UCI Road World Cycling Championships - NZ wrap Day 3

New Zealand riders Jesse Sergent and Jack Bauer achieved solid top-20 finishes in a stellar field for today’s elite men’s time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Copenhagen.

Sergent, who has enjoyed success this year for his Radioshack pro tour team, was 18th fastest in 58min 10.16sec with the Endura Racing professional, Bauer one spot behind in 58:10.84. Both BikeNZ riders averaged a shade under 48kph for the 46.4km journey.

Germany’s Tony Martin claimed the overall honours, winning in a stunning 53:43.85, over a minute clear of Great Britain’s Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins and four-time world champion Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland).

Martin was so dominant he even passed Russia's Mikhai Ignatyev, who started three minutes earlier. The German averaged 51.8kph which edged Cancellera's 2009 record speed.

The technical nature of the course and strong winds made for a stern test with Bauer pleased with his performance.

“Yes I’m satisfied. It was a pretty long and windy course, so yes I am happy with a top 20 here, most definitely,” Bauer said.

“It was a good line-up as it always is at a world championships but I guess it is always that much deeper in quality in a European-based world championships.

“It stayed dry all day. This course there’s a lot of corners, it’s quite technical and a lot of wind, so for it to stay dry and for the road to be grippy all day was fantastic.”

Bauer said his success on the roads this year had come in shorter events which forced a re-evaluation of his goals for today.

“At the beginning of the year I might have said that a top-10 was within me but I’ve had to re-think that because I’ve done no time trialling over this distance. My year has been all about prologues and short 10 or 15km time trials, where as when you start a time trial like today over nearly 50kms then it’s something completely different.

“You have to conserve a lot more and ride in a different way. So to be honest I am happy with a top 20.”
He will check out the road course tomorrow in readiness for the men’s elite road race on Monday (NZ time) where he will ride in support of kiwi sprinters Julian Dean and Greg Henderson.

“I feel good. I don’t feel tired. I am recovering quickly. I’ve got the legs and I am in good shape to be able to support Hendy and Julian on Sunday.”

There is a rest day tomorrow before the road racing begins on Saturday (NZ time) with the junior women and under-23 men. Auckland’s Georgia Williams and Alexandra’s Sophie Williamson will compete in the junior women’s race over 70kms.

This is followed by a strong kiwi team in the men’s under-23 race over 168kms featuring Trek Livestrong professional George Bennett (Nelson), Tom David (Auckland) and James Williamson, brother of Sophie, who rides for Pure Black Racing.

The junior men and elite women compete on Sunday (NZ time) and elite men on Monday.
Result, elite men time trial, 46.4km: Tony Martin (GER) 53:43.85, 1; Bradley Wiggins (GBR) 54:59.68, 2; Fabian Cancellara (SUI) 55:04.44, 3; Bert Grabsch (GER) 55:15.61, 4; Jack Bobridge (AUS) 55:57.71, 5. Also New Zealanders: Jesse Sergent 58:10.16, 18; Jack Bauer 58:10.84, 19.