Bjerg crowned under 23 men's time trial world champion

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Dane Mikkel Bjerg turned the tables in the U23 time trial world championship race in Bergen, Norway, turning last year's silver in the junior ranks into gold ahead of rival Brandon McNulty (United States). Frenchman Corentin Ermenault edged out Tom Wirtgen (Luxembourg) at the death to take home the bronze medal.

Bjerg, 18, ended his long spell in the hot seat after setting the quickest time of 47:06 over the hilly 37.2km course from the second wave of riders, beating 19-year-old McNulty, who started three minutes earlier, by 1:05.

He had a long time to discuss the reversal of last year's junior Worlds event with McNulty, as the pair spent close to two hours and thirty minutes waiting for the final riders to finish.

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"It's unbelievable," Bjerg said. "I can't really understand right now. I knew that the course was really tough, so I lost some weight before the big day today. I tried to pace it as good as possible on the climb. I could see on my power meter that I was in for a top 5 or a medal if I was lucky. I could see when the other split times came that I did a pretty good effort. It's crazy."

He showed respect for his American rival, acknowledging that McNulty's season was less than ideal after he suffered a broken pelvis in a crash in February.

"I think me and Brandon we did pretty similar last year, and he came back and I think his effort today is also really remarkable. For sure this is the biggest result of my career and I will try to do it again next year."

Neilson Powless (USA) was on track to make the medals when, after the final climb, he dropped his chain and when he reached down to try to re-seat it, he hit the barriers and crashed. Second fastest at the fifth check, Powless regained his composure and went on to finish ninth.

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