 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2002 Road World Championships - CM
Hasselt-Zolder, Belgium, October 8-13, 2002
Main Page Results Start list Live report
Day 3 - October 10: Elite Men Time Trial, 40.4 km
Botero gives Colombia its first World Title
By Jeff Jones in Zolder
 |
Santiago Botero has given Colombia its first ever World Championship on the road, winning the gold medal in the Elite Men's time trial. Botero, who beat Lance Armstrong in the first time trial in the Tour de France, finished 8 seconds in front of German Michael Rich, with Spain's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano taking third at 17 seconds. Botero, who had his doubts during the Vuelta España whether he was going to ride the World's, got it right on the day, overcoming blustery conditions to finish in a time of 48.08.45, an average speed of 50.35 km/h. "This was a world championship and the competition was very strong," Botero commented after the finish. "This gold medal finishes a very good season."
Conditions today were no different to yesterday, sunny with a strong easterly wind blowing the riders along the Albertkanaal between Hasselt and Zolder, turning into head and crosswinds as they negotiated the remaining sections of the course. Many riders commented afterwards that it was a course for specialists - experience and technique were as valuable as sheer brute strength.
 |
Botero has all of these qualities. The Colombian beat four time TDF champion Lance Armstrong twice in time trials this year, and a few months ago most would have had him as the outright favourite for the World's TT. However Botero caught the flu and suffered during the first half of the Vuelta España in September, being dropped on nearly every stage but bravely deciding to continue. In the final week of the Spanish stage race he came good again, winning a stage and finishing fourth in the final time trial in Madrid. With the World's TT coming 11 days after the finish of the Vuelta, his timing was perfect.
Today he was pushing a maximum gear of 55x11 on his Look KG386 time trial bike, and he measured his effort well on the course. After 20.05 km he was third at 12 seconds behind Rich and Gonzalez de Galdeano, while after 25.1 km he had pegged the gap back to 3 seconds. When he flew past the start/finish with 4 km to go he was leading Michael Rich by 1 second, which he increased to 8 seconds over the final circuit. He crossed the line having given it everything, and it was good enough to win. "The conditions were ideal for me: a flat circuit and with wind. It was perfect," said Botero.
 |
Not so was Vuelta winner Aitor Gonzalez (Spa), who was clearly off his best form today. Gonzalez was well off the pace in 16th place after the 20 km time check, but rallied in the second half to move up to 7th at the end in a time of 49'12.48. In top form, Gonzalez might have won today, but he reached that three weeks ago and it was always going to be hard to maintain. "I'm a little disappointed not have had a better result," he explained. "Perhaps the efforts at the end of the Vuelta and the celebrations after have meant that things were not perfect. I'm very happy about Igor's medal, and especially Botero's victory, since he was an important part of my victory in the Vuelta a España."
The German TT engines Michael Rich and Uwe Peschel were also tipped to do well today, and both finished in the top five. Rich was the best, coming through in 48'16.68 to knock off the then best time of Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano. Only Botero was faster than Rich, with Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano finishing third on the podium.
Last rider to start was David Millar, a disappointed silver medalist last year but relatively happy today with his 6th place finish. Millar was run over by a team car during the Vuelta's Angliru stage, and abandoned the race in protest of the dangerous conditions. Since then he has had "four days on the bike", and thus was "quite surprised" with his finish today.
 |
"I didn't feel great, my legs weren't spinning well," he said. "I expected in all honesty to be worse. I didn't save anything for the end though."
Millar decided to take a short cut over the gravel on the Villeneuve chicane with 2 km to go, which he admitted afterwards was because he couldn't see that it was gravel. However he was still 17 seconds off a medal so it certainly didn't cost him.
Photography
Images by Miwako Sasaki / Japanese Cycle Sports
- Evgeni Petrov (Rus) , last year's U23 time trial world champion signs an autograph
- Nathan O'Neill (Aus) warms up on the home trainer
- Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) was in fine form, posting a time good enough for fourth place
- German TT powerhouse Michael Rich (Ger) wasn't quite good enough today to match the brute strength of Santiago Botero (Col)
- Winner Santiago Botero (Col) has given Colombia its first ever World Championship on the road
- Michael Rogers (Aus) was the best of the Aussie contingent, coming in eighth place
Images by Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.com
- Santiago Botero (Col) gave it everything today to take the gold medal in the men's TT
- Michael Rich (Ger) finished with silver, one of two Germans in the top five
- Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) had a good ride to end up with the bronze medal
Images by Cyclingnews.com/Jeff Jones
- Chris Horner (USA) was aiming for a top 3, but finished in 37th
- Dylan Casey and Chris Horner (USA) reflect post-ride
- Dean Podgornik (Slo) cools off after his race
- Belgian media surround Bert Roesems after he posted the best provisional time
- Bert Roesems (Bel) talks to the media after his good ride
- Canadian Eric Wohlberg posted a good time to put him in the top 20
- Eric Wohlberg's time trial machine
- Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) interviewed by OLN's Ron Kiefel after his ride
- Victor Hugo Pena (Col) rolls to a halt after 40 km on the rivet
- Victor Hugo Pena (Col) describes his performance
- Fabian Cancellara (Swi) cools off after finishing
- Jacky Durand (Fra) was the subject of a lot of attention
- Nathan O'Neill (Aus) can only be described as 'disappointed'
- Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) after posting the best time
- Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) led away after recording the best provisional time in the men's TT
- Michael Rogers (Aus) had a great ride to finish 8th
- Marc Wauters (Bel) comes through with one lap to go
- Marc Wauters (Bel) finishes his ride
- Marc Wauters (Bel) was subjected to no small degree of attention, being Belgian
- Marc Wauters (Bel) is in the middle somewhere. No, he didn't win the TT.
