Following the B Road Race and the TTT, the U23 ITT is the third event of Worlds Week. On a course that features both cobbles and a good chunk of climbing, only the most versatile of our talented time trialists stand a chance to use the absence of the more established riders and fight for a unique medal opportunity.
As a quick reminder, 16 countries send two riders each, with an additional 16 riders present as “wild card” contenders, sort of the best of the rest from their respective continents (6 from Europe, 4 each from Asia and Africa, and 2 from the Americas). This leaves us with 48 contenders in total.
We’ve seen in the TTT that this course favors climbers, so it’s no surprise that Tom Wirtgen is the big favorite. Not only is he possibly the strongest pure time trialist, but among the favorites he’s also the best climber and his cobblestone skills aren’t terrible, in contrast to some of his closest rivals like Gidich and Dunbar.
Should the cobblestones play a major role, we could see Anderberg benefitting more than most, as he’s a specialist on that kind of terrain. Ganna can also somewhat deal with rougher roads, but both lack the climbing skills of some of the other elite contenders. But it remains to be seen if that matters as much on the individual level as it did for the teams.
The first rider at the starting ramp is Roberge. The Canadian is much more of a pure climber than a time trialist, so he could be a good measuring stick for how much of an impact the ascents will have.
Fouche, for instance, is a worse climber than either Roberge or Inkelaar (the second rider on the road), although not by much. But his superior time trialing skills seem to give him a leg up even after this first climbing-heavy sector, he takes the best time 8 seconds ahead of the Canadian and 15 ahead of the Dutch.
But that time doesn’t hold for very long, as Helme comes through to beat Fouche by 13 seconds, coming through after 23 minutes and 31 seconds on the bike. He’s a solid climber with decent-enough time trialing skills, so this course should suit him well. But as for everyone else, the next long stretch is downhill and flat, so we’ll have to see how the picture changes.
Van Niekerk ties Helme’s time through the first sector. He’s a weaker time trialist and climber on paper, but a decent cobblestone rider. We’ll see how much that will impact the times as we go through the race.
Min is the primary example of a pure climber on this course. And the first sector suits him very well. He takes the best time by 4 seconds.
But those times are nothing compared to this one by Barta. With his blend of great climbing and above average time trialing, this course seems made for him at this point and he bests Min by 21 seconds. But the cobbles coming up are a big weak point for him.
Mark Padun comes closest to Barta in the following minutes, just 8 seconds off. Conci (+ 16) and Roman (+ 21) also have decent times.
Meanwhile, the first riders are through the second checkpoint. And the impact of the cobbles really shows. Tiller trailed Van Niekerk by 37 seconds at Chrono 1, but manages to reduce that to just 16 seconds here. The South African has the provisional lead at the second checkpoint at the moment, 11 seconds ahead of Helme.
Someone who also has to hope for a big impact of cobblestones is Anderberg. He trails Barta by 53 seconds at the first checkpoint already.
And with that, the first 24 of 48 riders are through the first checkpoint. Here’s a look at the current standings. Areruya might have hoped for a bit more in this early mountaneous part, but similar to Pogacar, he could have suffered a lot on that cobbled stretch.
Bernal is flying through the first sector, already almost catching up with Yates. Third best time so far, just 10 seconds off Barta.
Pogacar continues to lose time on the flat second sector, but so does Min behind him. He drops behind Van Niekerk, trailing him by 19 seconds after having a 4 second lead on him at checkpoint one.
Barta comes through the second checkpoint and keeps his lead, but he too loses quite a few seconds and now only has 7 left on Van Niekerk. The remaining sector should suit him better again though, with more climbing and a little less cobblestones.
Conci seems to be dealing with the cobblestones a bit better, besting Barta’s time by 7 seconds at the second time check!
Meanwhile, we have the first rider finishing. After a final sector that took almost 40 minutes, Roberge completes the course with a time of
1h28’38
Neither Cras …
1h29’00
… nor Inkelaar can beat that time, but they’re both somewhat in the same vicinity.
1h29’09
Fouche however does set a new best time, and by over half a minute. This is a bit unexpected, but he’s been holding up very well throughout the whole course. Should be interesting to see how far this can take him.
1h28’05
Roman did surprisingly well on the second sector. Despite neither cobblestones nor pure time trialing being his strong suit, he limits his losses and comes through just 26 seconds slower than Conci. Padun, in contrast, loses a good chunk more. He’s got 37 seconds to make up.
