German veteran takes victory in penultimate race of her career ahead of Evie Stevens and Linda Villumsen
Judith Arndt of Germany defended her World time trial crown in emphatic style over the 24.1km course in Limburg, southern Netherlands. The 36-year-old, who will retire at the end of the championships, completed the hilly course in a time of 32 minutes 26 seconds to beat former teammate Evie Stevens of the United States by 33 seconds.
Stevens had been the seventh last to start, and her time of 33 minutes dead took the lead from Specialized-lululemon teammate Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands. Second last to go, as the previous year’s silver medallist, New Zealand’s Linda Villumsen - Arndt’s Orica-AIS teammate - came closest to unseating the American, but crossed the line in 33’07”, which was only good enough for provisional second place, ahead of 2010 champion Emma Pooley of Great Britain.
As defending champion Arndt set off last and, after setting the fastest time at both intermediate checkpoints, powered up the final Cauberg climb and sprinted to the finish to push Stevens off the top step of the podium, and Pooley out of the medals altogether.
“I’m very happy to win,” said Arndt immediately afterwards. “As everybody knows, this is my second to last race. I was defending champion, and it’s always much harder to defend a championship than it is to win the first time.
“It’s a time trial...you go as hard as you can, and it was quite hard. Yeah, it was quite fast because you had a tail wind almost the entire race, so that helped a little bit.”
A fast, hilly course and an early starter puts up a challenge to the favourites
Turkey’s Semra Yetis was the first to start, but reached the 10.7km checkpoint less than 25 seconds ahead of Colombia’s Serika Guluma, who had started two and half minutes behind her. Guluma passed Yetis soon afterwards and went on to finish first, with a time of 36’05”. The Colombian was not in the hot seat for long however, as Czech Olympic speed skating champion Martina Sablikova soon went 1’39” better with 34’25”, after catching and passing Kathryn Bertine of St Kitts and Nevis at the top of the Cauberg.
Nobody was able to come close to the Czech’s time until Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy went through the 10.7km checkpoint in 15’49”, just three seconds behind. The Italian had faded slightly by the 16.1km point however, and was 16 seconds down by the time she reached the second checkpoint after 16.1km.
Finally though, Germany’s Ina Teutenberg - who had been a member of the victorious Specialized-lululemon in the team time trial two days before - went ten seconds quicker than Sablikova at 10.7km. The German sprinter blasted through the first checkpoint in 15’36” to set the best time so far.
Longo Borghini finally hit the finish line in 34’36”, having lost a further five seconds in the final sector, to go into provisional second place. Shortly afterwards Teutenberg went through the second checkpoint in the lead; her advantage was just seven seconds here however, having lost three seconds in the middle sector.
Germany’s Trixi Worrack - a second member of Specialized-lululemon’s winning team - went through the 10.7km checkpoint just eight seconds slower than Teutenberg but, shortly afterwards, Ellen van Dijk - a third - went 20 seconds quicker.
Teutenberg had fared better on the Cauberg than Sablikova though, and crossed the line shortly afterwards in a time of 34 minutes exactly, to go 25 seconds faster and go into provisional first.
The big favourites hit the course and the times begin to tumble
Van Dijk’s time at 10.7km was not the best for long however, as Evie Stevens - yet another Specialized-lululemon rider - went 13 seconds quicker with 15’02”. The two teammates also exchanged times at the 16.1km check, as the Dutchwoman went fastest with 22’34”, then the American went faster still with 22’16”.
After having been indicated as slower than Stevens by the in-race GPS system on the flatter early kilometres, Pooley went just over half a second quicker than the American at the first checkpoint, having climbed the Gronsvelderberg. A few minutes later, Villumsen went through almost half a second behind the 2010 champion, and fractionally ahead of the American.
Defending champion Arndt went through six seconds quicker however, to set the best time of 14’55”. Van Dijk - whose time at 10.7km was now 20 seconds off the best - fought her way up the Cauberg to the applause of the home crowd, to go into the provisional lead with 33’20”.
