Four names had been repeatedly listed as the main contenders in the Elite Men’s TT at Richmond: Tony Martin, Tom Dumoulin, Rohan Dennis, and Taylor Phinney. Each one is a phenomenally strong time trialist in his own right, but with 8 of the top ten from 2014 and 2013 racing in Richmond, there were no guarantees.
Michael Hepburn.
Tobias Ludvigsson.
Aleksejs Saramotins.
Rein Taaramae.
Daniil Fominykh.
Ryan Roth.
Ilnur Zakarin.
Gedaminas Bagdonas.
Rasmus Quaade. Do yourself a favor and google this man’s mustache.
Romain Sicard.
Yves Lampaert.
The last man named to the American team for both the time trial and the road race, Lawson Craddock climbed up Governor Street to meet a hugely excited crowd.
Sam Bewley.
Stephen Cummings passed the Czech rider who began 90 seconds before him.
Peter Vakoc.
Marcin Bialoblocki passed Silvan Dillier and took 9th overall.
Luis Leon Sanchez.
Moreno Moser rounded out the top ten.
Luke Durbridge.
Konstantsin Siutsou.
Wilco Kelderman.
Nikias Arndt.
Macedonia’s Gorgi Popstefanov caught a glimpse of Uzbekistan’s Muradjan Halmuratov hot on his heels.
Guatemala’s Manuel Rodas Ochoa.
Serghei Tvetcov.
Gustav Larsson.
Gatis Smukulis.
Alexey Lutsenko.
Hugo Houle.
When you stand next to an Eritrean family who lose their minds with excitement upon seeing their countryman, Mekseb Debesay, ride by, you are happy to have caught a glimpse of anything at all between all of the flags waving! I probably enjoyed their reaction as much as I enjoyed the race.
Andriy Grivko.
Rigoberto Uran.
Andreas Vangstad.
Jerome Coppel is a good time trialist but he may have surprised even himself with his blazing time of 1:02:55, good enough to take over the hot seat.
Ramunas Navardauskas.
Jurgen Van Den Broeck.
Chris Juul-Jenson.
Given that he only returned to racing 8 weeks ago after a year and a half of healing from a broken leg, Taylor Phinney did well to place 12th overall. The crowd was happy just to see him and they cheered as if he was on his way to gold.
Jesse Sergent.
Nelson Oliveira.
Jan Barta.
Alex Dowsett.
Stefan Kueng.
Maciej Bodnar slotted in at 8th overall.
Jonathan Castroviejo was just 3 seconds behind Coppel and assumed the 2nd hot seat, hoping to remain on the podium as the biggest names were yet to come.
Adriano Malori immediately threatened Castroviejo’s podium hopes, smashing Coppel’s time by 17 seconds and assuming the lead.
Matthias Brandle.
Rohan Dennis had a rear puncture but even a quick bike change means lost time. Regardless of the mechanical, he was off the pace from early on and ended up in 6th place.
Vasil Kiryienka took bronze in 2012 and has flirted with–but not been on–the podium ever since. This year he has raced 10 individual TTs or prologues and since winning the rain soaked Giro d’Italia TT in May, he has finished no worse than 4th place in a TT. His streak, including winning the first European Games and the Belarusian TT championships, looked to continue today as he roared into the false flat finishing straight, stopping the clock at 1:02:29, 9 seconds better than Malori.
Tom Dumoulin, straight from a successful Vuelta a Espana with an injury in his buttocks and having ridden Sunday’s team time trial, didn’t look fresh today. He managed to finish 5th at 1:01 down on the Belarusian.
The last man on course had medaled in every TT World Championship since 2009, including 3 rainbow jerseys from 2011-2013. While Tony Martin has had a successful 2015 season, winning time trials (and even a non TT stage at the Tour de France) since February, he fell short today. His 7th place will no doubt be a massive disappointment to the German.
Kiryienka jumping into 1st place knocked Castroviejo off the podium entirely, but he was stopped by the press as he left the hot seat area.
1st Vasil Kiryienka
2nd Adriano Malori
3rd Jerome Coppel
A stoic Coppel with the bronze.
Malori studied his first ever Worlds TT medal.
I rarely talk about Kiryienka without the phrase “stone faced.” I would hate to play poker with him as his face gives away nothing, but today he showed his cards and was grinning like a maniac.
The podium.
A rider who works so hard for his Sky teammates all year, taking long pulls on the front of stage races and chasing down breaks while still posing a threat in every time trial, Kiryienka has certainly earned this rainbow jersey.
