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Specialized-lululemon and BMC win worlds team time trials, medals for Canuel and Tuft

September 21, 2014
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Sunday saw Canadian Karol-Ann Canuel has taken her first UCI Road World Championships gold medal as her Specialized-lululemon squad won its third consecutive title since the race changed to a trade team format in 2012. On the men’s side, Svein Tuft won his fourth Worlds medal, specifically a TTT silver when Orica-GreenEdge came second to BMC, who broke Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s stranglehold on the event.

The trade team time trials kicked off the 81st Worlds in Ponferrada, Spain, with the women going first. Specialized-lululemon was unfazed by its crash while test-riding the 36-km course on Saturday. Canuel was part of the well-drilled team that included 2012 and 2013 winners Evelyn Stevens (USA) and Trixi Worrack (Germany). The squad was the last to start and smashed the time of Orica-AIS, last year’s bronze medalists, soon after Australian team took over the race lead from Astana-BePink.

The day’s disaster belonged to Marianne Vos’s Rabobank-LIV in the final kilometres. Vos had already been dropped, but the Dutch team’s problems were compounded exponentially when Roxane Knetemann, daughter of bespectacled 1978 world champion Gerrie Knetemann, crashed into the barriers and brought down the rest of her team. The unfortunate Anna van der Breggen broke her pelvis in the wreck. Rabobank-Liv finished dead last.

For a while in the men’s race it looked like Sky was going to carry the day as the team seemed to be going faster as the 57-km course progressed. But just before they posted the best time at the second time check, Sky lost Geraint Thomas (Great Britain) and Salvatore Puccio (Italy) from its ranks, and the team was unlikely to win after that.

BMC, silver medalists in 2012, ended up setting the fastest times at all three checkpoints. Tejay van Garderen (USA), Rohan Dennis (Australia) and gang knocked Trek off the hot seat and then sat back and watched it rain. Reigning two-time champs Omega Pharma became a little unstuck in the windy final kilometres, even with Tony Martin (Germany) whipping along the crew, but the team still nicked the bronze from Sky.

Tuft has now won two silvers and a bronze in the team time trial over the last three years and a silver in the individual time trial from 2008.

2014 UCI Road World Championships Women’s Team Time Trial
1) Specialized-lululemon 43:35
2) Orica-AIS +1:17
3) Astana-BePink +2:19

2014 UCI Road World Championships Men’s Team Time Trial
1) BMC 1:03:29
2) Orica-GreenEdge +0:31
3) Omega Pharma-QuickStep +0:35

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