The World Championships in Hamilton continue with the U23 Individual Timetrial! Who will follow into Kiril Yatsevich's footsteps?
Jungels (3rd last year) and Sütterlin (2nd in 2012) are amongst the favorites, while this list is topped by Zmorka and Haugard. Guys like Howson, Shikai or Lecuisinier will be amongst the more promising riders, too.
Denmark's Hansen is the first Top-10 contender to hit the road and his first split (where he crushes the early competition easily) may be a first indicator for the favorites:
20'00" to beat Doull (26 seconds) and Postlberger (28) comfortably..
Predatsch is next in line and goes past Hansen:
new best time, 8 seconds faster!
Local hero Cataford may have minor hopes for a Top-10 placing today.. he surely needs a special boost and very good legs though:
+ 18" on Predatsch at the first split..
Verona for Spain. Similar strong as Predatsch and new provisional 2nd Frison:
+ 1" to go past Frison!
The favorites are yet to follow, but Predatsch at least set the best time with just a few riders to come through the first split.
Still an open race of course, but riders like Harrison or Oram might have hoped for a better start..
Predatsch still leading at the split, as riders like Hamza (7 seconds) or Kiflay (12) missed out on his time.
Lecuisinier as next to attack this provisional lead:
+ 6" though..
Also Shikai misses out on Predatsch at this first split:
+ 3" as provisional 3rd! The German with quite a strong ride, it seems.
Will his teammate Sütterlin finally go past Predatsch?
He does:
new best time, 8 seconds faster than his mate!
So the first top-favorite showing some strength.. will Howson follow?
Yap!
Beating Sütterlin by 3 seconds at this point..
Jungels was truly impressive in those riders' last meeting in Avenir. Will he once again fool the very best today?
He definitely is up there:
new best time, a second ahead of Howson!
Haugard as next coming to the first split. The Norwegian is expected to fight for the win, with Zmorka as his biggest contender. But will he deliver?
Well, it's at least an impressive first sector:
beating Jungels by 10 seconds to take the provisional lead!
And now for Zmorka:
+ 1" on Haugard! Beware of a thrilling timetrial!
Haugard/Zmorka already there, where we expected them to be. Of course those 10 seconds advantage on Jungels/Howson ain't enough to seal the deal, but it's a sign of strength anyway.
Predatsch still with a nice effort so far. Shikai 8th, while Lecuisinier or Oram ain't to be found on the first page of the results here!
Will we see some notable changes at the second split?
For sure, we will!
While Verona keeps going strong with a provisional lead, Predatsch is losing some ground to drop down 10 seconds short on the Spaniard!
Van Baarle just a second slower than Verona, a few seconds faster than Reis and Harrison..
Frison quite impressive so far, as he goes past Verona now:
42'30" and therefore 5 seconds ahead of the Spaniard!
Lecuisinier keeps struggling to show anything too special here:
+ 5" on Frison at this second split..
And Shikai? Well, he ain't much faster, but at least he's taking the provisional lead now:
42'30", just like Frison!
And here come the top-favorites again. Sütterlin proves, that those guys won't be easy to beat today:
new best time, beating Shikai by 23 seconds!
Howson next:
new leader at this split, 4 seconds ahead of Sütterlin! If this is going to be the fight for a podium (at least), it will be close as hell!
Of course there's still Jungels though:
1 second faster than Howson! So, yap, this trio will have a thrilling battle to fight..
..it's going to be the fight for the final podium spot "only" though. Haugard crosses the split with a notable gap:
23 seconds ahead of Jungels, it looks like a Haugard/Zmorka thing here!
The Ukrainian was a second down on Haugard at the first split..
..here comes the second split..
..he's still behind.. tick tack tick:
+ 4" with 9km remaining!
So for the overview:
Gold: Haugard or Zmorka, seperated by 4 seconds!
Bronze: Jungels, Howson or Sütterlin, seperated by 6 seconds!
Sütterlin with the biggest disadvantage, but he may go for a strong final sector..
He easily takes the provisional lead at the finish, with Shikai about half a minute in arrears to finish 6th today. Frison and Verona held off Lecuisinier, who will have to settle for a 9th place ahead of Van Baarle!
Here comes Howson.. the Aussie was just a second off the podium at the second split. Will he have more luck than the Aussie TTT-squad, which finished 4th yesterday?
Well, at least he holds off Sütterlin til the finish:
new best time, 6 seconds faster than the German, who won't repeat his podium from 2012!
The pressure is now on Jungels.. it's about the Bronze medal..
..it's about beating Howson's 54'21"...
..it is...
..54'18"..
..54'19"..
..it is Bronze!
Who's going for Gold now?
Haugard has to defend his 4 seconds from the final split..
..53'51" for the provisional best time at the finish!
Zmorka fights..
..he fights for Gold..
..he fights for his country..
..he fights for..
..Silver!
Zmorka comes 7 seconds short and has to settle for the runner-up!
Huge win for Haugard. The Norwegian delivered big time and takes out the U23 Timetrial by the small margin of seven seconds.
Jungels with a close one for 3rd ahead of Howson and Sütterlin.. Shikai, Frison, Verona, Lecuisinier and Van Baarle complete the Top-10. Predatsch went down to 13th in the end. Local hero Caraford 21st.
