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Villumsen takes first chrono rainbow jersey, German Appelt wins Junior men’s title

September 22, 2015
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Tuesday in Richmond, Virginia, Leo Appelt gave Germany its first individual gold medal at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in the Junior men’s time trial, while Linda Villumsen, after five podiums representing both Denmark and New Zealand, finally won a rainbow jersey in the elite women’s race. Villumsen squeezed out the win by two-seconds over Dutch athlete Anna van der Breggen. Canada placed two riders in the top-15 of the elite women’s contest.

The Junior men were rolling the same route and distance as the U23 men and Elite women: two laps of a 15-km city course with a few ripples. Russian Sergey Rostovtsev departed first, but it was Kiwi Robert Stannard who took the early lead. Soon after, Kazakh Ilya Gorbushin took the lead with 39:37 after setting the fastest times at the second two of three intermediate times even though his start was slow.

Canadian Joel Taylor of Trek-Red Truck was 10th off the ramp and posted a time of 42:21. He had a teammate cheering him on.

German Leo Appelt broke all the intermediate times on course. Appelt smashed Gorbushin’s mark by 1:52 to take over the hot seat.

Last year’s bronze medalist, Australian Michael Storer was the penultimate starter, and 2014 silver medalist Adrien Costa (USA) was last. While Appelt grew fidgety on the hot seat, Derek Gee rolled a 40:39, which would give him 27th on the day as the top Canadian.

Storer had a rocky ride and could only come 16th. Costa pushed Appelt the closest, only finishing 17-seconds behind. Costa’s compatriot Brandon McNulty claimed the bronze.

In the women’s race, two-time gold medalist and four-time medalist Kristin Armstrong of the USA was second down the ramp and set the high mark of 40:50. Canadian Tara Whitten was in the front half of the start list and set the fastest first intermediate time. But as the course progressed Whitten slipped to the bronze step before 2013 champion Ellen van Dijk (The Netherlands) knocked her off the podium while slotting into second.

Though the weather conditions stayed consistent for the Junior men’s run, the wind began to pick up during the latter half of the start list.

American chrono champ Armstrong, who came out of retirement this season, kept cool on the hot seat.

Canadian Karol-Ann Canuel was fourth from last to start with last season’s bronze winner Evelyn Stevens the penultimate rider to begin and German world champion Lisa Brennauer last. Meanwhile, Villumsen beat Whitten’s best time at the first interval and Czech rider Martina Sablikova shuttled Whitten to fifth.

After Villumsen’s time knocked Armstrong off the hot seat, the top-10 started to shift. Armstrong found Brennauer, Anna van der Breggen and Australian Katrin Garfoot all finish ahead of her.

Canuel rolled the course in 42:01 to take 15th place to Whitten’s 13th, earning Canada an additional spot in the elite women’s time trial at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games.

Afterwards, Whitten said, “I am definitely a little bit disappointed with how I rode today. I think I started out a bit quick, but I always do. It was my goal not to, so it’s a little bit disappointing to do that again. At the same time, I gave it everything I had and fought to the end. I have to be happy with that and just look at it as a first step in my comeback process.”

The 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia continue Wednesday with the elite men running a 53-km time trial.


2015 UCI Road World Championships Jr. Men’s Time Trial
1) Leo Appelt (Germany) 37:45
2) Adrien Costa (USA) +0:17
3) Brandon McNulty (USA) +0:59
27) Derek Gee (Canada) +2:54
46) Joel Taylor (Canada) +4:36


2015 UCI Road World Championships Elite Women’s Time Trial
1) Linda Villumsen (New Zealand) 40:29
2) Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands) +0:02
3) Lisa Brennauer (Germany) +0:05
13) Tara Whitten (Canada) +1:26
15) Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada) +1:32