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Last Updated: Sep 25th, 2008 - 20:41:09 |
Bert Grabsch today took the gold medal in the Elite time trial at cycling’s world championships in Varese, Italy. The German beat Canadian Svein Tuft by 42.79 seconds, with American time trial champion Dave Zabriskie just over nine seconds further back in third place.
There were no Irish competitors entered in the 43.7 kilometre event. The Team Ireland campaign continues tomorrow with the under 23 road race, where Daniel Martin, Ronan McLaughlin and Conor McConvey will line out in the green jerseys.
The ten lap contest totals 173.35 kilometres in length and Martin hopes that the racing he has logged this year with the Garmin Chipotle team will stand to him towards the end. He has felt fatigued since finishing fourth in the Tour of Britain but if he’s on a good day, should be one of the strongest riders in the race.
The 17.33 kilometre loop includes two climbs. The first, Salita di via Montello, is 1.15 kilometres in length and averages 6.5 percent. The second is the Salita dei Ronchi and has a gradient average of 4.5 percent for 3.130 kilometres.
Martin is one of the strongest young climbers in the peloton, as evidenced by his Route du Sud win in June, and he will hope to follow any important moves in the final laps before going all out close to the finish. If he does get clear on the last climb, he will be aided by the profile of the course from the summit to the line.
“It [the overall course] seems tough and pretty good for me,” he stated. “I am happy that there is no descent from the last climb to the finish.
“I had a few team mates who rode the course during the Giro d’Italia and they said it is not too hard. It is going to be a waiting game. I have been used to riding longer distances, doing races of between 190 and 200km this year, and I am hoping this will count for me on the last lap and the last climb.”
Whatever the result, Martin has had an exceptional debut season and is regarded by many as one of the top young talents in the sport. He is likely to start his first Grand Tour in either 2009 or 2010.
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World Championships, Varese, Italy, September 23-28:
Race 3 - September 25: Men's time trial:
1, Bert Grabsch (Germany) 43.7 kilometres in 52 mins 1.60 secs (50.407 km/h)
2, Svein Tuft (Canada) at 42.79 secs
3, David Zabriskie (United States Of America) at 52.27 secs
4, Levi Leipheimer (United States Of America) at 1 min 5.42 secs
5, Gustav Larsson (Sweden) at 1 min 5.84 secs
6, Stijn Devolder (Belgium) at 1 min 15.41 secs
7, Tony Martin (Germany) at 1 min 16.26 secs
8, Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) at 1min 25.16 secs
9, David Millar (Great Britain) at 1min 25.26 secs
10, Sylvain Chavanel (France) at 1min 25.82 secs
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