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UCI Road World Championships 2017: Elite Men - Individual Time Trial

By SadhbhO'Shea
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January 1 - September 24, Bergen, Bergen, Road - CDM

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Welcome to live coverage of the elite men time trial at the 2017 UCI Road World Championships in Bergen

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Good afternoon to you all. It's time for the elite men time trial in Bergen. The first starters are already out on course and we've got an exciting day of action in store for you today. 

It is a very tough course that lies ahead of the riders today with that sharp rise to the finish line.

That climb to the finish has opened a technical can of worms. After some pressure from a few of the federations, the UCI will allow bike changes before the climb. However, these bike changes must take place on a 20-metre section of carpet that has been laid on the cobbled sector. Riders can get a push to get going again, but only until the end of the carpet. Some teams have been practicing the swap and the Belgian Federation published a video of their practice in the car park of their hotel. It looked a little slow and they'll need to be a bit quicker today. The riders will need to channel their inner cyclo-cross if they don't want to lose too much time. 

For an in depth look at the importance of the bike change today, read this article from Stephen Farrand.

Vuelta a Espana stage winner Alexey Lutsenko was the first rider off today and he is putting in a decent time. He's just over five seconds ahead of Jasha Sutterlin at the third of five intermediate checks. The pair are well ahead of the other riders in this current block. 

Daniel Benson and Stephen Farrand have been out to have a look at the course today and have sent us a few photos back from the course and it all looks a little triathlon with a bike changing station set up on the cobbles, alongside that all important red carpet. 

A total of three people can attend to the rider; two mechanics and a coach. The UCI have told Cyclingnews that they will not know who will be attending to the riders until they register. 

In theory, riders will be coming in one by one to that red carpet, but we could have two and maybe even three coming in together, which could make for a chaotic wheel change. The big favourites will be hoping not to get caught up with any others in this changing zone. 

The reason for including this uphill finish to the time trial is to show-off the scenery around Bergen and my does it have some scenery. This is the view from the top.

A poor bike change for Lutsenko. He gets a few more pushes off the red carpet. He could end up being disqualified for that, but we'll have to wait and see what action the UCI takes. 

That bad bike change means that Sutterlin has caught up with Lutsenko on time, but the Ukrainian rider should make a lot of that time back on the climb. 

Lutsenko is closing in on the finish line. The crowds are bloody enormous on the ascent. What we would of expected from the Norwegians who travel in force across the world to see their riders. 

Lutsenko finishes with a time of 45:46.60

Lasse Norman Hansen has decided that he can't be bothered with a bike change. He comes through the changing zone and heads up the climb on his TT bike. Meanwhile, the second wave of riders are beginning their efforts. 

This is a shot from near the top of the climb. It is a brutal ride on a road bike, let alone a time trial bike. 

This is a shot from near the top of the climb. It's brutal on a road bike let alone a TT bike.

Laurens de Plus goes through the change zone. He keeps his time trial bike but he uses the red carpet as a chance to ride on a smoother surface rather than the cobbles. 

Ahmad Badreddin is out on course. He is one of three Syrians competing at the World Championships. You can read about his story of hope and determination here. 

Hansen has just finished his ride. He was one of the riders chosing to do the climb on his TT bike. He went through the fifth and final check 20 seconds back on Lutsenko and finishes 16 seconds back. So, he made up four seconds. 

Eurosport commentator and former Dimension Data team manager Brian Smith reporting that Edvald Boasson Hagen is going to do the whole time trial on his aero S5 Cervelo with clip-on bars. 

Quite a few riders in this run of riders opting not to change bikes. For those not in the hunt for a medal probably a good idea to avoid it if they don't need it. 

Laurens de Plus, who didn't change his bke, has gone faster than Lutsenko at the finish line. He stops the clock at 47:16, almost 30 seconds quicker than Lutsenko. 

There are some good times out there at the moment. Norwegian Andreas Vangstad is quickest at the third check, while Russia's Alexander Evtushenko is quickest at the second. Ultimately, these early times won't mean too much because you can lose a lot on that final climb. 

Tom Dumoulin was one of the catalysts for the bike change issue and he is one of the favourites for victory (and my personal pick for today). He has said that Vuelta champion Chris Froome and Australian Rohan Dennis are his rivals for today. Read the full story here. 

