Following Canyon//SRAM Racing surprise win in the morning, in the afternoon Quick-Step Floors took their fourth world title in the team time trial, led by Niki Terpstra who’s been there for each of the four victories.
Canyon//SRAM Racing claimed the title in the women’s team time trial at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships Innsbruck-Tirol. The German outfit edged out Dutch teams Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam and Team Sunweb, who were touted as the favourites and rounded out the podium. Alena Amialiusik, Alice and Hannah Barnes, Elena Cecchini, Lisa Klein and Trixi Worrack are the new world champions.
Belgian outfit Quick-Step Floors rode to another gold medal at the men's team time trial, while defending champions, Team Sunweb, settled for second at a deficit of 19 seconds while BMC Racing Team took third place at 20 seconds, making it a full podium of the former winners of the competition since its inception in 2012. Kasper Asgreen, Laurens De Plus, Bob Jungels, Yves Lampaert, Maximilian Schachmann and Niki Terpstra are the new world champions.
WOMEN’S TEAM TIME-TRIAL PODIUM
1 - Canyon // Sram Racing – 54.5km in 1h01’46.6”. Average speed 52.544km/h
2 - Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam at 21.9”
3 - Team Sunweb at 28.67”
MEN’S TEAM TIME-TRIAL PODIUM
1 - Quick-Step Floors - 62.8km in 1h07’25.94”, average speed 55.522km/h
2 - Team Sunweb at 18.46”
3 - BMC Racing Team at 19.55”
WOMEN’S QUOTES
“For sure, it’s nice to win the last team time trial contested by trade teams,” veteran rider and multiple world champion Worrack declared in the press conference. “We didn’t have a perfect season but we trained hard for this race. We knew we could make the podium on a good day. The length of the race played in our favour. It was 54km long. The key was to have as many riders together for as long as possible.”
It was an emotional victory. “I started crying really hard after we won,” Italy’s Cecchini echoed. “We were very disappointed to finish fourth in Bergen last year but today we rode one of the very best team time trials I’ve ever taken part in. I want to thank all these girls and our staff who often believes in us more than ourselves.”
MEN’S QUOTES
“We had a good speed from A to B,” Niki Terpstra declared in the press conference. “We were going fast but Mitchelton-Scott was faster at the beginning. We did a good job in pacing our efforts on flat sections and climbs. We have prepared for this event since December. That’s how we reached the level we did today. We knew 63km is really long. If we blew at the beginning or in the climb, we would have been exhausted in the final part. In the last 10km riding into Innsbruck, we could keep the speed and we made the difference at the end.”
“It’s special to win the last edition of the team time-trial world championship for trade teams,” Bob Jungels added. “We prepared the same as previous years. It didn’t start on Wednesday when we came here but this team was set up throughout the whole year. We won because of a lot of sacrifices, time and investment. It worked out well.”
