First year junior Igor Decraene scored gold for Belgium in the junior men’s time trial today, racing to victory on the fast, flat 22.06 kilometre course.
Being one of the tipped riders, he was second last to start and scorched around the course in a time of 26 minutes 56.8 seconds, overhauling previous leader Mathias Krigbaum of Denmark. He was 8.66 seconds faster, while Zeke Mostov of the USA took third, 20.97 seconds off gold.
German’s Joshua Stritzinger and the British rider Matthew Gibson finished just off the podium.
Decraene was delighted with the result, describing the experience as ‘the best.’
“I am the champion so I think it couldn’t be better than that,” he smiled.
Asked if he knew the other two riders on the podium, he said he knew Krigbaum would be a big challenger. “Mathias was champion of Europe last year and I knew him,” he confirmed. As for Mostov, he said that their paths had not crossed that often. “He is from America and we don’t have many of the same races, so I don’t know him very well. But I think he is also a good rider.”
Krigbaum had hoped to win but had to be satisfied with silver. “I’m a little bit disappointed…it is always best to be number one.”
Mostov admitted that he exceeded his own expectations, admitting that he had been aiming for a top ten. Netting the bronze medal was therefore a surprise for him.
A total of 84 riders lined out in the event, the fifth on the world championship programme. Sergey Medvedev (Uzbekistan) was first to start and notched up a time of 30 minutes 4.35 seconds, which was beaten right away by that of the rider who went after him, Andrea Enrico Maccagli (San Marino). Soon afterwards, his time of 30 minutes 2.54 seconds was improved by over 40 seconds by Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Voloshin, who in turn was deposed by Artem Nych (Russia).
His time was almost immediately bettered by Mostov, who clocked a time of 27 minutes 17.8 seconds and jumped to the top of the leaderboard. As one of the early starters he remained on top for almost the entirety of the race, but any thoughts of victory were dashed when Krigbaum – who was faster than him at the two intermediate time checks – went twelve seconds faster.
However he too had little time in the hot seat, with Decraene’s pace quicker than everyone and thus securing gold.
The world championships continue with the women’s time trial.
World road race championships, Tuscany
Junior men’s time trial:
1, Igor Decraene (Belgium) 22.06 kilometres in 26 mins 56.80
2, Mathias Krigbaum (Denmark) at 8.66
3, Zeke Mostov (United States Of America) at 20.97
4, Joshua Stritzinger (Germany) at 23.64
5, Matthew Gibson (Great Britain) at 30.16
6, Ole Forfang (Norway) at mins 44.21
7, Corentin Ermenault (France) at 44.40
8, Dmitriy Rive (Kazakhstan) at 46.24
9, Nikolay Cherkasov (Russian Federation) at 49.87
10, Michael Dessau (United States Of America) at 53.16
11, Emil Wang (Denmark) at 53.77
12, Stepan Kurianov (Russian Federation) at 59.61
13, Thomas Kaesler (Australia) at 1 min 0.39
14, Daniel Fitter (Australia) at 1 min 1.57
15, Michal Paluta (Poland) at 1 min 6.82
16, Piotr Konwa (Poland) at 1 min 9.69
17, Nathan Van Hooydonck (Belgium) at 1 min 9.76
18, Edoardo Affini (Italy) at 1 min 12.48
19, Jack Burke (Canada) at 1 min 13.31
20, Tom Wirtgen (Luxembourg) at 1 min 16.13
21, Timur Maleiev (Ukraine) at 1 min 16.63
22, Jon Božic (Slovenia) at 1 min 16.70
23, David Per (Slovenia) at 1 min 20.76
24, Pontus Kastemyr (Sweden) at 1 min 21.86
25, Oliver Mattheis (Germany) at 1 min 24.32
26, Mark Padun (Ukraine) at 1 min 27.19
27, Ryan Felgate (South Africa) at 1 min 27.41
28, Eduardo Estrada (Colombia) at 1 min 33.89
29, Atsushi Oka (Japan) at 1 min 34.27
30, Hampus Anderberg (Sweden) at 1 min 34.65
31, Daniel Martínez (Colombia) at 1 min 36.39
32, Filippo Ganna (Italy) at 1 min 37.70
33, Artem Nych (Russian Federation) at 1 min 37.91
34, Ivan Venter (South Africa) at 1 min 38.29
35, Juan Camacho Del Fresno (Spain 1 min 40.26
36, Sam Oomen (Netherlands) at 1 min 41.80
37, Adam Jamieson (Canada) at 1 min 43.91
38, Abderrahmane Bechlagheme (Algeria) at 1 min 45.47
39, Andrej Petrovski (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) at 1 min 50.85
40, Dominic Von Burg (Switzerland) at 1 min 56.37
41, Andrei Covalciuc (Republic of Moldova) at 1 min 59.95
42, Amanuel Mengis Ghebreindrias (Eritrea) at 2 mins 13.26
43, Facundo Crisafulli (Argentina) at 2 mins 14.29
44, Patrick Müller (Switzerland) at 2 mins 15.13
45, Anton Ivashkin (Belarus) at 2 mins 15.21
46, Luc Turchi (Luxembourg) at 2 mins 16.35
47, Gaspar Gonçalves (Portugal) at 2 mins 16.68
48, Mark Downey (Ireland) at 2 mins 16.80
49, Cristopher Jurado (Panama) at 2 mins 18.49
50, Mathieu Van Der Poel (Netherlands) at 2 mins 19.33
51, Rémi Cavagna (France) at 2 mins 20.39
52, Michal Schlegel (Czech Republic) at 2 mins 21.20
53, Abderrahmane Mansouri (Algeria) at 2 mins 23.93
54, Alexey Voloshin (Kazakhstan) at 2 mins 24.37
55, Adrian Dumitru Zamfir (Romania) at 2 mins 28.49
56, Milan Holomek (Slovakia) at 2 mins 30.46
57, Aliaksandr Riabushenko (Belarus) at 2 mins 31.14
58, Matas Mickevicius (Lithuania) at 2 mins 32.73
59, Elgun Alizada (Azerbaijan) at 2 mins 35.02
60, Onur Balkan (Turkey) at 2 mins 35.16
61, János Pelikán (Hungary) at 2 mins 37.42
62, Marco-Tapio Niemi (Finland) at 2 mins 37.50
63, Ivan Garcia Cortina (Spain 2 mins 37.86
64, Grigoriy Shtein (Kazakhstan) at 2 mins 40.88
65, Raivis Sarkans (Latvia) at 2 mins 50.07
66, Juraj Bellan (Slovakia) at 2 mins 50.30
67, Santiago Quiroga (Argentina) at 2 mins 50.34
68, Andrejs Podans (Latvia) at 2 mins 50.48
69, Martynas Stasikelis (Lithuania) at 2 mins 53.59
70, Victor Langellotti (Monaco) at 2 mins 54.83
71, Nako Georgiev (Bulgaria) at 2 mins 55.64
72, Lucian Buga (Romania) at 2 mins 59.83
73, Andrea Maccagli (San Marino) at 3 mins 5.71
74, Stylianos Farantakis (Greece) at 3 mins 6.05
75, Sergey Medvedev (Uzbekistan) at 3 mins 7.52
76, Vedat Koç (Turkey) at 3 mins 14.19
77, César Martingil (Portugal) at 3 mins 14.55
78, Jared Said González (Mexico) at 3 mins 16.84
79, Nijat Niftaliyev (Azerbaijan) at 3 mins 20.26
80, Nikaj Iltian (Albania) at 3 mins 37.12
81, Ekke-Kaur Vosman (Estonia) at 3 mins 41.75
82, Kwong Lau (Hong Kong, China) at 3 mins 53.78
83, Sapar Serdarov (Turkmenistan) at 3 mins 54.70
84, Ridion Kopshti (Albania) at 3 mins 56.55