Tom Dumoulin was one of the catalysts for the bike change issue and he is one of the favourites for victory (and my personal pick for today). He has said that Vuelta champion Chris Froome and Australian Rohan Dennis are his rivals for today. Read the full story here. 

Meanwhile, Froome has said that Dumoulin is the favourite for today. Not unusual to see the pre-race favourites trying to put the pressure onto their rivals. 

The Slovenian Jan Tratnik is going well out on course. He is currently fastest at the fourth check at the moment. 

Rui Costa looked like he was about to ride onto the carpet and take a bike swap but he carries on with his time trial bike. It seems that the UCI commisaires have cottoned onto riders using the carpet as a smooth section and they have one memeber on their team preventing riders from going onto the carpet if they're not changing so Costa rides next to the carpet instead. 

Rosskopf changes his bike and Nikias Arndt is hot on his heels, but will he stick or twist?

Looking further ahead this week, the women will be back in action in the elite road race on Saturday. See who we picked for our 10 to watch here. 

Tratnik goes through the final check before that climb with a time 30 seconds quicker than anyone else at this point. What can he do on the ascent? 

A good effort by Vangstad, who bumps Hansen out of the top 3 at the finish line. De Plus still the quickest at this moment in time. 

Rui Costa comes home with the fourth quickest time. A solid effort from him, but he was never really expected to trouble the medals today. 

Arndt comes through the fifth check point some 15 seconds quicker than Tratnik. He decides to stick with his time trial bike for the climb. Bike changes seem to be in the minimum at the moment. 

Evtushenko was going well early in the course but he has given away a lot of time on the climb and he crosses the line 31 seconds back on De Plus. It's good enough for third at the moment. Tratnik is coming fast though so he won't have much time in the hotseat. 

Wow, what a time from Tratnik. He beats De Plus by 51 seconds to go fastest at this moment. Can Arndt beat him?

Yves Lampaert getting ready to start. We saw him practicing a change earlier this week, will he make one today?

Let me know your thoughts on who will take out the victory today and anything else you might have to say about the action in Bergen. You can Tweet me on @SadhbhOS or @Cyclingnewsfeed

Joey Rosskopf during his effort. You can get a small sense of the crowds out there. They're enormous.

Arndt finishes 32 seconds slower than Tratnik. He gave away almost 50 seconds to the Slovenian on that final climb. 

In this next wave of starters we have New Zealand's Hamish Bond. He will be interesting to watch as he's not long made a switch from rowing. This is the biggest competition he's taken part in since the switch. 

Word coming in from British Cycling is that Tao Geoghegan Hart crashed during his effort. He is currently 14th fastest at the finish. 

Yves Lampaert looking pretty slick out there at the moment. He is the Belgian national time trial champion and won a stage of the Vuelta a Espana. He was fastest at the first check and is about to catch his minute-man already. 

Lampaert goes through the second check and he's got 13 seconds on the next best rider Arndt at that point. A solid effort from the Belgian thus far. 

The riders in the hotseat looking pretty comfortable at the moment. This is how it looks at the top at the moment. 

 

As if by magic, I have just been sent this photograph of the riders in the hotseat by Stephen Farrand. 

This is some ride by Lampaert at this moment. He's 11 seconds up on Arndt at the fourth check. The question will be how well can he limit the damage on the climb? 

Serghei Tvetcov about the start the next wave of riders. Tvetcov will move to UnitedHealthcare next season. 

As well as the 10 riders to watch for the women's road race that we showed you a little earlier, we also have one for the men's road race. You can take a look at it here. 

Eritrea's Meron Teshome sets off to a rapturous reception from his fans. The Eritreans doing their best to compete with the Norwegian supporters in terms of noise. They are some of the most passionate that I've ever seen at any race. 

Konovalovas changes his bike and it's one of the smoother swaps. He heads up the climb in third place at this point, just five seconds off the pace. 

Lampaert lost a bit of time going into that climb and started it in second place. He's setting a steady tempo for now, but climbing is not his forte. 

We have some reaction from Tao Geoghegan Hart, who crashed during his time trial effort. He was pretty scathing of his own performance. 

Wilco Kelderman getting ready to go. He is probably the first major medal contender to set off today. 

Konovalovas is putting in a very good effort on this climb and he's made up a bit of ground on Tratnik. According to the GPS (which isn't always relyable) he's about 20 seconds back on the Slovenian. 