- David Millar (GBR) finishes his ride, and was surprised with 6th place
- Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) was fourth today in the TT
- Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) was good but not great, finishing in 7th
- Santiago Botero (Col) was the centre of attention after his winning ride
Images by 
- Manuel Quinziato (Ita) was the second-fastest Italian in 18th place
- Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) shows the use of the time-trial aero tongue
- Filippo Pozzato (Ita) was the fastest Italian
- Filippo Pozzato (Ita) on his way to 14th place
- Michael Rich (Ger) salvaged some German pride in the absence of Jan Ullrich
- Michael Rich (Ger) on his way to the silver medal
- Santiago Botero (Col) demonstrated that sometimes pure power is all you need
- Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) again demonstrated his time-trial strength with a fine ride to the bronze
- Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) was just 8 seconds outside the medals
- Aitor Gonzalez (Spa) looking pleased with a strong ride
- David Millar (GBr) - no dummy-spits, just a solid ride to sixth place
- Santiago Botero (Col) enjoys that podium moment
- Santiago Botero (Col) looks reflective on the podium
- The podium L to R: Michael Rich (Ger), Santiago Botero (Col), Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa)
- Santiago Botero (Col) shows off the gold gong
- Santiago Botero (Col) and Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) on the podium
Images by Jeff Tse
- David Millar (GBr) - a splash of colour on a darkening day
- Dylan Casey (USA) - the highest-placed USA rider in 28th
- Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) showed that his comeback this year was no fluke with a solid 15th place
- Michael Rich (Ger) - just a few seconds off the top spot
- Michael Rogers (Aus) "drove out of every corner" to finish a creditable 8th
- Nathan O'Neill (Aus) never quite found his rhythm and the Australian TT champ could only manage 35th
- Santiago Botero passes Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr)
Images by AFP
- Santiago Botero (Col) powers along
- Santiago Botero (Col) in close-up, his face a mask of concentration
- Santiago Botero (Col) stands in near-disbelief on the podium
- Michael Rich (Ger) setting off on the long road to silver
- Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) working hard for third spot
- Christophe Moreau (Fra) - the French star finished 16th
- David Millar (GBr) starts a ride that surprised even the confident Scot
- David Millar (GBr) Cuts a corner to save every last second
- Michael Rogers (Aus) made it a good day for Micks with his 8th place
Images by Elmar Krings
- Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) on the way to fourth place
- Santiago Botero (Col) always looked strong
- Santiago Botero (Col) very much the tough man of the race of truth
- Dylan Casey (USA) working hard for 29th
- Jacky Durand (Fra) finished four minutes adrift in 50th
- Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) looks eager to leave his following car behind
- Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) moves back to the aero bars as he exits a corner
- Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) was expected to do better than seventh
- Robert Hunter (RSA) carried the South African colours to 27th
- Thor Hushovd (Nor) - the big viking was 40th
- David Millar (GBr) in classic British TT pose on the way to sixth
- Christophe Moreau (Fra) on the way to 16th
- Jean Nuttli (Swi) - the Phonak rider was 23rd
- Uwe Peschel (Ger) was the second of two Germans in the top five
- Christian Poos (Lux) - the sole representative of Luxembourg, in 53rd place
- Filippo Pozzato (Ita) in an almost-Superman position
- Filippo Pozzato (Ita) looking a bit less stretched from this angle
- Manuel Quinziato (Ita) the second of two top-20 Italians
- Michael Rich (Ger) delivered a storming performance to take the silver
- Marc Wauters (Bel) was the best of the host nation's riders in 12th
Results
1 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) 48.08.45 (50.352 km/h) 2 Michael Rich (Ger) 0.08.23 3 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) 0.17.15 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) 0.25.53 5 Uwe Peschel (Ger) 0.33.76 6 David Millar (GBr) 0.35.32 7 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) 1.04.03 8 Michael Rogers (Aus) 1.06.34 9 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) 1.07.81 10 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) 1.15.42 11 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) 1.16.11 12 Marc Wauters (Bel) 1.29.77 13 Bert Roesems (Bel) 1.29.90 14 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) 1.30.19 15 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 1.30.34 16 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 1.38.15 17 