Almost 50km against the clock and some hills on the route. The favourites come from time trial Nation Australia. With Durbridge and Ford we have two Oz Cycling riders. Biggest opponent is from Oceania as well with Sergent from New Zealand. Then it`s basically only China, Japan, Kazakhstan or Hong Kong being able to surprise eventually.
Shikai is one of the early starters. He is an excellent stage racer and good against the clock. Can his climbing skills help him against the better time trialists?
Àt the first check he is 4s behind Cheung though, which is a bigger surprise actually.
No surprise though that Ford takes the lead there. He also starts early today. 33s faster than Cheung, while Kiwi Jack Bauer is also a bit behind Cheung.
Cheung continues to impress. At the next check he still leads over Shikai by 8s. So still very close but who had expected him to be that strong today?
Though as soon as Ford passes this points, he is 1'14 ahead of him, while Bauer is 5th there behind Oba as well now.
This was expected. Ford takes the provisional lead in the finish after the half field has finished. He is 1'29 ahead of Cheung, who was able to keep Shikai behind him (+12s). Oba and Bauer follow just a couple of seconds behind then.
All riders passed the first time check and it`s still Ford in the lead. A bit of a surprise after the early hill but it`s just 9s to his team mate Durbridge in 2nd. 23s to Sergent already, so we might see an Australian duel here.
Chi as 4th only 2s behind Sergent, while also Kuboki did beat Cheung`s time. He sits 27s behind Ford. Nepomnyachsniy as 7th already 34s behind.
At the 2nd point, Ford basically doubled the gap to Sergent. 47s already! Looking good for the Australian time trial machine.
And looking even better. Also Durbridge was given another 9s. It`s 18s for him now.
And the fight for the bronze medal is still exciting as well. Li is just 7s behind Sergent for this spot.
No rider was able to beat Ford yet as Sergent finished 59s later but ahead of Li and Kuboki securing him a medal today.
As last rider Durbridge reaches the finish and it`s...23s...for him. This means Ford stays in the lead ahead of his team mate and takes the Gold medal. Big day for Australia though with a 1-2 here.
Shikai is one of the early starters. He is an excellent stage racer and good against the clock. Can his climbing skills help him against the better time trialists?
Cheung though, which is a bigger surprise actually.
Ford takes the lead there. He also starts early today. 33s faster than Cheung, while Kiwi Jack Bauer is also a bit behind Cheung.
Jesse Sergent
Kazushige Kuboki
Yevgeni Nepomnyachsniy