It was 37 seconds on the line for Konovalovas in the end and he bumps De Plus off third spot. The Belgian doesn't seem too put out and he waves goodbye to the camera. 

Former Olympic rower Hamish Bond is out on course. He's curently 55 seconds back at the second time check. 

Kelderman is currently 16 seconds down on the time that Lampaert set at the first time check. He will not be too worried just yet, because he should make up some serious time on that climb at the end. 

Andrey Grivko is also going well out there at the moment. He is third fastest at that first check. 

The next wave of riders will be led by Nicolas Roche in 15 minutes' time. 

Grivko goes through the second check 10 seconds back on Lampaert. That's a the same as the opening check point, but he moves into second place for now. 

Apologies, that was the third check for Grivko. Meanwhile, Kelderman is just over 17 seconds back at the same point. Still a very good ride from the Dutchman so far. 

Stephen Farrand spoke to Laurens De Plus after he came off the hotseat. The Belgian likened the final climb to the Mur de Huy - which hosts the finale of Flache Wallonne - and says that the best tactic is not to change bikes. He believes that most of the top riders won't change bikes. We'll have to just wait and see. 

Grivko and Kelderman maintaining their early pace. Not too long before they start that climb. 

Before they do start climbing, a quick reminder of what it looks like at the top of the standings. 

About half of the field has finished their rides today. Most of the big names are still to come. The weather has held off for now, but there are a few dark clouds around. 

Roche begins this next group of riders as Edvald Boasson Hagen gets himself ready for the off. He'll be off in three riders' time. What a cheer he is going to get from the home crowd. 

Grivko decided not to stop for a bike change and he set the fastest time at the final check point. He's on his way up the climb. 

Boasson Hagen starts and he is on a road bike with attachments. Up the road, Kelderman stops and collects his road bike. Let's see what time he makes up. 

Kelderman was 12 seconds back at the last check before the climb. He should make up that and more tough. 

Hamish Bond finishes 1:50 back on Tratnik. That's a solid effort for someone who has recently changed sports. 

GPS has Kelderman up on Tratnik at the moment. It is marginal though. 

While Kelderman is making up time, Grivko is labouring up the climb. He has given away time to the Slovenian. 

Gianni Moscon has just set off down the start ramp. He could be a dark horse for today. 

According to GPS (and we can't take it too literally) Kelderman is 16 seconds up on Tratnik. It looks like we might have a new fastest time very soon. Meanwhile, Grivko battles into second place, edging out Arndt by the slimmest of margins. 

We don't have to wait long for Kelderman. He is quickest by nine seconds over Tratnik. 

2015 World champ, Kiryienka has a squeaky bum moment coming out of the tunnel as he almost overruns a corner. He's ok, but that may have slowed him down. 

Kiryienka goes through that first check at eight seconds down, which is enough to put him fifth behind his teammate Moscon. A good start from him. It will be interesting to see how much time he can make up on the climb. 

European Champion Victor Campanaerts goes through the check at 11km and is just 11 seconds back. Campanaerts will probably be most remembered for his writing a request for a date on his chest during the Giro d'Italia. Apparently, they decided to remain friends. 

Alexis Gourgeard going very well at the moment. The Frenchman has set the quickest time at the second check. 

This is the latest top 10 standings at the finish line. 

Kiryienka completes the first lap and he's 10 seconds down on the quickest rider through that second, which is Moscon. The Italian is on a flyer at the moment. 

The UCI is reporting that 65 per cent of riders have changed bikes today. That seems pretty high, but we haven't seen all of the changes. 

Kiryienka looking very smooth on his time trial bike. The only indication that he's making any effort is that he's breathing through his mouth. He's cut the gap to Moscon down to just two seconds. 

Roche goes through the final check 30 seconds down. He decides to eschew the bike change and heads up the climb on his TT bike. It will be interesting to see how he compares to Kelderman. This is probably our first real opportunity to see which option is better. Can Roche gain time on the Dutchman or will he lose out by riding a heavier bike up the climb? 

Boasson Hagen heads up the climb and the crowd erupts. He didn't need to change bikes because he started on a road bike. 

Campanaerts makes a very quick bike change. He looks like he's been practicing that one. Oliveira is a little less slick and he almost loses his balance as he gets off his bike. 

Tejay van Garderen on the start ramp and this is the final group of riders. He's already got a silver medal from the team time trial competition on Sunday. 

