UCI World Championships: Etixx beat BMC to win TTT title

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Etixx-QuickStep claimed victory in the men's team time trial at the Road World Championships in Qatar, ousting defending champions BMC Racing, who finished in second with a perfectly drilled performance on the technical 40km course.

Etixx-QuickStep stopped the clock with a time of 42:32, covering the 40km course at an average speed of 56.426km/h. BMC started last as defending champions but struggled to match Etixx’s pace. They eventually finished 11 seconds slower in a time of 42:44. Orica-Bike Exchange was third at a more distant 37 seconds. Team Sky finished fourth at 54 seconds, with LottoNL-Jumbo taking fifth at 55 seconds.

After a protest by the WorldTour teams with the UCI about travel costs, only 10 squads from the 18 WorldTour teams competed. The rest of the rather short start list contained little-known teams from Europe and Asia. As a result, no WorldTour points were awarded.

The Etixx-QuickStep riders and staff celebrated as soon as BMC failed to beat their time, hugging each other in celebration. The Belgian team won the first two editions of the team time trial world title in 2012 and 2013 but their run of success ended with BMC winning in 2014 and 2015.

BMC was arguably the favourite again after winning the recent team time trial at the Eneco Tour, but Etixx added some extra speed and power to the squad this season with the arrival of former Junior time trial world champion Marcel Kittel. Also in the six-rider line-up were Bob Jungels, Yves Lampaert, Tony Martin, Niki Terpstra and Julien Vermote.

The lesser teams started off first in the 40km time trial, with each team taking it steady on the many corners around the Lusail shooting centre. The long, straight 15km section south to Doha proved to be vital, with some riders spinning a 58 chain ring to push their average speed above 60km/h. However the team time trial is also about control.

Movistar’s chances of a medal faded when they had to wait for Jonathan Castroviejo to change bikes. Other teams lost riders too early; with speed, rotation and recovery of six riders the key to success.

Etixx was fastest at the first time split, indicating they handled the early corners well. BMC was four seconds down but then pulled equal, with both teams on 27:56 after 27km. They both switched to a risky four-rider strategy for the many curves and corners on the Pearl, and it was Etixx who found the extra speed and unity to carve out their 11.69 second winning margin. Tony Martin and Marcel Kittel did huge turns to drag the team home so they could celebrate their first world title of the week.

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