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) 1.40.22 18 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) 1.47.22 19 Eric Wohlberg (Can) 1.51.68 20 Roland Green (Can) 2.07.49 21 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) 2.11.41 22 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) 2.11.76 23 Jean Nuttli (Swi) 2.11.98 24 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) 2.14.61 25 Servais Knaven (Ned) 2.17.81 26 Stuart Dangerfield (GBr) 2.17.89 27 Robert Hunter (RSA) 2.19.36 28 Martin Cotar (Cro) 2.19.93 29 Dylan Casey (USA) 2.23.76 30 Georg Totschnig (Aut) 2.25.07 31 José Azevedo (Por) 2.25.08 32 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) 2.27.12 33 Dean Podgornik (Slo) 2.30.97 34 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) 2.32.43 35 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) 2.44.64 36 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) 2.45.36 37 Chris Horner (USA) 2.52.67 38 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) 2.53.91 39 Edgardo Simon (Arg) 2.59.46 40 Thor Hushovd (Nor) 3.01.50 41 Benoît Joachim (Lux) 3.05.46 42 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) 3.10.14 43 Igor Bonciucov (Mda) 3.10.73 44 Csaba Szekeres (Hun) 3.12.83 45 Pedro Miguel Lopes Goncalves (Por) 3.17.78 46 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) 3.25.94 47 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) 3.53.02 48 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) 3.57.18 49 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) 4.00.30 50 Jacky Durand (Fra) 4.02.42 51 Jan Valach (Svk) 4.05.49 52 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) 4.05.69 53 Christian Poos (Lux) 4.28.35 54 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) 4.31.20 55 David O'Loughlin (Irl) 4.58.88 56 Mannie Heymans (Nam) 6.39.67 57 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) 6.58.22
Intermediate Timing
20.05 km 1 Michael Rich (Ger) 23.39.70 2 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) 0.10.24 3 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) 0.12.98 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) 0.20.07 5 David Millar (GBr) 0.23.86 6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) 0.31.00 7 Michael Rogers (Aus) 0.35.79 8 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) 0.36.98 9 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) 0.37.62 10 Marc Wauters (Bel) 0.37.68 11 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) 0.38.95 12 Uwe Peschel (Ger) 0.39.64 13 Bert Roesems (Bel) 0.40.11 14 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) 0.41.13 15 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 0.42.21 16 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) 0.45.99 17 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) 0.48.75 18 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 0.50.07 19 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) 0.52.58 20 Jean Nuttli (Swi) 0.52.75 21 Eric Wohlberg (Can) 0.55.36 22 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) 1.02.70 23 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) 1.03.19 24 Roland Green (Can) 1.04.57 25 Stuart Dangerfield (GBr) 1.05.01 26 Martin Cotar (Cro) 1.05.85 27 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) 1.06.79 28 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) 1.06.86 29 Servais Knaven (Ned) 1.08.33 30 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) 1.09.63 31 José Azevedo (Por) 1.12.62 32 Dylan Casey (USA) 1.12.89 33 Dean Podgornik (Slo) 1.13.64 34 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) 1.18.73 35 Georg Totschnig (Aut) 1.18.83 36 Benoît Joachim (Lux) 1.18.88 37 Robert Hunter (RSA) 1.19.57 38 Edgardo Simon (Arg) 1.22.40 39 Chris Horner (USA) 1.24.38 40 Igor Bonciucov (Mda) 1.24.96 41 Thor Hushovd (Nor) 1.32.36 42 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) 1.32.71 43 Pedro Miguel Lopes Goncalves (Por) 1.34.37 44 Csaba Szekeres (Hun) 1.35.40 45 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) 1.38.72 46 Jacky Durand (Fra) 1.47.26 47 Jan Valach (Svk) 1.48.18 48 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) 1.48.25 49 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) 1.55.34 50 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) 1.58.72 51 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) 2.00.48 52 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) 2.00.84 53 Christian Poos (Lux) 2.05.49 54 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) 2.06.28 55 David O'Loughlin (Irl) 2.32.13 56 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) 2.55.11 57 Mannie Heymans (Nam) 3.06.30 25.1 km 1 Michael Rich (Ger) 29.48.02 2 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) 0.02.84 3 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) 0.03.84 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) 0.10.54 5 David Millar (GBr) 0.14.93 