Gougeard makes a bike switch. He doesn't need a push, he just gets on with the job. 

Roche crosses the line and he goes third fastest, bumping Grivko off the podium. 

Gougeard started that climb in second place. He's putting in a big old effort on the climb. We wait to see what time he can do by the finish. On the carpet of doom, Stefan Keung has a shambles of a bike change. 

Kiryienka is flying. He's fastest at that final check before the climb and he decides not to change his bike. 

A crash for Bodnar early in the course. He was about to head into the tunnel and the bike went from under him. He can still get this back though. 

Dennis is down the start ramp and Castroviejo is next up. Castroviejo will be an interesting rider to watch today. 

Boasson Hagen crossed the line in fourth just a few moments ago. This is what it did to the top 10. 

Oliviera has had a massive ride up the climb and he beats Kelderman's time by 12 seconds. In the meantime, there is chaos further down the climb as Gougeard has a mechanical issue. He's back on his way but he has lost time. 

A replay shows that he shipped his chain going around a corner. That's a big blow for the Frenchman because he was going very well until now. 

Gougeard comes home 25 seconds back on Oliveira. That mechanical had a massive impact.

Chris Froome has started his ride, just Dumoulin and Martin to come. 

Moscon finishes. It's close. He loses out on the gold medal spot by less than a second. Oliveira can rest easy for a few moments longer. 

Kiryienka continues up the climb and he's up on Oliviera at the moment. He's struggling on the steeper ramps. Remember, he didn't change his bike but Oliveira did. 

Tony Martin is on his way and that is all the riders started. Martin has done his best to dispel any expectation that he might win this in the build-up. I tend to agree but we will have to wait and see. 

Zakarin going very well out on course. He's just three seconds off the pace at the first check. If he can hold this up to the climb then he is on for a very good time. 

Kiryienka finishes and he is even closer than Moscon. Just 0.23 seconds off Oliveira's time. Wow, that was so close. 

That, perhaps, shows that it is worth changing bikes at the bottom. Even with a really poor bike change, Oliveira made up enough time to make that top spot. 

This is how the top 10 looks at the moment with less than a second separating the top 3. 

Some strong performances in the opening part of the course from Dumoulin and Roglic. Meanwhile, Froome has dropped about 10 seconds on Dumoulin in the opening stretch. 

Bodnar, who crashed earlier, lost a lot more time in that opening section. He may well have had a bike change that we didn't see. He's almost two minutes back and well out of contention. 

Dennis is ramping things up. He's fastest by over a second at the second check. Zakarin has gone through the third at eight seconds back. 

Froome is 13 seconds slower than Dennis at that 11.5km check. A solid effort thus far, but could it be too much to make up?

Dumoulin goes through that check at 11.5km and wow, he is 10 seconds up on Dennis. 

Some spots of rain have begun to fall and that could have an impact. 

Tony Martin completes the first lap 18 seconds down. He doesn't care, he rides over the carpet to avoid a few of the cobbles. 

The window wipers are going on the cars, this rain is getting heavier. 

Froome is still losing time to Dennis at the moment. Dennis set off not long before him and the Brit is now 24 seconds slower than the Australian. 

Dumoulin following Froome over that 16.5km check. He's now 9 seconds up on Dennis. A little slower but still a good advantage. 

Where this rain could really hamper some of the riders is on the cobbled sector and on the climb. Wheel spin is the adversary of speed. 

Dennis has lost a lot of time in that next section. He appears to have blood on his right knee so he must have crashed. 

With Dennis down the rankings, Froome is getting back into this. He's just seven seconds down on his trade teammate Moscon at the fourth check. Zakarin is just four seconds down though. 

Van Garderen has decided to go up the climb with his TT bike and so has Zakarin. That could be interesting in the rain. 

Dumoulin is still on fire, despite the rain. He's 34 seconds up at that fourth check. Martin is at 32 seconds, just ahead of Moscon in third. Martin is likely to slip down the standings on the climb though. 

Oliveira will be wriggling in the hotseat right now. He knows that Dumoulin is likely to knock him off the top spot. The question is, will he be able to hold onto a medal. 

Roglic doing a tidy time at the moment too. He is one of the first of the top riders to make a bike change. It was pretty smooth and he is on his way very quickly.

Roglic was 22 seconds back just before he made that bike change.

Rohan Dennis rides straight through the bike change area. It looked like he might have picked up a road bike from the car earlier on. Will confirm that later if I can. 

