Stepping up two slots from his bronze medal last year, Australian rider Damien Howson raced to a dominant victory in the under 23 time trial at cycling’s world championships this afternoon.
The 21 year old rider, who is also the current Oceania and national under 23 champion, signed a multi-year deal with the Orica GreenEdge team in July. While that won’t officially start until next January, he rode as stagiaire for the team in the Tour of Utah and other events, gaining vital racing sharpness which stood to him today.
His victory was a clearcut one, the Adelaide rider beating Frenchman Yoann Paillot by 57.11 seconds and tipped Danish competitor Lasse Norman Hansen by one minute 10.13.
It was a superb display by the former Jayco AIS competitor, and one which echoed the under 23 world championship TT win by compatriot Luke Durbridge two years ago.
Howson said that his podium finish twelve months ago was a big motivating factor. “Since getting third in the World Championships in Limburg last year, this has been a major focus of mine,” he stated. “I was really nervous coming into the start, but I knew that if I had the perfect ride I had a good chance to come away with the win.
“At the start of the season I won the Australian and Oceania titles and so set myself the goal of taking all three,” he continued. “The world title has been a major focus of mine all year, so I'm so happy to have done it.”
His coach James Victor said that Howson’s attitude was a big asset in the race, and in the buildup. “Damien is very strong mentally,” he stated. “It has been a long season, but consistency is the key to winning time trials and he approached the race with confidence and executed the plan beautifully.”
Compatriot Campbell Flakemore (Australia) finished fourth, just over ten seconds off the podium, while the tipped American rider Lawson Craddock (United States of America) was a further nineteen seconds back. He crashed approximately 25 kilometres into his ride and while he didn’t want to mull over what might have been, fourth place – and possibly the bronze medal – could arguably have been his if he had stayed up right.
A total of 75 riders lined out in the 43.46 kilometre event, with the Israeli Oleg Sergeev the first of those. He recorded a time of 58 minutes 5.96 seconds for the distance, but was caught and passed by Kazakhstan’s Victor Okishev. However Belgian Yves Lampaert was quicker again, rocketing past both and setting the initial best time of 52 minutes 27.63 seconds.
This stood for just over seventeen minutes, then the Swiss competitor Stefan Kueng raced in to take over at the top. His 51 minutes 36.72 was a fast one, and would ultimately see him take sixth place on the day. Soon afterwards Craddock raced in to edge ahead, beating Kueng by just under twenty seconds.
That time stood for almost an hour, but then Paillot rocketed in and grabbed top position. However Hansen and Howson were both riding very well out on the course, with the former setting the provisional best time at the 9.5 kilometre split, and then being pipped by the Danish rider.
Howson accelerated from there and had the best time at split two, 28 kilometres after the start, and then went almost a minute faster than Paillot at the finish.
As for Hansen was second at the next time check, but faded at the end. He put in a very big effort to try to nab second but was clearly tiring and had to be content with the bronze medal.
It was the Australian who judged things best, and spoke about his pacing strategy afterwards. “I always try and maintain a constant pace from start to the finish. I was told doing a good ride and I think this is one of the best rides I've ever done,” he confirmed.
He will line out with the rest of the Australian squad in Friday’s 173 kilometre road race. Once his season has ended he will focus on resting and then building his form prior to the start of his pro career. He’s looking forward to that.
“I was very happy to sign with Orica-GreenEDGE,” Howsen stated. “I’m very excited about taking the next step in my career with the team and hopefully becoming a Grand Tour contender in the future.”
