We’re here for one of the main events of Worlds, the individual time trial. 48 riders from 24 countries compete for the prestigeous rainbow jersey. Let’s first have a quick look at the favorites:
The U23 TT has shown us that pure time trialists will be lost on this course, so ignore the likes of Fiedler, Zmorka et al. It’s definitely not a race for pure climbers either, so the major stage racers are inevitably the top favorites.
Phinney is the logical top favorite in any mountaneous time trial, alongside Taaramäe. But we know that cobblestone skills can have a significant impact here, which could tip the scales in favor of guys like Gesink or even comparatively weaker time trialists like Herklotz and Spilak. But above them all looms B Race World Champion Pluchkin.
The first few riders are cobblestone or time trialing specialists, so it’s no wonder that Konig takes the best time pretty easily after the mountaineous first sector. He even beats Faiers by a whole 44 seconds though, indicating a pretty strong ride.
Also pretty strong: Wellens, who is another 4 seconds faster than the Czech. He’s already eyeing his second rider to overtake in Boaro, having left Dillier way behind him already.
Denifl is also doing well so far, coming just 10 seconds short of Wellens. However, he’s a pretty poor cobblestone rider, so we expect him to lose a good chunk of time on this second sector. Haig, another ambitious rider for today, can’t quite keep up, dropping 12 seconds to the Austrian.
But then we have a new best time, set by Lecuisinier! One of the first serious contenders for a top result today, he beats Wellens by just 2 seconds!
As the first riders pass through the second checkpoint, we see the impact of the cobblestones. Wisniowski, one of the premier northern classics riders with a good but not great time trialing skillset, cuts his deficit to Konig in half, from a minute to 30 seconds. He won’t have much to do with the outcome of the race, but it gives us a first indication.
We’ve talked about Herklotz as a potential favorite, but maybe that was a bit too much. He’s only seventh at the first checkpoint right now, 41 seconds behind Lecuisinier.
Keizer does a lot better! He sets a new best time by just 4 seconds.
As one rider of each country has passed through the first checkpoint, here’s a quick look at the leaderboard. It’s very close at the top, with 4-5 riders in close proximity. Let’s see how things look after the flat stretch.
Not a whole lot for this man, at least: Wellens extends his lead to Konig to 6 seconds. A good sign for the Belgian, who’s neither a good cobbler nor a terribly strong time trialist. He’s back on his favored terrain now for the final kilometers.
Lecuisinier comes through, and the gaps remain somewhat small, but growing slightly. He leads Wellens by 10 seconds now. Denifl suffered much more on the flats, trailing by a whole minute at this point.
Wisniwoski is the first rider at the finish line. His time is exactly 10 seconds slower than Wirtgen’s U23 winning time, but it won’t stand long.
1h25’17
Polanc is an interesting rider for the road race with his blend of strong cobblestone skills and decent climbing, but his time trialing isn’t strong enough to do a ton today. Still, his second sector is just as fast as Lecuisinier’s, and he currently 10th at the second checkpoint. That’s just 2 places behind Herklotz, who doesn’t seem to have a good day whatsoever.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen any good times at the first checkpoint. Bibby has come the closest among the last few riders, coming through sixth, 20 seconds behind Keizer.
Speaking of: Keizer extends his lead at the second checkpoint to 10 seconds over Lecuisinier. No big changes between the leading riders so far here.
At the finish line, Konig gives us the first real measuring stick, almost gaining almost a minute and a half on the final sector alone compared to Wisniowski.
1h23’24
Debesay can just hold him off to not get overtaken, his lack of climbing skills prevented him from doing anything meaningful today.
1h27’22
The Eritrean would have been the second rider Konig had overtaken today. The first: Vangstad, who beats Debesay to finish provisionally third … of four.
1h26’45
Faiers comes to the line next and it’s quite a disappointing ride. Despite his skillset suiting this course pretty well, similar to Konig in most regards, he loses more than two minutes.