We’ve said that Anderberg needed to use the flat part of the day to make up a lot of time and he did so, reducing his deficit of 53 seconds on Barta at the first checkpoint to just 17 seconds on Conci on the second and almost overtaking Ovsyannikov already in the process. But it’s still a deficit and the rest of the course will not be too kind to him, if everything goes as expected.
We have another best time at the finish line, and again, it’s a big jump. Helme increases the gap to Fouche from 11 to 47 seconds!
1h27’17
And even that holds for only one rider. Van Niekerk immediately bests that time by almost half a minute. The time differences in the final sector can become pretty big!
1h26’50
He overtook Martinez in the closing kilometers, who finishes on a pretty distant 7th place out of 7 at the moment.
1h31’25
Tiller is a warning sign for any rider without good legs on the uphill. His deficit to Van Niekerk grew from just 14 seconds at the second checkpoint to a whopping 1’44.
1h28’34
Mäder, who finishes just behind him, expectedly fares a bit better, but still stays behind Fouche.
1h28’07
If you want to gauge what that first sector does to pure time trialing specialists, look no further than Scotson. He leaves those climbs with a deficit of 2’31! Castrillo behind him does better, but is also a minute down already. The likes of Norsgaard and Penko are also more than 1’20 behind at that point.
Stork comes to the finish line without much to show for. After a poor final sector, he’s 9th out of 10 currently.
1h29’14
He’s not alone in having an unremarkable day though, as immediately following, first Gregaard, …
1h30’14
… then Evans …
1h28’54
… and Errazkin finish with rather modest times.
1h29’34
Min on the other hand does much better, the first rider in a while to come close to Van Niekerk! He made up 13 of the 19 seconds he had as a deficit, which is not enough to take the lead, but at least to take a spot on the virtual podium, ahead of Helme, who’s still third.
1h26’56
Pogacar was overtaken by the Korean, underscoring his poor day. His atrocious cobblestone riding was ultimately his undoing, but even with that, one might have expected better.
1h29’44
Meanwhile, we have some movement again at the first time check. Vlasov comes closer to Barta’s time than many have before him, but it’s still only enough for a provisional fifth, 19 seconds slower. Right behind him, Powless comes through the checkpoint, a bit disappointingly another 8 seconds slower.
Ganna does better, though not by much. He beats Vlasov by 2 seconds, moving into fifth himself, one second behind Conci, but a whole 30 seconds faster than Ivo Oliveira, who has started just behind him. The Portugese has to step it up on the flat parts now.
And the aforementioned Conci is no longer the leader at Chrono 2! That belongs to Bernal now, who increased his lead from 6 seconds on the Italian to 13!
Hsu had one of the strongest second sectors, not surprising for the cobblestone sprinter, but the final sector was as detrimental for him as it was for many other non-climbers.
1h29’09
The opposite progression happened for Areruya, who lost a ton on sector two, but a lot less in the final third, thus beating Hsu, but just barely making it into the provisional Top 10 at 8th.
1h28’41
Meanwhile, we have a few more rather disappointing times at the first time check. First, Dunbar misses Barta’s time by 21 seconds, then Gidich lays an even bigger egg, coming through more than 40 seconds slower than the American.
But we can still count on the top favorite: Wirtgen, the last rider through the first checkpoint, is also the fastest. New best time by 13 seconds!
Which leaves us with these Top 20 after the first third of the race. Bernal might be the biggest positive surprise, while we would have certainly expected more from the likes of Powless and Gidich.
A bit below the radar, Foss is having a pretty strong race. At the second checkpoint, he’s moved past riders like Van Niekerk or Roman into fourth place, just 24 seconds behind Bernal and 4 seconds behind Barta.
Speaking of: The American comes to the line now, expected to take the lead … but doesn’t! Wow! He must’ve suffered on the final few kilometers, losing 9 seconds to Van Niekerk to fall 2 seconds short. Another testament to the importance of cobblestone skills, I suppose, as that is where the South African (comparatively) shines.
1h26’52
Just overtaken by Barta, Cherkasov comes to the line. He never really stood a chance today and finishes on a provisional 15th (of 19).
1h29’17
Up next is Conci, who led Barta by 7 seconds at the second time check, and Van Niekerk by 14. But he, too, falls behind, and even further! With a deficit of 7 seconds on the lead, he’s in provisional fourth now, even a second behind Min!
1h26’57
Then we have Padun, the champion of the Tour de l’Avenir. He was 24 seconds behind Van Niekerk previously, but in contrast to everyone else, he gains a lot of time on him. But just barely not enough! He ties Barta!
