Dutch ace Ellen van Dijk yesterday defended her time-trial crown at the UCI Road World Championships for her third career title, while Norway’s Tobias Foss pulled off a huge upset to claim a maiden men’s time-trial title.
The 35-year-old Van Dijk was the final rider down the ramp and chased down Australian Grace Brown’s blistering early pace to win by 12.73 seconds in 44 minutes, 28.60 seconds to clinch another title, having also won in 2013.
Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser was third, 41.68 seconds adrift at the opening event of the eight-day road world championships at Wollongong.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I never expected to win. I didn’t think it was a perfect course for me, but I had a good mental and physical approach with my coach,” Van Dijk said. “I just thought I would give it my all today, a podium spot would be nice, but if it’s not, it’s not, I still had a great year. I never thought I would win today.”
She made a point of not looking at the times set by the other cyclists, instead concentrating on her own riding.
“I wanted to focus completely on myself, but I was so surprised to cross the finish line first,” she said.
For the first time at the worlds, women covered the same distance as the men, sharing a 34.2km route running along two laps of a technical and twisting circuit with a small climb.
Foss said he was in “some kind of a dream” after dethroning two-time defending champion Filippo Ganna in the men’s time trial.
The 25-year-old conquered the circuit in 40 minutes, 2.78 seconds to edge Swiss powerhouse Stefan Kung by 2.95 seconds.
Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, fresh from winning the Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour this month, was 9.16 seconds adrift in third.
Italy’s Ganna, the current standard bearer in time-trial racing, started strongly on the hilly and twisty circuit as he sought to match Germany’s Tony Martin and Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara as a three-time winner, but the 26-year-old tired and faded to finish seventh, 56 seconds off the pace.
Team Jumbo-Visma rider Foss won the Tour de l’Avenir in 2020, but was not among the favorites and said he was stunned by the win.
“This is some kind of dream, I don’t believe it, it’s so unreal,” he said after ripping up the form book to claim the rainbow jersey.
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
RSS