1h25’29
CT dominator Eastman is doing his best here, but he does lose a good 20 seconds to Keizer on the second sector.
Which leaves us with this provisional ranking. Keizer and Lecuisinier are the main riders looking at a potentially solid end result here, if things continue to progress like they have.
For the first time in a while, we have a new best time at the first checkpoint! And it’s Colombian Uran who does it, 8 seconds faster than Keizer.
Wellens has a pretty strong final third of the race. Having led Konig by just 7 seconds at the second checkpoint, he ends up 33 seconds faster. This could carry him decently far today.
1h22’50
He also overtook two riders in the process. One of them is Boaro, who takes last place for the moment by quite a margin.
1h28’07
Then comes Goncalves, just a second slower than Faiers in fifth place.
1h25’30
Denifl started the day promisingly, but faded especially in the middle on the flats and cobbles. He’s third for now.
1h24’03
But all of those had started behind this poor man. Dillier is more than 14 minutes slower than Wellens! Who sent him to a mountaneous time trial?!
1h36’58
He just barely managed to avoid two more overtakings. Bevin finished pretty unremarkably …
1h27’11
… while Duarte at least breaks the provisional Top 5, but that won’t last very long.
1h24’22
Meanwhile, Bibby is having himself a nice race. He shaves 2 seconds off his deficit to Keizer in the second sector of the race, now in third place at the second checkpoint.
But we have to turn back to Chrono 1, where Uran’s time has been beaten not once but twice already! First, by Spilak, who is 18 seconds faster, then by Pluchkin. He really underscores his ambitions here, another 17 seconds faster.
All the big guns are on the road now. Kritskiy stays in contention with a provisional third place after the first third, 24 seconds behind Pluchkin.
Haig comes to the line and he misses the provisional podium by a single second! Third is still Denifl for now.
1h24’04
Sterobo finishes next, he’s 10th right now of 14 finishers.
1h26’53
Then comes Lecuisinier. Like Wellens before him, he uses the final third to increase his lead. It’s at 22 seconds for now, looking at the times at the first checkpoint, he’s probably looking at a Top 10 spot.
1h22’28
Tenorio passes the first checkpoint and is just 11 seconds away from Pluchkin! Moving past Fiedler already, he’s the closest so far, and that doesn’t change as Taaramäe (+ 20) and Gesink (+ 40) come through. Which leaves just one rider …
And that’s Phinney! And he, too falls short. He’s not a great cobbler, but maybe his pure time trialing can help him trying to make up the 25 seconds he’s behind right now.
So here’s a final look at the standings at Chrono 1. Pluchkin is in the lead, but it’s still very close and the race for the medals in general is wide open.
Meanwhile, Oliveira had a terrific second sector! He moves past almost everyone, even Lecuisinier, just 2 seconds short of Keizer! He’s likely to lose a bit on the more mountaneous path to the finish, but this is a great ride by him.
Herklotz comes to the line and will surely be a bit disappointed. It’s not a great rehearsal for the road race, finishing behind the likes of Denifl and Haig. But maybe it’s for the best, getting the bad day out of the legs now.
1h24’11
Finishing around him are Golovash, currently second to last …
1h31’47
… Polanc, who moves into the Top 10 at the moment, …
1h25’18
… and Raileanu, also more towards the bottom of the standings right now.
1h28’29
Uran is having some trouble on the cobbles, losing 11 seconds to Keizer on the second part and thus the provisional lead.
Keizer himself is already at the finish and surprisingly, he loses his lead as well! With a suboptimal final stretch - or was Lecusinier just that good? -, he falls short of the best time by 2 seconds!
1h22’30
Just behind him, Fraile comes in. He’s been more or less anonymous all day and ends up 10th right now, again pretty much in the middle of the finishers so far.
