Worlds – Team Time Trial Championship

2014_August_Prendas_Bannerr4

BMC & Specialized-lululemon win the Men’s and Women’s Team Time Trial World Championships on the opening day of the World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain

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Worlds – Team Time Trial Championship

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Ponferrada, Spain

The BMC Racing Team captured its first UCI world team time trial title Sunday with a 31-second victory over ORICA-GreenEDGE and by 35 seconds over Omega Pharma-Quick Step, the winning team the past two years. Over the 57.1-kilometre course in Spain, the BMC Racing Team clocked a winning time of 1:03:29 for an average speed of nearly 54 kph.

Riders on BMC’s winning team were Rohan Dennis, Silvan Dillier, Daniel Oss, Manuel Quinziato, Tejay van Garderen and Peter Velits. Velits, the Slovakian national time trial champion, was also a member of the winning team time trial squad (with Omega Pharma-Quick Step) the past two years.

A strong finish pulled ORICA-GreenEDGE onto the podium but it wasn’t enough to top a dominant BMC Racing who won by over 30 seconds. The six-man ORICA-GreenEDGE outfit, including Brett Lancaster (AUS) who has been around long enough to ride the Archer Grand Prix when it was still around, Damien Howson (AUS), Jens Mouris (NED), Luke Durbridge (AUS), Michael Hepburn (AUS) and Svein Tuft (CAN), went into the championships with high hopes of a gold medal but settled for silver for the second consecutive year.

“We suffered out there,” Tuft said. “Second again is not our favourite thing, but we gave everything we had that’s for sure. It was definitely a lot tougher than we thought pre-riding the course. The last 10-15km was just a boxing match and it was really hard coming home.”

Winners the last two years, Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, was last to leave the start house and looked to have a good chance after the second intermediate checkpoint with a 7″ advantage. However, the final kilometres of the course proved to be the difference. BMC Racing Team won gold with a time of 1:03.29 (53.967km/h). Orica-GreenEDGE took silver, 32 seconds down. OPQS finished 36″ down (53.462km/h).

The riders who participated for OPQS were Tony Martin, Tom Boonen, Michal Kwiatkowski, Niki Terpstra, Julien Vermote, and Pieter Serry. “I think this year was one of our best time trials technically,” Sport Director Tom Steels said. “Everyone was in line and had a good pace. Just as we said at the meeting in the last straight heading toward the last hill, we really wanted to make a difference there. But the weather conditions prevented us from doing that”.

“When they tried to speed up they went into a wall of wind. They kept on going, but we lost it there I think. The rain on the descent cost us more time. But we followed the plan and pushed the whole way and we kept our pace. We were consistent the whole way but with the change of conditions you cannot do anything about it other than try your best.

“We all gave 100 percent so it’s no concern about our effort today,” Tony Martin said. “I think we lost the race at the last 15 kilometres. We have to analyze what went wrong, what went missing. It’s always hard to say what went wrong so close after the race, but without question we lost the race in the final kilometres.”

“I think there were a few things that worked against us, but it’s hard to say for sure what really made the biggest difference. In the up and down section it was really hard to find a good rhythm but we all did a good job and took care of each other. I’m proud of all six guys as we all went full gas today. In the end it’s still a medal, we’re still in the top three of the world. I think we can be disappointed but also proud of what we did today. Now I must look to this Wednesday as I try to defend my status as three-time World TT Champion. I have to prepare and be focused immediately.”

“I think technically we did a good time trial,” Boonen said. “Everyone did their best. The part that we planned to make a difference, I thought before that we were still in the lead, it seemed we were a bit behind instead. We tried to make a difference there, but you felt the wind change completely straight away, despite our plan in that section. We lost a lot of time there. That, combined with the rain in the final, I think we have to be happy with the circumstances. We still have a medal, but I think with this team and the effort we did, in a little better conditions we’d be fighting for a better place. You could see it with our time at the second intermediate point when the conditions were more as planned. But OK, we did our best with what we could control.”

“It was fast,” Terpstra said, “But in the last 10 kilometres it was really hard. We couldn’t keep the right speed to go for the win at that moment. We kept on fighting and on the last climb I think we did a really good pace. Maybe we took some seconds back there, but not enough. So, in the end we finished 3rd. It was not what we were aiming for and we are disappointed, but of course it’s not bad to be on the podium. Congrats to BMC and Orica for their performance.”

“I think we did a really good TT,” Vermote said. “We immediately got into the rhythm and the team worked well. We had some great times in the beginning. We knew the end was hard and we conserved some energy for that, but I think the conditions went against us today, and we lost a lot of time we didn’t expect in the last part of the race. But anyway, it’s nice for us to have a medal and to be on a podium. I’m also happy about my personal performance and that I was able to ride for the team and try to defend OPQS as two-time world TT champions.”

“I have no regrets,” Tour of Britain runner up Michal Kwiatkowski said. “I gave my heart and tried to do the best I could. It’s not about arriving to the finish with a smile and six guys. It’s about being fastest at the finish line. I did my job, I did my last turn really full gas and I’m happy the guys finished the race as strong as they could”.

