World Championships: Appelt captures gold medal in junior men's time trial

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Germany's Leo Appelt secured the world title in the junior men's time trial at the World Championships in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday. He covered the course in a smashing time of 37:45 to take the victory ahead of two US riders. Teammates Adrien Costa finished 17 seconds back for the silver medal, and Brandon McNulty finished 59 seconds back with the bronze medal.

Both Americans said they were somewhat surprised by the German rider's performance. Appelt said he was surprised as well.

"I still can't believe it," he said in the post-race press conference. "I just did my own race, and I was also surprised."

Sergey Rostovstev (Russia) was one of the first over the line, setting a time of 40:55:85. Robert Stannard (New Zealand) surpassed that time by riding 40 faster.

Ilya Gorbushin was the first rider to go under the 40-minute mark with his time of 39:37:68, but he was subsequently beaten by Appelt, who stormed around the course in a time of 37:45:01 (1:52 faster).

Appelt’s time held for the duration of the time trial, and it’s no surprise that he also posted the fastest times at all three intermediate marks on course, holding an average speed of 47.68km/h. In fact, his finishing time would have placed him fourth in the previous day’s under-23 time trial.

McNulty had the second-fastest split at the first intermediate mark and held the silver-medal seat with a time of 38:44 for much of the event until his teammate Costa cruised in with a faster time of 38:02. Costa, who had a strong final half of the race, noted that he had the second fastest times behind Appelt for the final two intermediate marks on course.

South Africa’s Keagan Girdlestone had a consistent performance throughout the intermediate checks, crossing them between seventh and fifth fastest compared to his competitors, but that wasn't good enough to secure the bronze medal.

Gino Mader (Switzerland) had the third-fastest times for the final two splits, behind Appelt and Costa, but it wasn’t enough to make up for his slower start and he ended up finishing fifth on the day.

Appelt, who will be competing in Saturday's junior men's road race, said he's hoping for a another surprise result there. 

"I hope so," he said when asked about Saturday's chance for another gold medal. "There's no pressure no. I can relax for the road race."

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