category at the World Cycling Championships. A few weeks ago she fell badly.
A little shy, Antonia Niedermaier accepted the rainbow jersey, then the young German cyclist jumped onto the big podium. The 20-year-old huge talent surprisingly won the title in the individual time trial of the U23 women on the road at the World Cup in Scotland. The woman from Rosenheim, who had already surprised at the Giro d’Italia by winning the queen’s stage in July, clinched victory over 36.2 kilometers in 49:27 minutes on Thursday ahead of Cedrine Kerbaol from France with a lead of seven seconds.
“It’s unbelievable and means a lot to me to be at the top here at the World Cup. Three or four weeks after the fall at the Giro, I wouldn’t have thought it. I also had problems coming back,” Niedermaier said after her coup.
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As in the previous year, the U23 category was held as part of the women’s competition. In the women’s classification, Niedermaier ended up in a respectable eleventh place. She was 2:27 minutes behind American Chloe Dygert, who celebrated her happy ending after a long period of suffering.
On course: Antonia Niedermaier is heading for gold in Scotland
Credit: AFP/ADRIAN DENNIS
Niedermaier is considered a top talent in German cycling. At the same time, she is also active in ski mountaineering and has her sights set on participating in the 2026 Winter Games. In Cortina d’Ampezzo, the sport will be part of the Olympic program. “Milan and the Olympics are definitely still up to date. I still want to do that anyway. When it comes to cycling, however, it is perhaps no longer so unrealistic that you can make it to the Olympics,” Niedermaier added.
Pogacar’s girlfriend caused the fall
The young German had already proven her talent in 2021 with third place in the junior world championships. After moving to the WorldTour this year, the rise continued rapidly. On the fifth Giro stage, she duped all of the competition and won ahead of Dutch cycling star Annemiek van Vleuten. But the shock followed just one day later when she was swept away by Tadej Pogacar’s girlfriend Urska Zigart in a fall and had to give up with a facial injury.
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Dygert also has bad memories of a fall. In 2020, the now 26-year-old had slashed her thigh on a guard rail in a horrific fall during the World Cup time trial in Imola and had to undergo several surgeries. She then contracted the Epstein-Barr virus before she had to undergo heart surgery last fall. Now she won the world title again after four years. A few days ago, on the track, she had won the rainbow jersey in the 3,000-meter pursuit ahead of Franziska Brausse.
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Dygert won the women’s time trial ahead of Grace Brown of Australia and Christina Schweinberger of Austria. “It’s very special. Not just for me, but for the whole team. I trust God’s plan in this process,” Dygert said.
