The UCI Road World Championships saw one of the longest stints in a time trial ‘hotseat’ as Germany’s Marco Mathis, second off the start ramp, produced a storming ride in Doha to shock the bigger names and become U23 world time trial champion.
The 22-year-old started his ride at 11:31am and remained in the winner’s seat for over four hours until his victory was signed and sealed when the last starter, 2015 champion Mads Würtz Schmidt, completed his ride, the Dane finishing outside the top 20.
Mathis covered the 28.9km course on Doha’s ‘Pearl’ island in a time of 34:08.09. Despite being the second rider off the ramp, he was the first across the finish line, and no one would go on to better his times at any of the three intermediate checkpoints.
ADVERTISEMENT
Maximilian Schachmann made it a one-two for Germany, the national champion finishing 18 seconds down on Mathis, who was third at those nationals in June. Last year’s U23 Worlds runner-up and a pre-race favourite, Lennard Kamna, almost made it a perfect day for the Germans but he was beaten to the third step of the podium by Australian Miles Scotson.
“It was so long on the hotseat but I’m happy. The course was absolutely flat, and technical, so I think was ‘my’ course I think. It’s a big dream, I have no words, I’m world champion and I am very happy,” said Mathis in his post-race interview, where he had to fend off the inevitable question about being the ‘next Tony Martin'.
"Tony Martin is a big name but no; this here is just perfect for me."
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://ift.tt/2e4nVLa
No comments:
Post a Comment