The Dutchwoman had no time to push teammate Teutenberg out of the hotseat however, as Stevens finished shortly behind her in 33 minutes dead.
Pooley had slowed a little in relation to the American in the middle sector of the course, and crossed the 16.1km check point 11 seconds behind. Villumsen too had slowed, although not by so much, and was just five seconds behind the former Wall Street trader as she went through.
Arndt was ten seconds ahead of the American at this point however, having gone almost four seconds faster through the middle kilometres.
Pooley, arguably the best climber in the field, danced up the Cauberg, but it wasn’t enough for the 2010 champion to take back the time she’d lost on the flatter and downhill sections. The British rider crossed the line in 33’15” to go into provisional silver medal position, 15 seconds down on Stevens.
Villumsen meanwhile, had looked slower than Pooley on the climb, but the former Danish rider sprinted to the line to slip in between Stevens and Pooley; going into second place, six seconds down.
Arndt was the only rider on the road by now and, having had a lot of time in hand at the foot of the Cauberg, kept her pace high all the way to the finish, to stop the clock in 32’26”; 34 seconds quicker than Stevens and successfully defended her title.
World road race championships, Limburg, the Netherlands:
Elite women’s time trial:
1, Judith Arndt (Germany) 24.1 kilometres in 32 mins 26.46
2, Evelyn Stevens (United States) at 33.77
3, Linda Melanie Villumsen (New Zealand) at 40.57
4, Emma Pooley (Great Britain) at 49.33
5, Eleonora Van Dijk (Netherlands) at 54.01
6, Ina Teutenberg (Germany) at 1 min 33.74
7, Amber Neben (United States) at 1 min 43.42
8, Trixi Worrack (Germany) at 1 min 44.56
9, Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic) at 1 min 59.44
10, Shara Gillow (Australia) at 1 min 59.75
11, Anna Van Der Breggen (Netherlands) at 2 mins 8.05
12, Emma Johansson (Sweden) at 2 mins 13.39
13, Tatiana Antoshina (Russian Federation) at 2 mins 16.07
14, Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) at 2 mins 17.51
15, Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) at 2 mins 20.52
16, Carmen Small (United States) at 2 mins 29.07
17, Natalya Boyarskaya (Russian Federation) at 2 mins 31.84
18, Audrey Cordon (France) at 2 mins 47.20
19, Edwige Pitel (France) at 2 mins 51.65
20, Patricia Schwager (Switzerland) at 2 mins 52.57
21, Joelle Numainville (Canada) at 2 mins 54.72
22, Rhae-Christie Shaw (Canada) at 3 mins 3.04
23, Martina Ritter (Austria) at 3 mins 4.78
24, Tjasa Rutar (Slovenia) at 3 mins 15.50
25, Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen (Norway) at 3 mins 19.76
26, Clemilda Fernandes Silva (Brazil) at 3 mins 19.78
27, Eugenia Bujak (Poland) at 3 mins 20.92
28, Rossella Ratto (Italy) at 3 mins 29.24
29, Sari Saarelainen (Finland) at 3 mins 29.62
30, Serika Guluma Ortiz (Colombia) at 3 mins 39.10
31, Anna Sanchis Chafer (Spain) at 3 mins 39.24
32, Olena Pavlukhina (Ukraine) at 3 mins 45.10
33, Olivia Dillon (Ireland) at 3 mins 46.87
34, Katarzyna Sosna (Lithuania) at 3 mins 54.13
35, Anna Nagirna (Ukraine) at 3 mins 55.76
36, Jarmila Machacova (Czech Republic) at 4 mins 8.18
37, Martyna Klekot (Poland) at 4 mins 18.81
38, Veronica Leal Balderas (Mexico) at 4 mins 26.21
39, Aleksandra Sosenko (Lithuania) at 4 mins 33.76
40, Kathryn Bertine (St Kitts & Nevis) at 4 mins 34.95
41, Mia Radotic (Croatia) at 5 mins 6.63
42, Semra Yetis (Turkey) at 8 mins 10.33