Botero won in 2007, Wiggins in 2008, and while both start today, neither are expected to win.
Jerome Coppel was the first to start
Then cam Justo Tenorio, the young Spaniard was perhaps a surprise starter, but he will relish the opportunity
Third to go is the favourite - Fabian Cancellara - who for some reason has not ridden in any Grand Tours this season.
Geramn Jakob Fiedler has ridden some strong time trials this season
With Ruben Plaza also hoping to go well
Sebastian Rosseler rode well in the Vuelta TTs
Dutchman Rick Flens has been the Dutch TT champion for the past two seasons, so is sure to be somebody to watch out for
David Millar is the first Brit to start. His form isnt great, so dont expect too much
Marcel Kittel of Germany
Jose Ivan Gutierrez always seems to go well in time trials
Fabian Cancellara isnt the only top Swiss TT rider - Michael Schar beat him in the 2008 Swiss TT Champs, although has spent this season in the lowly Babes Only Belgian team
The best American hope is David Zabriskie, with Taylor Phinney also featuring in the American Squad
Thomas Dekker will hope to do well
Steven Cummings is the next Briton to hit the road
Riders are now starting to finish, and Justo Tenorio rode a quite ride to avoid being passed by Cancellara - but only just
Manuel Lloret is now on the course, having won the last time trial of the Vuelta
Rosseler is the 9th to finish, going comfortably 2nd - yet still over a minute behind Cancellara
Michael Mortensen has now started
12th to finish, Flens goes 2nd - just 3 seconds faster than Rosseler
Aleksandr Pliuschin, Vuelta Champion, has hit the course
With Janez Brajkovic being the last to start
Bradley Wiggins may now be on the course, but Steven Cummings looks set to be the strongest Brit today, as he passes a Moldovan rider (not Pliuschin)
Cancellara has looked untouchable so far, but CSC teammate Mortensen has just clocked in at the first check just 1 second behind him
And now Pliuschin comes in there just 3 seconds back
Michael Schar made it a Swiss 1-2 at the finish for now, coming in 55 seconds behind Cancellara.
Mortensen couldnt keep up the high pace though
So Pliuschin moved himself into a provisional 2nd at Check 2
Mortensen will eventually finish 47 seconds down, as Pliuschin comes into the finish, passing Santiago Botero
It is a 2nd place for Pliuschin, as Cancellara wins by 39 seconds.
Bradley Wiggins closed out a dissappointing season as world champion, with a 34th place finish
Although the full startlist has yet to be finalised, the British line up has been confirmed, along with details of which DFL riders are participating.
Great Britain
Perhaps the big surprise in the line up is that only 1 of the 6 riders comes from DFL, with the majority of DFL's Brits now out of form. The DFL Brit that does ride is Geraint Thomas, the British Champion.
Team leader for the Worlds is Chris Froome. The former Kenyan rides for Maxbo Bianchi and is a definate DFL target for next season. Steven Cummings and Charly Wegelius will lead the support for Froome.
Also riding are sprinter Mark Cavendish, and surprisingly, Kristian House.
DFL
The DFL team have 3 riders who will hope to mount a serious challenge for victory - Rigoberto Uran, Ignas Konovalovas and Aleksandr Pliuschin. Uran missed Ardennes through injury and this race became his new season goal, while both Konovalovas and Pliuschin will be encouraged by the World Time Trial perforamances coming off the back of the Vuelta.
Despite a decreasing form Edvald Boasson Hagen will ride for Norway, while Saul Raisin lines up for USA and Geraint Thomas rides for GB, as already mentioned.
I will post the report in 4 parts, to make posting it a bit quicker.
Part 1
Numerous riders want to get into the days breakaway, and 6 of those include Andy Schleck, Nick, Vaitkus, Kittel, Martin and Cherel
They werent the only ones though, as loads more riders made breakaway attempts
A group of 13 forms, although they do not have too much of a gap
They are too much of a threat though, and are brought back
Ruslan Ivanov and Mikael Cherel managed to stay ahead though, to be passed by a strong attack from Jens Voigt
A group of 5 formed - Phinney, Ivanov, Voigt, Cherel and Costa
Yet more attacks now - Cancellara, Rodriguez, Van Avermaet, Kirchen and Mortensen
Now Gesink, Kolesnikov, Paulinho and DFL rider Justo Tenorio
All these riders come together, and Leipheimer brings the tally up to 15
The Colombia team are controlling the pace, and for good reason. From Kristian House's observations, Uran is on for a great day
The break is never allowed to gather a huge lead, but they still maintain what they have. Inevitably, some of the 15 drop off, leaving 11 - Gesink, Kirchen, Van Avermaet, Leipheimer, Paulinho, Tenorio, Cancellara, Voigt, Mortensen, Kolesnikov and Rodriguez
In pulling along the peleton, Colombia have gained a gap - with all 6 Colombia riders there, aswell as Stuart O'Grady
Colombia arent seriously expecting to ride away, but the gap is kept for a while due to a disorganised chase
They ended up being ahead of the pack for around 15km, they are back in the fold now and there is 65km to go
In the front, the breakaway have lapped Moldovan Alexei Valuca who is a long way behind everyone else.
