World Championships: Elite Men’s ITT

Today was the first day of the World Championships that actually had any degree of a festive atmosphere, to be honest. The elite men's ITT promised to be a big day with several contenders expected to be within striking distance of the coveted rainbow jersey. Since it was going to be such a big day, the organizers had kids from local bike clubs ride a section of the course and then packed them into the stands, alongside a few paying customers.

 

I figured I should get into the spirit of things with a healthy breakfast fit for a time trialist. Maybe this is how Sir Bradley put on those extra 15 pounds training for today.

 

For the first day, fans dressed to the nines.

 

I got super excited to see a big Polish contingency so I called out, “Go, Maciej Bodnar!” I'm not entirely convinced I wasn't Polish in a past life.

 

Of the 77 riders who lined up to start today, Taigo Machado was the third to start but the first to finish, having passed a Paraguayan and a Syrian out on the road, who finished in 76th and 77th, respectively.

 

The riders went off at ninety second intervals and over the nearly 58 kilometer course, Lithuania's Ignatas Konovalovas came within seconds of catching Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko.

 

Even if I could name another Greek cyclist, Ioannis Tamouridis would still be my favorite. He finished in 44th place today.

 

Maciej Bodnar got the Polish flags waving and ended up sitting in 28th overall.

 

Luis Leon Sanchez placed 35th.

 

Earlier in the week when I was watching cyclists train on the course outside of the races, I spotted a Tunisian rider and called out to him, “Allez, Tunisia!” because I really enjoyed my short time traveling there in April. He was so excited that he turned around so suddenly and violently to see who was cheering for him, I thought he was going to fall off his bike! Oops. Fortunately he righted himself and I wasn't responsible for a crash. This time round when I cheered for Rafaa Chtioui, he was much better prepared and just kept riding.

 

Wedged between the kids' bike clubs were 4 incredibly anxious looking adults waving their Germany flags for Tony Martin. They were so stressed that they had to be the family of the reigning TT champion. After spending yesterday with a cyclist's family, it's not hard to recognize the unique brand of anxiety experienced only by powerless family members.

 

Rohan Dennis of Australia was the first Garmin rider to start so I cheered and waved my Garmin sock when they broadcasted him leaving the start house. The American announcer obviously hadn't done his homework because he said Rohan rode for Orica GreenEdge, the Australian team. Hmm, ok, maybe it was just a mistake, I tried to let it slide even though “Garmin” is quite legible on his blue helmet and kit. But over the next 68 minutes of Rohan's ride, the announcer must have repeated another 4 or 5 times that Rohan was on Orica, which was awfully frustrating to listen to. Then again, this is the same announcer who said in the junior men's TT that in order to win, you had to go faster. Not exactly a secret that the winner is usually the rider who was faster than the rest of the field, so I did my best to tune him out since he wasn't a wealth of information. Rohan finished in 12th place.

 

Nick Roche was the sole Irish cyclist today and finished in 13th place.

 

I can't be sure if the road and TT champion of Uzbekistan, Muradjan Halmuratov, saw the new sign I made just for him, but he did place 62nd, which will do nicely.

 

The next rider to come in was another Garmin rider, Dane Alex Rasmussen, in 43rd.

 

I couldn't get over what a giant Gustav Erik Larsson was on the bike. The big Swede made the top 10 in 9th.

 

Colombian Rafael Infantino ended up in 67th place but it was a relief to see him finish at all. At one point in the race, a cat ran across the street and looked like it was about to launch itself against Infantino's rear wheel in a macabre suicide attempt. I can't even be sure if the Colombian ever even saw the cat, but he and the cat fortunately didn't collide and the rest of his time trial was pleasantly uneventful.

 

Niki Terpstra, one of my favorite riders in that special shade of Dutch orange, was 25th.

 

Bob Jungels, the Luxembourger who turned 21 earlier this week, finished in 33rd.

 

Jesse Sergent in 21st.

 

I don't think I had ever heard of Denmark's Rasmussen Quaade, but he came in at 6th place.

 

Michal Kwiatkowski in 24th. Three cheers for Poland!

 

Andrew Talansky finished in 46th.

 

Vasil Kiryienka produced a tremendous ride to slot in at 4th place.

 

Sylvain Chavanel in 22nd place.

 

Richie Porte in 17th.

 

Taylor Phinney. Oh, Taylor. Always a bridesmaid. He's a great time trialist and made the podium at last year's TT championships. I was desperately hoping to see him make the podium again this year despite the stiff competition, but it wasn't meant to be. The deficient commentary didn't provide us with much information and I later overheard his coaches saying he'd lost his water bottle after just 1 or 2 kilometers and had to ride for an hour without a sip of water, but whether he became dehydrated or was having an ill timed off day, Taylor came in 5th place.

 

Sir Bradley Wiggins, on the other hand, was gaining time at each intermediary time check. He crossed the line in first place with 2 big riders yet to finish.

 

Cancellara got off to a roaring start and was tearing up the course but he couldn't hold it. The man known as Spartacus faded and finished 2 seconds slower than Wiggins.

 

Had the commentary been better, we would have know that Tony Martin was destroying the clock and probably had enough time to get off his bike, enjoy a pastry from the expo, and soft pedal across the finish line and still finish in first. Tony came in 46 seconds ahead of Wiggins and retained his TT world champion rainbow jersey.

 

After being bundles of nerves for over an hour, Tony Martin's family could breate for the first time.

 

At the awards ceremony, Wiggins and Cancellara looked underwhelmed while Tony was, understandably, beaming.

After the podium, we made our way against the grain to the parking lot to see if any team buses were still around. There was a surprisingly small crowd waiting at the German bus for Tony.

 

Most riders were long gone (we just missed the Polish duo of Maciej and Kwiatkowski!) but Sam Bewley was still around.

 

Luis Leon Sanchez kept riding around in circles looking for something like he couldn't find his team car.

 

Nearly an hour after the medals were presented, Kiryienka walked towards the Belarussian car, stopping for photos and autographs. He looked a bit weary and I'm guessing he may have been frustrated with missing the podium after earning the bronze medal last year. If the officials and media held Kiryienka for so long and he didn't even podium, that suggested it would be a long wait yet for the medal winners.

 

There was still one other team vehicle in the parking lot and it belonged to the Americans. Andrew Talansky had placed 46th so I knew he would have left ages ago, but we stuck around in case either Taylor Phinney or Tony Martin showed up. Not too much later, we heard an expensive bike pull up and 3 kids scrambled to ask Taylor for autographs. He seemed to be taking his 5th very maturely and didn't mind spending some time with fans. I had resisted the urge to get photos or autographs from the other cyclists I'd seen in the parking lot over the past several days, but I couldn't pass up a chance to see Taylor! When the kids had their autographs, I took a step towards him to ask if he'd mind taking a photo with me. Before I could even open my mouth, Taylor said, “Well look who it is!” and put his arm around me for a picture. The only time I've ever met him was 6 weeks ago at a couple of Eneco Tour sign ons and I guess I made a bit of an impression. I wasn't looking for another reason to support Taylor but I found one!

 

When you're already on cloud 9, there's no reason to hang around. Rather than linger for Tony Martin with dozens of others, Fien and I started our walk back to the city.

 

Results

1st: Tony Martin, Germany

2nd: Sir Bradley Wiggins, UK

3rd: Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland