Time trial titles around the world
A wrap-up of the fastest in the ride against the clock
France
Nicolas Vogondy of Bbox Bouygues Telecom took his first national time trial title, ahead of Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Laszlo Bodrogi (Katusha). Vogondy, who has twice won the road title, missed much of the season due to a heart arrhythmia problem.
"I am maybe in the best shape of my career," said Vogondy, who won a mountain stage at the Dauphiné earlier this month. "I came here for a podium placing and I'm very happy to have the best place."
Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli took her 57th national title, and her ninth time trial title. The 51-year-old covered the24.7 kilometres over a minute faster than her closest competitors, Edwige Pitel and Christel Ferrier-Bruneau.
"I've trained hard for this since December. That was my main goal,” she said.
Denmark
It was all Team Saxo Bank at the Danish time trial, as teammates Jakob Fuglsang, Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv filled the podium. “Naturally, I'm happy and proud to be able to fill the podium with our riders,” said Riis. “Alex and Jakob are going strong as expected and they really delivered a great performance today."
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“But it is truly remarkable to see Michael (Mørkøv) is now among the three best riders in the country. He did a great job and it only confirms that our work with the riders pays off,” he added.
On the women's side, Annika Langvad finished nearly two minutes ahead of Trine Schmidt and Maria Grandt Petersen on the 25km course.
Sweden
Sweden was also in Saxo Bank's hands, as Gustav Erik Larsson blasted his way to his third title. He finished over two and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rival, Sebastian Balck, with Frederik Kessiakof of Garmin-Transitions only seconds back in third.
HTC-Columbia's Emila Fahlin claimed her third national time trial title at the tender age of 21. Second and third places went to Emma Johansson and Sara Mustonen.
Switzerland
With Fabian Cancellara not participating, the way was left open for Rubens Bertogliati to take the Swiss time trial championship. He finished 21 seconds ahead of Alexander Aeschbach, with AG2R's Martin Elmiger one minute back in third.
Pascale Schnider of bike-import.ch won her first national time trial title. She beat Cervelo's Patricia Schwager by just one second. Marielle Saer-Guinchard was third.
Norway
Edvald Boasson Hagen continued to dominate the Norwegian time trial scene, winning his fourth consecutive title. Reidar Bohlin Borgersen was second, at 0:52, and Stian Saugstad third at 1:10.
Netherlands
Rabobank took the top steps of the Dutch podium, with Jos Van Emden winning the time trial title in 1:00:42, with teammate Koos Moerenhout finishing second 50 seconds later. Lieuwe Westra of Vacansoleil was third, at 53 seconds.
It was the third time trial win in recent weeks for van Emden, as he won the prologues at both the Delta Tour Zealand and the Ster Elektrotoer.
Marianne Vos won one of the few titles that had previously eluded her. The 23-year-old has won three road championships, but finally claimed the time trial title as well. She defeated defending champion Regina Bruins and Kirsten Wild, both of Cervelo.
Vos surprised herself with the win. “Time trailing has never been my thing. I did not expect a victory or even a medal. “
Luxembourg
The only real question in this race was which Schleck brother would take the title, and younger bother Andy had the upper hand. He beat older brother and Saxo Bank teammate Fränk by 56 seconds. Christian Poos (Continental Team Differdange) was third at 1:43.
“I must say, that I had sort of aimed at winning the individual time trial,” Andy Schleck told the Luxembourger website Tageblatt.lu. “It really hurt and I wanted to use it as a little test for the Tour de France.”
There were only four riders in the race, and Ben Gastauer of AG2R) was the unlucky one to miss out on the podium, finishing 3:10 back.
Others
Saxo Bank claimed another title, as Jaroslaw Marycz won in Poland. HTC-Columbia took two national time trial titles, Frantisek Rabon in the Czech Republic and Martin Velits in Slovakia. Andrey Mizourov won in Kazakhstan, Peter Kusztor in Hungary and David McCann in Ireland.