62 km to go and Cavendish is the first Briton to be dropped, a good effort though, with the likes of Brajkovic also being dropped at the same time
Kristian House soon followed Cavendish is running out of energy, House may have been a surprise selection, but he rode well doing a good job for the team.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 04-04-2009 23:07
Switzerland quickly take over from Colombia as Fabian Wegmann counters the Italian
The descent comes before others can put in a meaningful attack, as Wegmann and Di Luca link up with Voigt, who had been dropped by the breakaway
Voigt finds some extra strength and tows them along but after just 7km, the trio are caught
The break is still clear though, but for how much longer? More nations are now working together in the chase
The break splits into 6 and 4 - and surprisingly the 4 lagging behind slightly are 4 of the stronger names in the break - Gesink, Leipheimer, Cancellara and Kirchen. They will come back together again though.
Philippe Gilbert takes to the front of the peleton, which still includes 4 Britons: Wegelius, Froome, Thomas and Cummings
At the top of this particular hill, Konovalovas looks to put in an attack, although the decent comes quickly
He stuck to the front, and attacked once the road flattened
Morabito, Frank Schleck and Valverde respond, as does Aleksandr Pliuschin
Now here goes Vanendert and Uran
The attackers shoot past Kirchen and approach the other 9 riders in the break
While most riders moved to the left of the break, Rigoberto Uran powers on the right hand side
He moves past the break and into the lead
He won't have it all his own way though, as Valverde is able to follow and Vanendert also comes close
Behind Uran, Valverde and then Vanendert, Konovalovas and Pliuschin are amongst the chasers
Along with the rest of the break riders, Tenorio is dropped from that group as the pace increases, riding with Rodriguez and Van Avermaet
In the peleton (led by Italy who missed the move), Chris Froome is now isolated and towards the back of the 43 man group
Uran leads from Valverde up front, and it is looking like these two could decide the race - with the gap to Vanendert and the rest increasing
Chasing Vanendert are Morabito, Schleck, Pliuschin and Konovalovas with Mortensen still clinging on having been in the break (although the Dane did not last much longer)
Uran and Valverde cross the finish line to begin the final lap
And they are still together after one of the two hills in that last lap
But on the flat we see them both simultaneously attack
Vanendert is now nearly 2 minutes behind them, while still maintaining a 1 minute advantage on the 4 chasers
Froome is still surviving in the peleton, now 39 men and including the early breakaway, meaning that Tenorio is there too just in front of him
Time to see the result of those attacks from the leaders - and it seems Uran has more in the tank than Valverde
But as they lap a Norwegian, it is clear that he could not get the gap he would like if he is to get rid of Valverde before the sprint. 7km to go
Uran is continuing to pressurise Valverde .. and is that a gap appearing!?
Yes it is! Uran moves into a solo lead with just 5.6 km left
But more drama! Uran cracks not long after!
Valverde has a second chance and takes the lead, surely that is it now for Uran
He gathers his nerve, and finds his way back to Valverde's wheel
The final sprint is appraoching and Uran makes his move!
Valverde reacts but Urans got a gap now, the line is in sight!
Rigoberto Uran .... WORLD CHAMPION!
Incredible riding from the Colombian, fully deserved and a good step up having been 2nd last year.
Valverde of course took Silver, while Vanendert comes in alone to take 3rd - unable to catch Uran and Valverde having not quite managed to follow their attack all the way
3rd last year, 4th this year, Ignas Konovalovas outsprints Schleck and Morabito - but the Liege-Bastogne-Liege runnerup must surely be delighted for his DFL teammate
Aleksandr Pliuschin could not quite keep with the 4 man chase group in the final couple of kilometres, but 7th is still a strong result and it is a positive way to end the season
The peleton behind eventually splintered, with a group of 8 leading the battle towards 8th place. Di Luca is the only Italian in it though, and he takes 12th as it is surprisingly Stuart O'Grady in 8th place, ahead of Yuri Trofimov and Phillipe Gilbert
Across the finish line in 24th place came Chris Froome. That is a superb effort from him, to finish just behind last years World Champion Ballan, and prove that he is now ready to move on from relative obscurity in the teams of Maxbo Bianchi and Konica Minolta.
Justo Tenorio also produced a highly impressive ride, finishing 29th having been in the race's main breakaway. The potential big race winner, he has certainly used the Worlds to show his first real indication of that.
Steven Cummings came home in 58th place
Thomas and Wegelius were together, 15 minutes after Uran, in 75th and 76th
After 9th in 2007 and 4th in 2008, Edvald Boasson Hagen's season focus meant that he was never going to produce another Top 10 performance, as shown by a 99th place finish at 25 minutes
Around a minute and a half later came Kristian House and Mark Cavendish
Saul Raisin will have been dissappointed with his ride, over half an hour behind Uran despite coming into this in good form
So - confirmation of the result - Uran is World Champion, with Konovalovas 4th and Pliuschin 7th.