6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) 0.33.50 7 Uwe Peschel (Ger) 0.35.33 8 Michael Rogers (Aus) 0.36.01 9 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) 0.38.45 10 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) 0.40.43 11 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) 0.40.50 12 Marc Wauters (Bel) 0.40.97 13 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) 0.43.12 14 Bert Roesems (Bel) 0.44.38 15 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) 0.46.99 16 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 0.51.03 17 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) 0.51.07 18 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 0.56.68 19 Eric Wohlberg (Can) 1.00.53 20 Jean Nuttli (Swi) 1.04.59 21 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) 1.06.01 22 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) 1.07.26 23 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) 1.08.48 24 Roland Green (Can) 1.08.97 25 Stuart Dangerfield (GBr) 1.14.71 26 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) 1.15.61 27 Servais Knaven (Ned) 1.15.98 28 Martin Cotar (Cro) 1.16.28 29 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) 1.19.89 30 José Azevedo (Por) 1.20.53 31 Robert Hunter (RSA) 1.21.35 32 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) 1.23.21 33 Dean Podgornik (Slo) 1.25.85 34 Dylan Casey (USA) 1.26.47 35 Georg Totschnig (Aut) 1.30.98 36 Benoît Joachim (Lux) 1.31.64 37 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) 1.32.43 38 Edgardo Simon (Arg) 1.34.44 39 Chris Horner (USA) 1.37.26 40 Igor Bonciucov (Mda) 1.39.01 41 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) 1.44.47 42 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) 1.46.10 43 Csaba Szekeres (Hun) 1.46.30 44 Thor Hushovd (Nor) 1.46.99 45 Pedro Miguel Lopes Goncalves (Por) 1.48.45 46 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) 2.01.74 47 Jacky Durand (Fra) 2.13.66 48 Jan Valach (Svk) 2.15.19 49 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) 2.19.47 50 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) 2.20.73 51 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) 2.22.85 52 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) 2.25.57 53 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) 2.32.11 54 Christian Poos (Lux) 2.34.67 55 David O'Loughlin (Irl) 3.00.42 56 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) 3.27.06 57 Mannie Heymans (Nam) 3.50.35 36.4 km 1 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) 43.26.43 2 Michael Rich (Ger) 0.01.41 3 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Spa) 0.11.36 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) 0.21.08 5 David Millar (GBr) 0.24.00 6 Uwe Peschel (Ger) 0.34.55 7 Michael Rogers (Aus) 0.56.24 8 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) 0.57.73 9 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) 1.00.82 10 Bogdan Bondariew (Ukr) 1.02.53 11 Raivis Belohvosciks (Lat) 1.07.82 12 Bert Roesems (Bel) 1.13.93 13 Marc Wauters (Bel) 1.14.56 14 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) 1.16.77 15 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) 1.18.85 16 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) 1.20.28 17 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 1.26.06 18 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) 1.26.51 19 Eric Wohlberg (Can) 1.35.99 20 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) 1.40.86 21 Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu) 1.46.43 22 Steffen Kjaergaard (Nor) 1.46.52 23 Roland Green (Can) 1.49.77 24 Jean Nuttli (Swi) 1.50.30 25 Servais Knaven (Ned) 1.56.24 26 Stuart Dangerfield (GBr) 1.59.08 27 Robert Hunter (RSA) 2.01.62 28 Georg Totschnig (Aut) 2.03.11 29 Martin Cotar (Cro) 2.03.37 30 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) 2.04.73 31 José Azevedo (Por) 2.04.76 32 Victor Hugo Pena Grisales (Col) 2.08.48 33 Dylan Casey (USA) 2.11.93 34 Dean Podgornik (Slo) 2.13.09 35 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) 2.21.93 36 Ondrej Sosenka (Cze) 2.28.48 37 Tomasz Brozyna (Pol) 2.33.88 38 Chris Horner (USA) 2.33.97 39 Benoît Joachim (Lux) 2.34.77 40 Edgardo Simon (Arg) 2.37.73 41 Slawomir Kohut (Pol) 2.42.37 42 Thor Hushovd (Nor) 2.42.54 43 Csaba Szekeres (Hun) 2.44.04 44 Igor Bonciucov (Mda) 2.46.79 45 Pedro Miguel Lopes Goncalves (Por) 2.55.00 46 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) 3.05.24 47 Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe) 3.23.51 48 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) 3.25.00 49 Jacky Durand (Fra) 3.29.60 50 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) 3.35.60 51 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) 3.35.88 52 Jan Valach (Svk) 3.35.91 53 Christian Poos (Lux) 3.49.37 54 Paul Van Schalen (Ned) 3.53.16 55 David O'Loughlin (Irl) 4.18.74 56 Pavel Nevdakh (Kaz) 5.17.10 57 Mannie Heymans (Nam) 5.51.21
