Reported recently by Procycling.no as having clocked up the highest-ever VO2 max ever recorded, an astounding 97.5 ml/kg/min, Norwegian rider Oskar Svendsen made the most of that oxygen capacity to scoop victory at the junior world time trial championship in Limburg today.
The 18 year old covered the 26.6 kilometre distance in a time of 35 minutes 34 seconds, beating the Slovenian Matej Mohoric by seven seconds and Maximilian Schachmann (Germany) by eleven. In doing so, he added the gold medal to that earned earlier this year in the national TT championships, and significantly improved on the eleventh place secured in the European championship time trial.
“Winning was a really big surprise. I had high hopes for the top ten. I was sick this week and so I never imagined winning,” he admitted. “But my race went well from the start. I tried to save some of my power for the hills and for the last 10 kilometres, and then I left everything I had out there on the road.”
Svendsen’s victory plus the silver medal of Mohoric both show a certain pacing stategy, the duo saving energy for the final kilometres and the tough ascent of the Cauberg. The Norwegian was ninth at the 3.6 kilometre split and sixth at the 17.5 km point, but jumped up to first over the final 9.1 kilometres.
Mohoric was only 28th at point one, albeit just seven seconds [coincidentally, the final difference between gold and silver – ed.] behind Svendsen, improved to tenth at the second check and roared home to take silver.
Schachmann had a more even ride, being second, first and then finally third at the three timed points.
The remaining places in the top six went to Alexander Morgan (Australia), Mathias Krigbaum (Denmark) and Nathan Van Hoydonck (Belgium).
Speaking after the race, Svendsen said that he has been psyched by watching Norwegian professionals Thor Hushovd and Edvald Boasson Hagen.
“It’s been really inspiring to see that Norwegians can do so well. We don’t have many top cyclists but the ones we do are some of the best in the world. Thor and Edvald Boasson Hagen are both so inspiring.”
Junior world time trial championships, Limburg:
1, Oskar Svendsen (Norway) 26.6 km in 35 mins 34.75 secs
2, Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) at 7.04
3, Maximilian Schachmann (Germany) at 11.83
4, Alexander Morgan (Australia) at 12.6
5, Mathias Krigbaum (Denmark) at 13.68
6, Nathan Van Hooydonck (Belgium) at 19.37
7, Brent Luyckx (Belgium) at 20.53
8, Mads Schmidt Wurtz (Denmark) at 21.75
9, Ryan Mullen (Ireland) at 26.71
10, T.J Eisenhart (USA) at 26.29
11, Gregory Daniel (United States of America) at 26.71
12, Marcus Fåglum-Karlsson (Sweden) at 29.61
13, Szymon Rekita (Poland) at 36.67
14, Dmitriy Rive (Kazakhstan) at 44.34
15, Elie Gesbert (France) at 48.24
16, Jan Brockhoff (Germany) at 50.37
17, Jonathan Dibben (Great Britain) at 50.76
18, Peter Mathiesen (Denmark) at 58.73
19, Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Poland) at 1 min 3.15
20, David Per (Slovenia) at 1 min 6.20
21, Viktor Okishev (Kazakhstan) at 1 min 08.74
22, Ildar Arslanov (Russian Federation) at 1 min 09.15
23, Hayden McCormick (New Zealand) at 1 min 10.77
24, Lukas Spengler (Switzerland) at 1 min 22.08
25, Jose Tito Hernandez (Colombia) at 1 min 23.23
26, Bruno Maltar (Croatia) at 1 min 25.15
27, Oscar Gonzalez Del Campo Garcia-Villarrubia (Spain) at 1 min 28.60
28, Giacomo Peroni (Italy) at 1 min 30.37
29, Mattia Frapporti (Italy) at 1 min 32.39
30, Joeri Leijs (Netherlands) at 1 min 32.79
31, Nigel Ellsay (Canada) at 1 min 37.36
32, Tom Bohli (Switzerland) at 1 min 38.11
33, William David Muñoz Perez (Colombia) at 1 min 43.10
34, Mario Dasko (Slovakia) at 1 min 45.33
35, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain) at 1 min 51.94
36, Chun Wing Leung (Hong Kong, China) at 1 min 55.41
37, Benjamin Perry (Canada) at 1 min 56.48
38, Fredrik Ludvigsson (Sweden) at 2 mins 07.02
39, Nick Bain (New Zealand) at 2 mins 09.62
40, Vladislau Dubovski (Belarus) at 2 mins 10.07
41, Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Norway) at 2 mins 11.30
42, Hiroki Nishimura (Japan) at 2 mins 12.63
43, Rostyslav Chernysh (Ukraine) at 2 mins 13.11
44, Haitam Gaiz (Morocco) at 2 mins 18.81
45, Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic) at 2 mins 27.69
46, Aliaksandr Riabushenko (Belarus) at 2 mins 29.08
47, Raimondas Rumsas (Lithuania) at 2 mins 29.73
48, Krists Neilands (Latvia) at 2 mins 31.06
49, Rohan Du Plooy (South Africa) at 2 mins 32.65
50, David Klein (Luxembourg) at 2 mins 36.79
51, Peteris Janevics (Latvia) at 2 mins 36.95
52, Maxime Piveteau (France) at 2 mins 37.54
53, Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile) at 2 mins 38.94
54, Mantas Petrusevicius (Lithuania) at 2 mins 41.77
55, Daniil Kondakov (Ukraine) at 2 mins 43.23
56, Piotr Havik (Netherlands) at 3 mins 02.32
57, Ferit Can Samli (Turkey) at 3 mins 15.18
58, Andrei Covalciuc (Republic of Moldova) at 3 mins 15.75
59, Josip Rumac (Croatia) at 3 mins 17.43
60, Abderahmane Bechlaghem (Algeria) at 3 mins 27.07
61, Ali Nouisri (Tunisia) at 3 mins 56.38
62, Abderrahim Aouida (Morocco) at 4 mins 21.46
63, Artem Nych (Russian Federation) at 4 mins 26.65
64, Abderahmane Mansouri (Algeria) at 4 mins 45.41
65, Anuar Mohamad Azrul Taufiq (Malaysia) at 6 mins 45.83
66, Hamza Fatnassi (Tunisia) at 8 mins 45.20