1h26’52
If we look a bit further behind, we notice that Kämna is doing really well right now, currently seventh at the second time check with not all that many riders behind him. A Top 15 result is definetely in the cards, it looks like.
And then we actually do have a new best time at the finish! It’s Roman, and again it’s super close! With a great final sector, he beats Van Niekerk by just 3 seconds. Places 1 through 6 are seperated by just 11 seconds at this point.
1h26’47
Predictably, Anderberg could not compete for a top position today. He would have needed a flat cobbled TT, not a mountaneous one.
1h28’40
It’s still enough to overtake Ovsyannikov though, and by a good margin. This is not the day for the Kazakh, he takes over the lanterne rouge for now.
1h32’06
Which leaves us with this leaderboard as half of the riders are at the finish line. Coming in next without any big implication for the Top 10 or even Top 15 are Aular …
1h29’26
… and Bax.
1h31’56
De Bod was listed as one of the pre-stage favorites by bookies, but his subpar climbing and poor cobblestone skills prevent any good result for him. After a bad first sector, he rebounds on the flat - as expected -, but still trails Bernal by almost 40 seconds at the second checkpoint.
In contrast, Vlasov, who he can already spot when looking over the shoulder, is doing great! He missed the best time of Bernal at the second checkpoint by just a single second and is in contention for the medals today!
Bernal himself is coming to the finish line now after a phenomenal day. He didn’t overtake just one but two riders and eventhough he loses a bit of time to Roman in the final sector, he finishes with a comfortable new best time.
1h26’23
The two riders he overook: Menten …
1h31’49
… and Yates, both of whom will just be happy when this day is over and they’re not in the bottom 10. And that’s not guaranteed for either of them.
1h32’07
The latter even almost gets overtaken another time by Hänninen. The Finns are having a decent race here today. Helme is still sitting in 8th place, and Hänninen now moves into provisional 12th.
1h28’35
Meanwhile, some of the bigger names come through the second checkpoint. Powless improves on his 13th spot with a good ride on the flats, but still trails Bernal by 22 seconds. But the Colombian is no longer the measuring stick once Ganna comes through! After a slow start, he blows everyone out of the water on the second sector to take the best time by a whole 40 seconds!
Neither Oliveira (pictured, + 1’04) nor Dunbar (+ 47) can compete with that. But the latter might still be in contention for the medals here with a strong final few kilometers.
For Gidich, this is turning into a horrendous race. He’s hurting tremendously on the cobbled sections, but even then, he must have terrible legs. Just behind the second checkpoint, where he’s 25th (!), he gets overtaken by Wirtgen, who in turn takes the new best time.
And that’s looking really well now for the Luxembourger. While he lost a lot of time to Ganna, as did everyone else, you’d expect him to turn things around again on the final sections, and compared to the likes of Bernal, Barta or Roman, his lead increased drastically.
Foss, who was tenth in that graphic above just ahead of Van Niekerk, loses quite a bit of time to him and many others, finishing on a provisional 8th right now, but that’s going to drop. He might still be looking at Top 15 though, slotting in between Conci and Helme, 50 seconds down on Bernal.
1h27’13
His performance is still almost good enough to overtake Main. The South African finishes 17th for the moment.
1h28’56
Kämna finishes 35 seconds slower than Foss, which is currently just 2 positions further behind, as the gaps around positions 8 to 13 are pretty big at the moment. Still, he won’t be able to hold on to this current 10th place for all that long.
1h27’48
Another overtaken rider is next, namely Schäppi. On a flat course, he could have been a serious contender, but the climbing made that impossible today.
1h30’34
Also badly impacted by the climbing is Norsgaard …
1h32’22
… and the same is true for the riders finishing next, although Castrillo manages to limit his losses somewhat, looking at a potential Top 30 finish with this time.
1h29’09
Scotson does not limit anything here, he might want to have a word with the manager that sent him to a - at least partly - mountain time trial.
1h33’14
His bad time is also why it’s not as impressive that the following two riders catch up to him eventhough they started two or even three riders behind him, respectively. First, it’s Penko, …
1h29’53
… then Mano, who actually does by far the best of those three. He’s 13th at the finish line currently, just over 2 minutes behind Bernal.
1h28’25
Yamamoto just barely makes it into the provisional Top 20 with this time.
1h28’51
And De Bod, the rider coming in next, is not close to an actually good result, although this 14th right now could give him a Top 20 in the end. But much more interesting is the third rider in this picture.