“This discipline is becoming year by year more interesting. The competition is very high and teams and suppliers put a lot of energy into it to prepare the race as best as possible. That’s why I’m proud to be part of this team who was able once again to finish on the podium and be once again among the best in the world.”

6th for Movistar and Alex Dowsett
Though their sixth position repeats the achievement of the 2012 edition of the race in Limburg, the Movistar Team was only 51″ away from glory and respectively 20″ and 16″ off silver and bronze medals -1’17” and 31″ were the gaps two in previous years.

After their tenth place earned last year in Florence, the telephone squad’s progression becomes evident, even more taking into account which riders made part of today’s team. Only Erviti was older than 30, with Amador (28), Malori (26), Dowsett, Izagirre (25) and Sütterlin (20), the only one to lost contact halfway through the race, all in their twenties.

No Joy for Sky
Team Sky missed out a medal at the Team Time Trial World Championships by just over two seconds. The six-man squad set off at a blistering pace and led through the second intermediate time split, despite losing Salvatore Puccio and Geraint Thomas after determined early efforts.

Dario Cataldo, Vasil Kiryienka, Kanstantsin Siutsou and Sir Bradley Wiggins continued to dig deep over the undulating 57.1km course, and stopped the clock with a time of 1hr 04min 07.14sec. Sports Director Nicolas Portalexplained “Our plan was to ride hard from the start and we averaged 60km/h during the first 11km. That showed a huge statement of intent but the effort meant Salvatore was dropped after the first checkpoint and Geraint fell off the pace shortly before the second”.

“The four guys who remained did an amazing job over the rest of the course. Kiry and Brad were absolutely incredible and Kosta and Dario held on brilliantly. The rain at the end wasn’t hard, but it was just enough to make the roads slippery and that probably cost us some seconds on BMC. GreenEdge and Quick-Step had the same conditions as us though so we have no complaints about the overall result.”

SPLITS
Valkenburg ’12:
1. Omega Pharma Quickstep
2. BMC, 0.03
3. Orica GreenEdge, 0.17
6. Movistar Team, 1.18

Florence ’13
1. Omega Pharma Quickstep
2. Orica, 0.01
3. Sky, 0.22
10. Movistar Team, 2.31

FINAL

1. BMC Racing Team 1:03:29 53.986 kph
2. Orica GreenEDGE @ 0:32 53.536
3. Omega Pharma – Quick-Step @ 0:36 53.480
4. Team Sky @ 0:38 53.453 inc WIGGINS Bradley Geraint Thomas
5. Tinkoff-Saxo @ 0:47 53.328
6. Movistar Team @ 0:52 53.259 inc Alex Dowsett
7. Trek Factory Racing @ 1:02 53.121
8. Team Giant-Shimano @ 1:27 52.780
9. Cannondale @ 1:29 52.753
10. Garmin Sharp @ 1:45 52.538
11. FDJ.fr @ 2:05 52.270
12. Astana Pro Team @ 2:13 52.164
13. Team Katusha @ 2:15 52.138
14. Belkin-Pro Cycling Team @ 2:29 51.954
15. Lampre-Merida @ 2:30 51.940
16. RusVelo @ 2:45 51.744
17. Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise
18. CCC Polsat Polkowice @ 3:37 51.076
19. Team Europcar @ 3:52 50.886
20. AG2R La Mondiale @ 4:06 50.711
21. Wanty – Groupe Gobert @ 4:08 50.686
22. Lotto Belisol @ 4:12 50.636
23. Caja Rural – Seguros RGA @ 4:30 50.412
24. Kolss Cycling Team @ 4:58 50.069
25. MG Kvis – Wilier @ 5:37 49.598
26. Rabobank Development Team @ 6:01 49.312
27. Adria Mobil @ 6:13 49.171
28. BDC Marcpol @ 6:52 48.716
29. Team Ecuador @ 8:09 47.844

WOMEN’S
Specialized-lululemon won the women’s for a thirds time whilst ORICA-AIS rode strongly to take out the silver medal in the team time trial at the 2014 UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain. Lizzie Armitstead’s Boels Dolman team were 5th and Sharon Laws United Healthcare squad came in 6th.

1. Specialized-lululemon 43:33 49.805
2. Orica – AIS 1:17 48.379
3. Astana BePink Womens Team 2:20 47.272
4. Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies 2:26 47.169
5. Boels – Dolmans Cycling Team inc ARMITSTEAD Elizabeth
6. UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Women’s Team 2:44 46.864inc LAWS Sharon
7. Bigla Cycling Team 2:55 46.679
8. Team Giant-Shimano 3:45 45.856
9. Hitec Products 4:01 45.599
10. RusVelo 4:08 45.488
11. Team TIBCO – To The Top 4:10 45.456
12. BTC City Ljubljana 4:20 45.298
13. Topsport Vlaanderen – Pro – Duo 5:46 43.981

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