1h25’15
Spilak, now ahead of Paillot, comes to the second checkpoint after a somewhat mediocre second sector, it seems. He puts just 2 more seconds into his lead over Keizer, and 8 to Lecuisinier. He might need to improve a bit if he wants to keep his spot on the podium.
Kangert and Eastman are the final two finishers of the first batch of riders. The American loses a good half a minute to Lecuisinier in the final third, another indicator for how good the French could have been there. It’s still enough for 5th at the moment, just a few seconds ahead of Denifl.
1h24’00
Kangert on the other hand looks at a 15th place for now.
1h25’45
And just ahead of them, Yatsevich crossed the line. He made a push for the lanterne rouge, but ended up ahead of both Golovash and, of course, Dillier.
1h31’09
Lecuisinier and Keizer are clearly the strongest of this first half of riders. They should have a good shot at a Top 10 result, if not maybe even a little more, depending on what’s happening among the top favorites.
A propos top favorites: Here’s Pluchkin at the second checkpoint. I speculated that Spilak’s time might not have been great on the previous kilometers, and that seems to hold true. Pluchkin adds another 14 seconds to his lead, which is now at 31 seconds.
Tenorio, who had been closest to the Moldovan at Chrono 1, also loses additional time, his deficit grows from 11 seconds to 27 and Fiedler has passed him again. But all that is still not as dramatic as Kritskiy’s second sector. The Russian loses more than half a minute (now at + 56) and has to hope for similar performances behind him to keep his medal hopes alive.
A number of riders without big Top 10 hopes come through the finish line over the next few minutes. Most promising among them is Novak, who almost exactly matches his compatriot Konig’s time, missing it by a mere second. That’s currently places 4 and 5 for the Czech Republic.
1h23’24
Other riders include Domagalski (23rd at the moment), …
1h27’24
… Teklehaimanot (10th) ….
1h24’33
… and Laengen (11th).
1h24’47
Gesink probably has to quash his hopes of a podium finish today. Despite the course suiting him well, he’s currently only 8th at the second checkpoint, 1’07 behind Pluchkin and 36 seconds behind Spilak.
As expected, Taaramäe also doesn’t love the cobbles, but he limits his losses, staying ahead of Kritskiy and in fourth place at the moment, but also already 22 seconds behind Spilak in third.
He drops one more spot though, as Phinney has a comparatively good second sector. He also loses time to Pluchkin, but gains on quite a few others.
Which leaves us with this leaderboard as we head into the deciding kilometers. Pluchkin looks somewhat safe already for his second gold medal, but behind him, it’s wide open between Tenorio, Spilak and Phinney.
Oliveira was 8th on that list just above and we expected him to lose quite a bit in the hills towards the end, but he holds up really well! While he can’t stay ahead of Lecusinier or Wellens, he manages to finish in fourth place for now, which opens the door for maybe a Top 11-13 finish. A strong ride today for the Portuguese!
1h22’54
He also stays ahead of Bibby, who couldn’t quite keep up his great performance from the second sector, but who is still in fifth right now.
1h23’01
Other finishers around them include Kung, who had a solid day here, …
1h25’05
… as did Cattaneo, who beats Haig and Herklotz to crack the provisional Top 10 …
1h24’04
… and Cornu, who does none of those good things, but considering his poor climbing, this actually looks like a decent enough time.
1h26’47
We’re firmly in the fight for the Top 10 now. Uran led Lecuisinier by 3 seconds at the second checkpoint and despite how strong the French looked in the finale, he manages to hold on to 2 of those to take over in the hot seat.
1h22’26
Brändle ends up in 15th for the moment, a decent time, albeit unspectacular.
1h24’35
Dennis usually likes time trials with some uphill sprinkled in, but this was both too much climbing and too much cobbles for his liking.
1h25’20
Just ahead of him finish Sergent, who has to hope to avoid the bottom 5 here, …
1h30’36
… and Würtz, who fares quite a bit better, relying on his strong secondary skills to keep him from those lowly regions despite poor climbing.
