World Cycling Championships: Evenepoel crowned time trial world champion
Remco Evenepoel stormed up the cobbled medieval streets to Stirling Castle as if unleashed and crowned himself the youngest time trial world champion in the history of the competition, which has been held since 1994, not far from the Highlands.
World Cycling Championships 2023: Remco Evenepoel wins the individual time trial
Ten months after his triumph in the World Championship road race, the young Belgian star continued his remarkable haul at the World Championships in Scotland with the second major rainbow jersey in cycling and also clearly won the duel between the young stars and Tadej Pogacar.
Evenepoel won the 47.8-kilometre course in 55:19 minutes ahead of the Italian time trial world record holder Filippo Ganna, who was time trial world champion in 2020 and 2021, and the surprisingly strong youngster Joshua Tarling from Great Britain. Pogacar, on the other hand, played no part, the Slovenian losing a good three minutes to the leaders.
Germans play supporting role in time trial
As the stars of the scene fought a thrilling battle for seconds at the old fortress in the east of Scotland, the two German representatives Nils Politt and Lennard Kämna only played a supporting role and also missed out on the top ten position that is so important for the Olympics. Lennard Kämna finished three minutes behind in 19th place, while German champion Politt (+3:55) was only able to finish 32nd.
For Evenepoel, it is compensation for the loss of the road race title last Sunday and the next big success this year, after he had already celebrated classics victories in Liège and San Sebastian. The talent of the century was also unimpressed by the fuss surrounding his future. His father Patrick had recently discussed a possible departure from the Belgian racing team Soudal-Quick Step. The German WorldTour team Bora-hansgrohe, which once signed a world champion in Peter Sagan, is being discussed as a possible new employer.
"I'm not here to impress my Vuelta rivals. I want to win all the important jerseys in cycling, and I'm still missing this one," Evenepoel announced. No sooner said than done: the 23-year-old, who had already won three time trial medals in 2019 with second place and bronze in each of the past two years, secured Belgium's first ever World Championship triumph in the battle against the clock.
World Cycling Championships 2023: Tarling surprises
After the first intermediate time at 12.6 kilometres, Evenepoel was still behind "Top Ganna", but then the Vuelta champion turned up the pace and gradually extended his lead. The big surprise of the day, however, was Tarling. At the first intermediate time, the 362nd rider in the world rankings was within striking distance of Ganna and Evenepoel. He had already taken half a minute from the stars Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogacar. The British time trial champion has only just joined the professional ranks at the start of the season and has yet to win a WorldTour race. Just last year, the 19-year-old was world junior champion. He simply skipped the U23 class.
Things didn't go so well for the two German starters. Politt had "quite a struggle" on his ride through the Scottish landscape, as he remarked: "It went badly, but you can't change that. I was a bit sore after the tour. My legs are still okay, but my body is tired." Kämna was significantly faster, but it wasn't enough to make it into the top ten.
Bradley Wiggins' son makes people sit up and take notice
In the junior category, the son of former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins had previously attracted attention. Ben Wiggins won his first world championship medal with silver in the individual time trial, while the German Louis Leidert secured bronze in the victory of the Australian Oscar Chamberlain.
At the Super World Championships in Scotland, which end on Sunday, the German team still has a chance of winning a medal in the elite women's road race. German champion Liane Lippert is one of the favourites.
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