1h28’29
Because that is Vlasov, who trailed Bernal - and the third place at that point - by a single second at the previous checkpoint. And now? Now, the gap between the two of them is 20 seconds, and it’s still Bernal who’s on top! Vlasov remains in second place at the finish line though, ahead of Roman. While Bernal can be more and more optimistic about his medal chances, the Russian has to look at Ganna and Dunbar, mainly, to see if there might still be a spot on the podium for him.
1h26’43
Then comes Powless. With Barta currently still in sixth place, this could be a decent result for the US team, but having Ganna already breathing down his neck does not look great for his final sector. He was 8th at the second checkpoint and drops all the way down to provisional 11th here. Not a great day for him.
1h27’30
And then we come to Ganna. He had 40 seconds in hand on Bernal ahead of the final sector and, on paper, better skills in virtually any category … except uphill. Will it still be enough for a medal today?
Yes! He saves 22 of those 40 seconds to finish solidly ahead of Bernal in first place. It seems likely that only Dunbar and, of course, Wirtgen can credibly move past him, so a medal looks like a sure thing right now!
1h26’00
There are not two but four riders still on the road though, and the first to come to the finish now is Oliveira. One of the better pure time trialists in this field, neither his climbing nor his cobblestone skills are anywhere close to good enough for a top result here, and he has to make do with a lower-end Top 20 result today.
1h28’11
Then it’s time for Dunbar. After Dunne in the B Road Race, this could be another medal for Ireland … if he was able to gain more than six seconds on Bernal in the final sector. Alas, he wasn’t, on the contrary, he lost a lot more time to a lot of other riders. Coming in between Van Niekerk and Padun, that’s only a sixth place for him at the moment.
1h26’51
Today’s winner will not be the last rider to cross the finish line, that’s for sure, and that is because Wirtgen has left Gidich behind a long time ago. If nothing short of a miracle happens, this should be an easy win for him on these final few hundred meters, right?
Yes! Beating everyone else by almost a minute, Tom Wirtgen is your 2019 U23 Individual Time Trial World Champion! Congratulations!
1h25'07
Gidich was expected to be one of the riders potentially able to hold a candle to Wirtgen, but this just wasn’t his day. He’s not looking well as he crosses the line, eventually even missing out on the Top 20, finishing just 21st.
World Championships 
Tom Wirtgen is the big favorite. Not only is he possibly the strongest pure time trialist, but among the favorites he’s also the best climber and his cobblestone skills aren’t terrible, in contrast to some of his closest rivals like 
Gidich and 
Dunbar.
Anderberg benefitting more than most, as he’s a specialist on that kind of terrain. 
Ganna can also somewhat deal with rougher roads, but both lack the climbing skills of some of the other elite contenders. But it remains to be seen if that matters as much on the individual level as it did for the teams.
Roberge. The Canadian is much more of a pure climber than a time trialist, so he could be a good measuring stick for how much of an impact the ascents will have.
Fouche, for instance, is a worse climber than either 
Inkelaar (the second rider on the road), although not by much. But his superior time trialing skills seem to give him a leg up even after this first climbing-heavy sector, he takes the best time 8 seconds ahead of the Canadian and 15 ahead of the Dutch.
Helme comes through to beat 
Van Niekerk ties 
Min is the primary example of a pure climber on this course. And the first sector suits him very well. He takes the best time by 4 seconds.
Barta. With his blend of great climbing and above average time trialing, this course seems made for him at this point and he bests 
Mark Padun comes closest to 
Roman (+ 21) also have decent times.
Tiller trailed 
Areruya might have hoped for a bit more in this early mountaneous part, but similar to 
Pogacar, he could have suffered a lot on that cobbled stretch.
Bernal is flying through the first sector, already almost catching up with 
Yates. Third best time so far, just 10 seconds off 
Cras …
Mäder, who finishes just behind him, expectedly fares a bit better, but still stays behind 
Castrillo behind him does better, but is also a minute down already. The likes of 
Norsgaard and 
Stork comes to the finish line without much to show for. After a poor final sector, he’s 9th out of 10 currently.
Vlasov comes closer to 
Ivo Oliveira, who has started just behind him. The Portugese has to step it up on the flat parts now.
Hsu had one of the strongest second sectors, not surprising for the cobblestone sprinter, but the final sector was as detrimental for him as it was for many other non-climbers. 
Aular …
Mano, who actually does by far the best of those three. He’s 13th at the finish line currently, just over 2 minutes behind 
Yamamoto just barely makes it into the provisional Top 20 with this time.