1h27’07
And then we’re in the battle for the medals. Spilak had no trouble beating Uran, as you’d expect, but he really attacks here and extends his lead from 36 seconds to 1’15! A very strong final sector, it seems, and a warning sign for the man coming next.
1h21’11
Said man: Pluchkin, of course. But oh how naïve to think that Spilak could seriously threaten him. He simply increased the pace himself, stretching the lead to almost a minute! This looks very dominant.
1h20’19
Two of the riders who would be among the top favorites in a regular time trial are up next. First, it’s Paillot, who just barely gets into the provisional Top 30.
1h26’36
Then it’s Zmorka, who’s in even bigger trouble. This was just not the course for the specialists.
1h29’12
5th at the first checkpoint, 6th at the second, can Kritskiy maybe attack the podium after all? Only the provisional on. He stays ahead of Uran, but not by much, and Spilak is almost a minute away. He will have to make do with a fifth or sixth place today.
1h22’07
Spilak looked great in the final sector and Tenorio had just 4 seconds on him at the second checkpoint. And now? The gap is 4 seconds again, but the order has swapped! Spilak is on pace for silver now, the Spaniard is in third, anxiously awaiting Taaramäe and Phinney.
1h21’14
But first it’s Gesink. The Dutch was just 10th at the previous checkpoint, and he won’t improve, finishing 8th for now, just behind compatriot Keizer.
1h22’38
Fiedler did the best he could today on a course that didn’t suit him. A strong second sector kept him from falling too far, but he will still end up 38th of 48 when all is said and done.
1h27’07
The penultimate rider on the road is Taaramäe. He trailed Tenorio by 26 seconds but that deficit only grew. He manages to stay ahead of Kritskiy though.
1h22’01
Phinney will conclude the race here. A phenomenal final sector would have been needed to attack the medals after Spilak and Tenorio rode so well, but that was not in the cards for him. On the contrary: Losing a bit more time, he falls behind Taaramäe by less than a second! Fifth place for him.
1h22’01
So, Aleksandr Pluchkin collects his second gold medal in as many races and puts the competition on notice for the grand finale, the elite road race. He seemed untouchable once more, but his opponents won’t just roll over, that’s for sure. Should be an exciting race!
World Championships 
Fiedler, 
Zmorka et al. It’s definitely not a race for pure climbers either, so the major stage racers are inevitably the top favorites. 
Phinney is the logical top favorite in any mountaneous time trial, alongside 
Taaramäe. But we know that cobblestone skills can have a significant impact here, which could tip the scales in favor of guys like 
Gesink or even comparatively weaker time trialists like 
Spilak. But above them all looms B Race World Champion 
Pluchkin. 
Konig takes the best time pretty easily after the mountaineous first sector. He even beats 
Faiers by a whole 44 seconds though, indicating a pretty strong ride.
Wellens, who is another 4 seconds faster than the Czech. He’s already eyeing his second rider to overtake in 
Boaro, having left 
Dillier way behind him already.
Denifl is also doing well so far, coming just 10 seconds short of 
Haig, another ambitious rider for today, can’t quite keep up, dropping 12 seconds to the Austrian.
Lecuisinier! One of the first serious contenders for a top result today, he beats 
Wisniowski, one of the premier northern classics riders with a good but not great time trialing skillset, cuts his deficit to 
Wirtgen’s U23 winning time, but it won’t stand long.
Debesay can just hold him off to not get overtaken, his lack of climbing skills prevented him from doing anything meaningful today.
Vangstad, who beats 
Uran who does it, 8 seconds faster than 
Goncalves, just a second slower than 
Bevin finished pretty unremarkably …
Kritskiy stays in contention with a provisional third place after the first third, 24 seconds behind 
Sterobo finishes next, he’s 10th right now of 14 finishers.
Tenorio passes the first checkpoint and is just 11 seconds away from 
