Photogallery
Photo: Maja Smiejkowska, Reuters
Belgian Remco Evenepoel during the time trial at the WC.
At the age of 23 years and 198 days, Evenepoel is the youngest champion in the elite category. In addition, the time trial, which has been held since 1994, was won by the first Belgian. After last year’s triumph in the road race, he also placed himself alongside the only winner of both disciplines at the World Championships, the Spaniard Abraham Olan, who won the race with a mass start in 1995 and the time trial three years later.
“I’m the first Belgian to have a time trial title at the World Championships… It was one of my biggest goals of the season. And to win here today and on such a difficult track that wasn’t exactly ideal for a guy of my weight – I just had to have a really great day,” Evenepoel was quoted as saying by the AP agency.
Evenepoel managed his ride in 55:19 and his average speed was just under 52 km/h. Ganna beat the two-time world champion from 2020 and 2021 by over 12 seconds. Another 36 seconds was slower for Tarling, who became the youngest medalist in the history of the WC at the age of 19 years and 177 days.
“I could have gone a little harder and faster than we planned. And when you know after fifteen minutes that you’re not quite at the limit yet you feel like you have good legs, then you know it’s one of your really good ones days. But that last climb was really brutal. And on this terribly difficult track, it was another knife that cuts into your legs,” Evenepoel mentioned the grueling run to the finish line.
American Brandon McNulty took fourth place. Fifth was Belgium’s Wout van Aert, the second man in Sunday’s road race in Glasgow, who has two time trial silver medals from 2020 and 2021 in his medal collection. The 2018 and 2019 WC champion, Australia’s Rohan Dennis, was unlucky, losing time by changing a wheel due to technical problems just before the finish, and was seventh. The surprise winner of last year’s race in Wollongong, Australia, Norwegian Tobias Foss, finished eleventh.
Twenty-one-year-old Vacek, the junior European champion from 2020, who allowed himself to be “aged” for this year’s championship, lost almost five minutes to the victorious Belgian in his debut among the elite at the World Cup. The reigning domestic champion from the duel with Otruba’s chronometer needed one more minute to overcome the challenging track.
“I knew it would be extremely difficult because it was an extremely long time trial. I counted on the wind and the roads here are what they are – it’s the same for everyone,” Vacek told Czech Television. “I am quite satisfied with the performance, although of course there is always room for improvement. I think it was a good performance. You have to prepare for these long time trials for a long time, which unfortunately I was not able to do and I did not sit on the (time trial) goat for a month. I believe that I will make it even better in the future,” he declared.
Australian Oscar Chamberlain became Tarling’s successor, who dominated the junior race last year. He managed almost 23 kilometers in 28:29. Ben Wiggins, son of British Tour de France 2012 winner Bradley Wiggins, was second, 24 seconds behind. Pavel Šumpík finished twenty-seventh, Kryštof Král thirty-third.
Bradley Wiggins, who won the elite category in 2014 and was second twice, watched his son’s actions directly at the race venue. “But I didn’t get any special advice. In fact, he can’t even give me much advice. It’s been 25 years since he rode a junior race. And this sport has changed a lot since then,” said 18-year-old Wiggins.
He admitted that sometimes it is not easy with a star name. “People compare me and my dad all the time. And they will. It’s not easy, especially when you’re not doing too well. But if you look at my results in juniors, they’re much better than what he had. And I like him all the time I remind,” stated Ben Wiggins.
Another gold was won by paracyclist Pavlína Vejvodová. After Wednesday’s time trial, she also won today’s road race in the T1 category. She completed the 31.2 km course in 1:15:30, the second New Zealander Eltje Malzbender was seven minutes slower.
Bikerka Holubová finished ninth
Biker Adéla Holubová took ninth place in the under-23 women’s cross country. New Zealander Samara Maxwell won. Among the men, Briton Charlie Aldridge won the title in this category, Jan Zatloukal finished twenty-eighth.
At the beginning of the race, Holubová found herself among the last of the 55 female bikers, but gradually made her way to the front and finally reached a valuable position in the top ten. She lost four minutes and 21 seconds to Maxwell.
“I thought it would be great to improve on last year’s eleventh place. After my first impressions, I wasn’t excited about the track, but I thought I’d give it a try, even though it’s not a track that suits me. Fortunately, the weather was fine, it was dusty s, which was great for me. The start didn’t go very well for me, I was a fighter the whole race, I was always overtaking. I was riding well the whole time, I’m happy,” said Holubová for the server mtbs.cz.
The 21-year-old competitor from Pilsen was pleased with the placement, even considering the two and a half month long layoff due to injury. In May, she broke her wrist while training before the World Cup race in Nové Město, Moravia.
“It’s still not completely fused, but the screw is holding perfectly. I have more respect for the technique, I don’t go into it head-on, I rather go in such a way that I go through it and don’t take risks. Still, I didn’t avoid a fall, but I survived. Although I was losing on the jump, where I rode the B line, but nothing drastic. I was surprised myself, I feel great going up the hill,” said Holubová.
Aldridge beat Frenchman Adrien Boichis by 13 seconds in the fight for the title. Zátlúkal had a great start, but he only kept pace with the favorites until the second round.
“I was there at the beginning, but then I strained, my back hurt, everything was bad… I expected to finish a little better. Ten would have been great, but unfortunately. It was good in the relay, today it didn’t suit me at all.” said Knocked.
World Road Cycling Championship in Stirling (Great Britain) – time trial: men elite (47.8 km): 1. Evenepoel (Belg.) 55:192. Ganna (It.) -123. Tarling (Brit.) -484. McNulty (USA) -1:275. Van Aert (Belg.) -1:376. Oliveira (Portugal) -1:52…38. M. VACEK -4:5344. OTRUBA (both Czech Republic) -5:51 Juniors (22.8 km): 1. Chamberlain (Aust.) 28:292. Wiggins (Brit.) -243. Leidert (Germany) -34…27. SHUMPÍK -2:0633. KRÁL -2:23 (both Czech Republic) World Mountain Bike Championship in Tweed Valley (Great Britain) – cross country: Men under 23: 1. Aldridge (Brit.) 1:13:532. Boichis (Fr.) -133. Lillo (Switzerland) -29…28. HAMMERED -4:5139. FINAL (both Czech Republic) – 6:13 Women under 23: 1. Maxwell (N. Zél.) 1:16:262. Calories -1:013. Blöchlingerová (both Swiss) -1:27…9. HOLUBOVA -4:2119. SRNSKÁ -6:4432. NOVOTNÁ -10:1039. URGENT (all the Czech Republic) – 2 rounds
