WOLLONGONG, Australia — Norway’s Tobias Foss said he was in “some kind of
a dream” after pulling off a huge upset Sunday to dethrone two-time defending
champion
Filippo Ganna and claim a maiden men’s time-trial title at cycling’s
road world championships in Australia.
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The 25-year-old
conquered the 34.2km circuit in 40min 2.78sec to edge Swiss powerhouse Stefan
Kung by 2.95sec.
Belgium’s Remco
Evenepoel, fresh from winning the Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour this month, was
9.16sec adrift in third on the opening day of the championships at Wollongong,
80km south of Sydney.
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, 56sec off the pace.
Slovenia’s two-time
Tour de France winner
Tadej Pogacar, who is not a pure time trial specialist,
came sixth.
Jumbo-Visma rider
Foss won the Tour de l’Avenir in 2020, but was not among the favorites and
admitted he was stunned by the win.
Hayter disaster
Kung, who was fifth at the world championships last year, was fastest
through both the first and second-time checks and looked poised to win. But he
lost 13 seconds over the final phase.
Home favorite Lucas
Plapp set the early pace before European champion
Stefan Bissegger went faster,
the first rider to average more than 50km per hour, until his time was
shattered by Foss.
British hope
Ethan Hayter looked destined to go close, but disaster struck mid-race when his
chain came off forcing him to change bikes and he finished fourth.
American star
Magnus Sheffield was also a casualty, tracking well when he crashed into the
barriers and finished 17th.
Last year’s
runner-up, Wout van Aert of Belgium, was a notable absentee.
Van Aert has opted to focus on the elite road race next
weekend where he aims to topple French two-time champion Julian Alaphilippe.
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