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Canada’s Michael Leonard tenth in the Glasgow Worlds U23 time trial

Italian breaks recent Scandinavian stranglehold on U23 men's chrono title

August 9, 2023
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Canadian Michael Leonard, who plies his trade for Ineos Grenadiers, had a fine ride in Wednesday’s first individual time trial of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, placing 10th. Italian Lorenzo Milesi broke the recent Scandinavian stranglehold on the U23 men’s chrono and claimed the gold medal.

The Course

For the chronos–run in between the road races for some reason–the Worlds shifted away from Glasgow and northeast to Stirling. The 76 U23 men faced 36.2 km around Stirling, with a sharp little rise up to the finish at the castle, part of which was cobbled. The course held three intermediate time checks.

Course profile by La Flamme Rouge.

The Canadian contingent was Michael Leonard and Tristan Jussaume.

Leonard was one of the early riders. He cracked Alistair Mackeller’s best time at the first intermediate check with 15:21, but Swiss rider Jan Cristen clipped that by 12 seconds. Mackeller was the first to finish, bumping up the cobbles to post 44:42.

At the finish Leonard, stopping the clock at 44:29, moved into the first position.

By the latter half of the field, Leonard had slotted into fourth place behind Italy’s Lorenzo Milesi, who had smashed all the best intermediate times. Swede Jakob Söderqvist knocked him down to fifth and Kiwi Logan Curries forced him down to sixth.

Silver in 2022, Belgian Alec Segaert caught his minute man soon after the start and then beat Milesi’s time at Intermediate 1. Leonard continued to sift down the top-10. Would he stay in it?

Segaert fell behind Milesi by the finish at Stirling Castle and took silver for the second year in a row. Aussie Hamish McKenzie rounded out the podium.

The Junior and Elite women’s chronos are on Thursday.

2023 Time Trial World Championships, U23 Men
1) Lorenzo Milesi (Italy) 43:00
2) Alec Segaert (Belgium) +0:11
3) Hamish McKenzie (Australia) +0:51
10) Michael Leonard (Canada) +1:29
26) Tristan Jussaume (Canada) +2:46