The first leg of the UCI Road World Championships is complete, with seven titles awarded as the time trials were run and won – some by the favourites and others by the unexpected.
The biggest source of upsets, came from the Norwegians, who swept up both the men’s elite and U23 titles but that is not where the surprises ended, as when the unexpected win through, the expected miss out.
Big names Filippo Ganna (Italy) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) slipped far further down the results chart than most had thought possible.
There was also a new generation of riders coming through who staked their claim as riders to watch in the world of time-trialling, none more so than Britain’s Zoe Bäckstedt who set a scorching pace out of the gate at the women’s junior time trial, fast enough in fact to top the initial pace of women’s elite winner Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands).
The fastest new faces, however weren’t the only who left their mark, with the man who came last in the men’s elite time trial, Drabir Alam (Bangladesh) also unequivocally achieving his goal.
We take a closer look at some of the key takeaways from the time trials at the Wollongong World Championships.
Even Ganna and Van Vleuten have bad days
The course at Wollongong with its corner heavy stop start rhythm, may not have been ideal for either Annemiek van Vleuten or Filippo Ganna, but ideal or not expectations are always high for these supreme time triallists, especially given both already have two world titles in the discipline to their name.
A third title running was at stake for Ganna, and a return to time trial rainbows she had won in 2017 and 2018 for Van Vleuten.
The Dutch rider, the world number one, has hardly had a misstep this year, focussing on big targets and delivering time after time. Her list of victories include the biggest races on the calendar, the Giro d’Italia Donne, the Tour de France Femmes and Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.
Though, the time trial was one goal that just didn’t work out, with seventh on the Marine Drive line and then the long run down the line of press in the mixed zone to explain what went wrong, again and again.
“I knew that I had a shit day,” said Van Vleuten. “Afterward, when I look to my efforts power, I could see that I did not have a good day.”
Then in the afternoon it was the usually unbeatable Ganna, who was fifth at the first…
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