Michiel Mouris (Netherlands) added a world title to his European and Dutch titles, completing the 22.6km course in Kigali in a time of 29:07.61 to take the rainbow stripes in the junior men’s time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.
Mouris, the 78th rider of 85 to tackle the course, unseated Seff van Kerckhove (Belgium) from the hot seat late in the day, recovering from third at the first checkpoint to go quickest at the second and at the finish, closing out his ride nine seconds up on Van Kerckhove’s time of 29:16.19.
“It’s incredible to win here. It was really, really difficult, of course. You had the time trials the days before and I knew a lot of guys would blow up. I tried to start conservative but still it was really long to the line and a really hard fight,” Mouris said after his victory.
“I like to have some rest moments, and I can also sometimes go really over the limit on the cobbles. I’m not the lightest but you can see some big guys have the power to win here, so it’s incredible.
“It’s amazing for the whole team and incredible that we could both win here. It says that we have a good staff here and everything is good.”
Van Kerckhove wouldn’t take home the silver medal, either, however, as Ashlin Barry (USA) was still left to come home. The American, starting 1:30 after Mouris, crossed the line with a time of 29:14.45, just about good enough to take second place and with it the silver medal.
Beckam Drake (USA) took fourth spot with a time of 29:21.16, while Max Hinds (Great Britain) rounded out the top five with a time of 29:26.52.
How it unfolded
Home rider Pacifique Byusa (Rwanda) led the proceedings as the first rider out on course and duly set the quickest time of the early runners with a 34:34.97. His time would see him in the hot seat for 20 minutes until Artyom Prosuryakov (Azerbaijan) hit the road. He eased to the top of the leaderboards with a time of 32:47.12.
Prosuryakov’s time would stand until the 31st and 32nd riders of the 85 made their way out onto the course. First, Matvei Yakovlev went top of the standings, 35 seconds quicker with a 32:13.89, but 1:30 later, Kazakhstani rider Murat Kuitenov came through four seconds quicker at 32:09.36.
Kuitenov’s time would last until Vanja Kuntarič (Slovenia) and then Joshua Johnson (South Africa) went quicker. Kuntarič’s time of 31:20.01 saw him briefly take over the hot seat before Johnson set a time of 30:55.38 as the 45th rider to finish.
Swedish racer Vilgot Reinhold put a minute into Johnson’s time, however, with his time of 29:55.82 raised the bar once more. His time held as Nicholas van der Merwe (Bulgaria) and Benjamin Noval (Spain) went well with times of 30:14.93 and 30:04.66 though USA's Drake would soon come through with a time to top the standings at 29:21.16.
By the time Drake, the 63rd rider to finish, crossed the line, several other contenders were heading out on course. Roberto Capello (Italy) and Hinds (Great Britain) were challenging at the intermediate checkpoints, but it was Van Kerckhove who was topping the timesheets.
Capello’s time of 29:36.55 saw him go second, but he was quickly bumped down to third as Van Kerckhove crossed the line with a 29:16.19, edging out Drake by just five seconds. By that point, 17 riders were still yet to finish, leaving the Belgian with a tense wait of up to half an hour in the hot seat.
Hinds finished strongly to go provisional second, beating Capello’s time by 10 seconds with a 29:26.52, but out on course it was Mouris and Barry who were the main threats to Van Kerckhove’s time.
The pair were among the quickest at the two intermediate checkpoints. At the second check, Mouris was quickest, eight seconds up on the Belgian, though Barry, who was three seconds up on Mouris at the first checkpoint, lost time and came through down in third, a further five seconds slower.
On the run to the finish line, Mouris kept up his momentum to beat Van Kerckhove and top the standings. His time of 29:07.61 put him in the hot seat, with only Barry of the remaining riders able to challenge him.
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