Castroviejo decides not to change his bike. He was 28 seconds down at that final check. 

Chris Froome is just 10 seconds down through the bike change area. He forgoes the bike change too as Tom Dumoulin domes in and decides not to make a bike change. 

It was Dumoulin that initiated the discussion about changing bikes but after Kelderman's change he has decided not to do it. He has enough time in the pocket going into the climb and few of his rivals have changed. 

Zakarin comes home at 35 seconds and slots into eighth place for now, but that is likely to change very soon. 

Martin shoots into view as the rain hammers down. He also decides not to change his bike and goes straight for the climb. He is sixth fastest behind Dumoulin at the moment. 

Closer to the top of the hill, Roglic is going very well. He looks like he might just take that top spot from Oliveira. 

Roglic has smashed it at the top of the climb. He beats Oliveira by 30 seconds and the Portuguese rider can only laugh. He didn't stand a chance. 

Moscon waves goodbye. That's his bronze medal gone. 

This is the new-look top 10. Look at it quick because it will change soon. 

Dennis gets to the top. He has given away 39 seconds to Roglic after he crashed earlier in the day. He will be wondering what could have been. 

Tom Dumoulin smashes Roglic's time by almost a minute. Unlikely that he will be beaten. Dumoulin shoudl be the new World Champion. 

Dumoulin almost caught Froome at the top of the climb, but the British rider just about managed to take third place. 

Martin still out on course but it looks like he will miss out on the bronze medal. 

The Norwegian fans have been enthusiastic but well behaved. One fan gets overexcited and tries to run after Martin but he is quickly dealt with by the police. 

Tony Martin finishes in ninth place in the end. He really struggled in those final metres. 

A hugely impressive ride from Roglic to take that second place. That is a huge moment for him. 

Chapeau to Froome too. After doing both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana, it was going to be a tough ask to take that gold medal, but he put in a very good ride today. 

Nobody could get anywhere near Tom Dumoulin though. That was a supreme effort from the flying Dutchman. He didn't put a foot wrong throughout. 

That of course makes it a Dutch double with Annemiek van Vleuten winning the women's event yesterday. Can they do it again at the weekend? I certainly wouldn't put it past the women to take the gold. The men's squad might have a tougher time. 

This is how it finished out there. Dennis made it into the top 10 despite his crash and the early pacer Tratnik held on in 10th. 

What a year it has been for Tom Dumoulin in 2017. He took victory at the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, beating Nairo Quintana in that thrilling finale. He took yet another national time trial title and the overall classification at the BinckBank Tour. He collected a bronze on Sunday with the Sunweb team in the team time trial and now this. This victory has been a long time coming and you feel that he might well have taken that Olympic gold last year if it hadn't been for that Tour de France crash. 

Thank you to Cillian Kelly for these statistics. Dumoulin is just the fifth rider to win a Grand Tour and a Worlds time trial title in the same season. Jan Ullrich was the last to do it in 1999. Ullrich won the Vuelta a Espana that year. 

Some words from our new elite men time trial world champion, Tom Dumoulin:

Of course, Dumoulin was the rider who sparked the discussion about bike changes that ultimately led the UCI to amend their regulations. In the end, he decided not to make the change and do the climb on his TT bike. 

A happy Chris Froome speaks to the press after securing the bronze medal today. 

Primoz Roglic also talks to the media in the mixed zone. 

For a recap of today's action, head to our race report replete with results and photos. 

Tomorrow the racing will take a break as the riders get an opportunity to take a look at the road course. There will also be the small matter of the UCI's elections. The incumbent Brian Cookson is going up against David Lappartient. 

Racing will get underway again on Friday with the junior women and the under 23 men fighting for the rainbow jersey. The junior men will duke it out on Saturday morning before the elite women take to the course. As per tradition, the elite men will race on Sunday. 

Want to know who to look out for in the elite road races at the weekend, click here for the women and here for the men.

Chris Froome said that he had no regrets about his performance today. 

Roglic's bike change certainly made up for his slower times along the rest of the course. Not taking a climbing bike hurt Froome, but chances are he would still have been behind Dumoulin even with a lighter bike.

The podium photos and press conferences are taking a little bit longer than usual because the riders and media had to shuttle down the mountain on trams.

Thanks for following the world championships time trial with Cyclingnews. Tune in again this weekend for the road races.

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