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2002 Road World Championships - CM
Hasselt-Zolder, Belgium, October 8-13, 2002
Main Page Start list Course Map Results Latest live report
Day 1 - October 8: Junior Women's Time Trial, 15km
Complete Live Report
Start time: 12:00 CEST
Estimated finish time: 13:21 CEST
11:47 CEST
Welcome to the opening event of the 2002 World Road Championships, the Junior Women's 15 km time trial. The rider who has the honour of getting the week's racing under way as noon strikes is Poland's Magdalena Zamolska.
All of the TT courses follow more or less direct routes between the same two points, with the start in the town square at Hasselt, and the finish on the former Grand Prix motor racing circuit at Zolder. Weather conditions are a bit grey but, thankfully, dry, with temperatures around the ten degree mark - a bit on the cool side. Most importantly, there is next to no wind. The 41 riders will be starting at 90 second intervals.
Last to start will be Russia's Svetlana Sergeeva, who was 10th last year, the best placed of those still young enough for the junior category last year, but that was on a rather hillier course than this one, which should favour the riders with raw strength.
12:04 CEST
Zamolska is on the road now. The wind has in fact got up a bit, with a breeze in the riders' faces as they roll down the ramp, and is blowing a few fallen leaves across the road here and there.
There is one intermediate time check at more or less half distance.
12:12 CEST
After a twisting start through the streets of Hassels, the course runs alongside the Albert Canal for a way, with less than perfect road surfaces and a few speed bumps all there to break the riders' concentration.
Several of the early riders coem from cycling families, as you might expect; Sweden's Carolina Asplund, second on the road, is the daughter of the five-times national TT champion, while Christa Pirard (Netherlands) who has just started - one of the riders tipped for victory today - is the daughter of Tour stage winner Fritz Pirard. We're not sure whether Monika Furrer is related to Swiss track sprinter Roger Furrer, though.
12:14 CEST
Iryna Shpylova of Ukraine has crashed on a corner in the early stages of the course, going right over the barriers.
12:19 CEST
Australia's Alexis Rhodes is the first riders to beat 11 minutes at the checkpoint, but there is some serious doubt over the length of the course, since Zamolska has just finished in 17.08, an unlikel 52 kph if it really is 15 km.
12:21 CEST
Pirard sets a new best mid-way time, 21 seconds faster than Rhodes.
12:27 CEST
Christa Pirard's 16.12 is the new fastest time at the finish.
12:30 CEST
Germany's Luise Keller was a few seconds behind Pirard at the checkpoint, but makes up the difference to just pip her on the line. Italy's Tatiana Guderzo is there or thereabouts as well ...
12:34 CEST
Guderzo is indeed there, and finishes 12 seconds ahead of Keller for a new fastest time. The USA's Larssyn Stacey set a provisional fourth time with 16.14.
Inese Paegleskalne crashes on the same corner as Shpylyova earlier. The Ukrainian did carry on to finish, but not at the interesting end of the result sheet - this course is too short to allow any room for error.
12:46 CEST
Sally Cowman (Australia) sets a 5th best time at the intermediate time check.
12:52 CEST
Cowman comes in with a provisional fifth place. Monica Vierling (Netherlands) is going well, close to the leaders' times at the checkpoint.
12:56 CEST
Guderzo's time is looking to be a likely medal winner now, with few of the recent riders challenging it at any point.
Vierling has slowed over the second part of the course and has dropped down to provisional 6th place at the finish.
Mexico's Monica Huerta Barron comes to grief on the same tricky corner near the start that caught two of the earlier starters.
12:58 CEST
New fastest intermediate time for Claudia Hecht of Germany, 6 seconds up, but she can't hold it over the closing section - where Guderzo seems to have been flying - and she finishes in second place so far.
13:00 CEST
Last starter Svetlana Sergeeva is on the road now.
13:10 CEST
None of the late starters seem to be making any real impression on the race so far; with only a couple still to pass through the mid-way checkpoint, none have appeared at the top of the table.
I spoke too soon: penultimate starter Anna Zugno is fractionally faster than Guderzo at mid way, in third place there - but Guderzo was way and above the fastest over the closing stages of the course.
13:15 CEST
Zugno comes in, and she has picked up another handful of seconds - she is going to be the successor to Nicole Cooke, and the first rainbow jersey of this year's World Championships. Zugno wins, with her Italian team-mate Guderzo taking the silver, and Luise Keller (Germany) the bronze.
Result 1 Anna Zugno (Ita) 15:54.21 2 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) 6.54 3 Claudia Hecht (Ger) 7.21 4 Luise Keller (Ger) 18.33 5 Christa Pirard (Ned) 18.67 6 Larssyn Staley (USA) 19.98 7 Sally Cowman (Aus) 21.63 8 Grace Verbeke (Bel) 24.60 9 Miranda Vierling (Ned) 36.29 10 Petra Bublova (Cze) 41.35 11 Alexis Rhodes (Aus) 44.59 12 Magen Long (USA) 51.60 13 Isabelle Hoffman (Lux) 51.91 14 Paulina Fiuk (Pol) 53.24 15 Tatsiana Sharakova (Blr) 54.13 16 Naiara Telletxea Lopez (Esp) 54.28
