The elite men’s team time trial at the Bergen Road World Championships is expected to be a battle between some of the biggest teams in the WorldTour, with Team Sky tipped as favourites for a first ever victory thanks to their powerful line-up that includes Vuelta a España winner Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas and former individual time trial champion Vasil Kiryienka.
Team Sky, BMC, Quick-Step Floors, Orica-Scott, LottoNL-Jumbo and Team Sunweb stand out on the start list of 17 teams that will race the 42.5km course from the island of Ravnanger to central Bergen. Such is the strength of the big six teams that many of their WorldTour rivals have opted to miss the team time trial.
Marco Pinotti is again the brains behind BMC’s bid for the prestigious world title. The multiple Italian national time trial champion has always applied a scientific approach to time trials and BMC have won a medal in five of the six editions of the trade team time trial format that was introduced in 2012.
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Team Sky has only ever won a bronze medal, in Florence in 2013, but Pinotti is wary of their combined strength this year. Team Sky has selected Froome, Thomas and Kiryienka plus Gianni Moscon and Michal Kwiatkowski – both current national time trial champions in Italy and Poland – as well as Owain Doull, who won a gold medal on the track at the Rio Olympic Games.
“If Team Sky don’t win, they’ve got to be angry. On paper their line-up is the strongest team, it’s monstrous,” Pinotti said in admiration.
“They’ve got Froome and Moscon, who finished the Vuelta on form, plus the other guys. I know Thomas is coming back from injury but who wouldn’t want him in their line-up?”
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