World road race championships, Florence:
Under 23 time trial:
1, Damien Howson (Australia) 43.46 km in 49 mins 49.97
2, Yoann Paillot (France) at 57.11
3, Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) at 1 min 10.13
4, Campbell Flakemore (Australia) at 1 min 22.30
5, Lawson Craddock (United States of America) at 1 min 41.38
6, Stefan Kueng (Switzerland) at 1 min mins 46.75
7, Ryan Mullen (Ireland) at 1 min 47.09
8, Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) at 1 min 47.71
9, Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) at 2 mins 5.73
10, Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) at 2 mins 10.55
11, Frederik Frison (Belgium) at 2 mins 31.55
12, Maximilian Schachmann (Germany) at 2 mins 32.73
13, Jasha Sütterlin (Germany) at 2 mins 37.44
14, Yves Lampaert (Belgium) at 2 mins 37.66
15, Marlen Zmorka (Ukraine) at 2 mins 39.11
16, Oleksandr Golovash (Ukraine) at 2 mins 40.52
17, Brayan Stiven Ramirez Chacon (Colombia) at 2 mins 41.73
18, Szymon Rekita (Poland) at 2 mins 42.38
19, Alexander Evtushenko (Russian Federation) at 2 mins 43.19
20, Rasmus Brandstrup Sterobo (Denmark) at 2 mins 49.11
21, Nathan Brown (United States of America) at 2 mins 52.94
22, Marcus Fåglum Karlsson (Sweden) at 3 mins 2.58
23, Dylan Van Baarle (Netherlands) at 3 mins 6.66
24, Lukasz Wisniowski (Poland) at 3 mins 7.38
25, Louis Meintjes (South Africa) at 3 mins 25.12
26, James Oram (New Zealand) at 3 mins 27.80
27, Viktor Manakov (Russian Federation) at 3 mins 28.83
28, Marcus Christie (Ireland) at 3 mins 34.27
29, Davide Martinelli (Italy) at 3 mins 40.47
30, Alexis Gougeard (France) at 3 mins 41.44
31, Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Norway) at 3 mins 52.36
32, Ioannis Spanopoulos (Greece) at 3 mins 54.18
33, Alexander Cataford (Canada) at 4 mins 5.51
34, Rafael Ferreira Reis (Portugal) at 4 mins 8.42
35, Bruno Maltar (Croatia) at 4 mins 14.58
36, Michael Vink (New Zealand) at 4 mins 15.64
37, Mario Gonzalez Salas (Spain 4 mins 16.24
38, Felix Grossschartner (Austria) at 4 mins 19.18
39, Josef Cerny (Czech Republic) at 4 mins 19.51
40, Andzs Flaksis (Latvia) at 4 mins 20.20
41, Truls Engen Korsaeth (Norway) at 4 mins 24.45
42, Zydrunas Savickas (Lithuania) at 4 mins 31.51
43, Gabriel Chavanne (Switzerland) at 4 mins 45.37
44, Meron Teshome Hagos (Eritrea) at 4 mins 46.13
45, Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) at 4 mins 52.08
46, Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kazakhstan) at 4 mins 54.73
47, Andris Vosekalns (Latvia) at 4 mins 58.36
48, Sjors Roosen (Netherlands) at 4 mins 59.89
49, Simone Antonini (Italy) at 5 mins 9.82
50, Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Ethiopia) at 5 mins 15.41
51, Facundo Lezica (Argentina) at 5 mins 23.26
52, Viktor Okishev (Kazakhstan) at 5 mins 29.04
53, Endrik Puntso (Estonia) at 5 mins 40.33
54, Johannes Christoffel Nel (South Africa) at 5 mins 50.97
55, Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) at 5 mins 52.75
56, Jose Luis Rodriguez (Chile) at 5 mins 54.84
57, Mark Dzamastagic (Slovenia) at 6 mins 13.42
58, Carlos Eduardo Quisphe-Quishpe (Ecuador) at 6 mins 23.79
59, Burr Ho (Hong Kong, China) at 6 mins 29.87
60, Mekseb Debesay (Eritrea) at 6 mins 43.26
61, Lukas Pöstlberger (Austria) at 6 mins 47.43
62, Feritcan Samli (Turkey) at 6 mins 59.95
63, Eduard Michael Grosu (Romania) at 7 mins 4.70
64, Zoltan Sipos (Romania) at 7 mins 7.12
65, Paulius Siskevicius (Lithuania) at 7 mins 16.89
66, Ábel Kenyeres (Hungary) at 7 mins 25.50
67, Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spain 7 mins 31.24
68, Edison Bravo (Chile) at 7 mins 33.75
69, Oleg Sergeev (Israel) at 8 mins 15.99
70, Cristian Raileanu (Republic of Moldova) at 8 mins 17.32
71, Adil Barbari (Algeria) at 9 mins 29.63
72, Adrian Alvarado (Chile) at 9 mins 55.63
73, Emiljano Stojku (Albania) at 10 mins 28.89
74, Ilhan Celik (Turkey) at 12 mins 14.74