UCI Road World Championships 2009: Men's U23 Individual Time Trial

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January 1 - September 27, Mendrisio, Mendrisio, Switzerland, Road - CM

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Good morning and welcome to the opening race of the 2009 UCI Road World Championships!  We have the men's Under 23 time trial this morning.

We are having some technical difficulties at the moment, so please bear with us.

The 65 riders are divided into four groups.  The first two groups have gone, and the next group is scheduled to start at 10:50.

Marcel Kittel of Germany crosses the halfway marker with a time of 20:32, which is the best time for that checkpoint.

Manuele Boaro of Italy has crossed the finish line in fourth place, at 42:27.

We have a number of "exotic" riders in this race, such as Daniel Tekelehaimanot of Eritrea.

Kittel has passed the final intermediate time  check with a large lead and looks to set a good new best time at the finish.

The riders are all going off at one-minute intervals.  A lot of riders are being passed, or are riding semi-together.  We earlier saw three riders arrive almost simultaneously at the finish!

Kittel is approaching the finish.

And he breaks the 42 minute mark!  Kittel brings in a time of 41:19.  Will this be the winning time in the end, as well?

Kittel is also European U-23 time trial champion.

The last rider of the third group took off at 11:05, and the next (final) group starts at 11:30.

The last group consists of 16 riders, including the two Americans Peter Stetina and Tejay Van Garderen and Great Britain's Alex Dowsett.  Not to mention last year's numbers one and two, Adriano Malori (Italy) and Patrick Gretsch (Germany).

Two others in the final group are Ryan Anderson of Canada and Jack Bobridge of Australia.

Matthias Brändle of Austria is 20th at the half-way time check, at 21:26.

The Canadian David Veilleux has put in a good time at the halfway mark.

Slovenia's Blaz Jarc is warming up.

Ryan Anderson of Canada is underway now, as the first of the last group to go.

The Italian U-23 champion, Alfredo Balloni, is now on the course.

Boisson of France is fifth at the intermediate time check.

Westley Gough of New Zealand comes in as 8th overall, with a time of 42:43.

Veilleux of Canda is fourth at at the second time check.

Julien Vemote of Belgium takes the start.  Only nine riders left now.

Oops, we forgot to mention another Australian, Jack Bobridge, who will take off  -- right now!

And he is followed one minute later by Rasmus Christian Quaade of Denmark.

This is Bobridge's last appearence in the U-23 ranks.  He will be with Garmin-Slipstream next year.

Tejay Van Garderen of the USA is underway now.  He will ride for Columbia-HTC next season.

Only three riders to go!

Andrei Krasilnikau of Belrussia has gone now.

Veilleux of Canada has now moved into second place at the finish.

The last two riders are also underway now:  Patrick Gretsch of Germany and Adriano Malori of Italy.

Veilleux was 37:47 seconds slower than Kittel.

Nelson Oliveira of Portugal has topped Kittel by one second at the first intermediate check point.

And Dowsett slips in between Oliveira and Kittel at that time check.

Van Garderen is a top tip to win today, but the youngster isn't putting any pressure on himself.  You can read more here: www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-garderen-to-treat-worlds-like-local-time-trial

We are getting best new times at each of the time checks, it seems.

Balloni has the new best time at the halfway mark, 5 seconds over Kittel.

Van Garderen 11 seconds down at the first time check.

Gretsch and Malori both seem to be having problems today.  They were the top two in this race last year.

Bobridge sets a great new time at the halfway mark, some 17 seconds faster.

These are the times at the first intermediate check:
1. Jack Bobridge (AUS) 11.25.50
2. Patrick Gretsch (GER) 11.26.95
3. Tejay Van Garderen 11.37.25

Here's some signing news:  Australian Luke Roberts will ride for Team Milram in the coming season.

Balloni comes in with a new best time at the finish, 41.1.70, and is our new leader.

Dowsett of Great Britain has caught the man before him, Schnyder of Switzerland.

Oops, we were a bit over hasty.  Balloni is not yet at the finish line!

Bobridge blasts his way to a 30 second lead at the intermediate time check!

And Balloni comes in as second at the finish!

Oliveira of Portugal sets a new best time of 41:03.

Our top three now are:  Oliveira, Kittel and Balloni.  We'll work on getting their times.

We still have 13 riders on the course.

Gretsch has just passed the rider in front of him.

The German is now second at the halfway mark.

Malori is struggling on the climb.

And Bobridge breaks the 41 minute mark!  He moves into the lead with a time of 40:44.

Gretsch's time of course was at the three-quarter mark, not the halfway.  He has caught the man in front of him but not passed him.

Gretsch has finally passed Krasilnikau.

So Bobridge leads...a great talent.

Van Garderen is 11th at the finish, with a time of 42:09.

Only three riders left now.

Gretsch takes third place, grabbing the bronze medal away from his German teammate Kittel.

Malori finishes fifth.

It has finally hit Bobridge that he is World Champion.  The tears come and he lets out a sob.....

Congratulations to our three medal winners, and to all the riders.

We will be back in a few hours for the women' time trial.  Join us as of 14:00 CET for the next race!

First gold to Australia...

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