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World Championships - CM
Verona, Italy, September 27-October 3, 2004
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Race 2 - Monday September 27: Time Trial - U23 Men, 36.75km
Speedy Slovenian Brajkovic slaps down favourite Dekker
By Tim Maloney, European Editor
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21 year old Slovenian Janez Brajkovic forced a major upset today in the U23 Men's Time Trial in Garda, Italy when he beat pre-race favourite Thomas Dekker by 0'18 to take the second gold medal of this year's World Road Championships in Verona, Italy. Second at the first time check, Brajkovic, who rides for the KRKA-Telekom team, was runner-up in the European U23TT Championships in Estonia. But the Nove Mesto rider had a fantastic ride today and upset Dekker today "I'm really happy with this result", said Brajkovic, who began riding mountain bikes at 17 years old. "I was feeling really incredible and could really push the big gears today...in the middle part of the race, there were a lot of small climbs and I could really go hard.
"I wasn't sure of winning, because I didn't know which place I was exactly. I knew I was very good in the first part, but Dekker was really close. I just put it in a high gear, and went as hard as I could until the end with an average heart rate above 190."
When asked whether he preferred the time trial over the road, Brajkovic replied, "I wouldn't really say I'm a specialist because I'm a good climber too. We did a lot of really great work training for the time trial behind a motorcycle. As you could see, I can time trial."
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Just turned 20, a visibly disappointed Dekker sulked on the podium next to Brajkovic. Dekker is an authentic phenomenon, with TT wins in GP Eddy Merckx, Dutch championship and Tour de l'Avenir to his credit, as well as Tour de Normandie, But Dekker crashed out while in the race lead of l'Avenir three weeks ago and it may have compromised the classy Dutchman's preparation. Dekker will move from the Rabobank TT3 team to the TT1 squad next season and looks to have a big future ahead of him in the elite ranks.
Siciliano Vicenzo Nibali was beaten by Dekker in the prestigious U23 classic GP Linz-Passau-Budweis in August 2003, so the Italian, 2002 National Jr. Champion, was happy to be ahead of the powerful Dutch tester by 0'10 with 5km to go. But Dekker just pulled ahead of Nibali to snatch the Bronze from the Italian by 39 hundredths of a second. Nevertheless, it was the first U23 TT medal for Italy since 1997 and Nibali was satisfied with his ride. "I gave it my all today...so I'm really happy to get a medal, even if it's only third", explained Nibali, already author of nine wins this season who will turn pro with Fassa Bortolo in 2005.
How it unfolded
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On a sunny fall afternoon along the eastern shores of Lake Garda, the U23 Men raced for the World TT championships on a 36.75km course that climbed east from the lakeside village of Garda, up through the rolling hills of the Bardolino wine region and the initial climb to Costermano and then rolled through the Garda hinterlands before descending down and back along the eastern shore of Lake Garda to the start. The early fast time was set by talented Ukrainian Andriy Grivko, who races in Italy on the Finauto-Yomo squad and recently won the Giro della Toscana U23 stage race. Off 8th and fastest at all time checks for the early riders, the lanky Ukrainian powered across the line in 48'19.63 (45.627 km/h), the fastest time by 1'09.
Grivko hung on to the lead for a half-hour until Italian TT champ Francesco Rivera knocked him out of the top spot as the first rider under 48'00, with 47'57.07. It was Rivera's fellow azzuro Nibali who jumped to the top spot just under a quarter of an hour later with 47'15.71, a unexpectedly fast time for the motivated Italian. With a massive surge in the final phase of the time test, Dekker moved into the lead by less than a second. But the Dutchman's golden moment didn't last long, as Slovenian Janez Brajkovic powered in with the only time under 47 minutes of the day, 46'56.39 (46.975 km/h) to take the lead from Dekker. None of the final three riders could change the three fastest times posted and it was Brajkovic, Dekker and Nibali who ascended the podium in Garda today in the U23 Men's TT World Championship.
Photography
Images by Fotoreporter Sirotti
- Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) was the strongest at the second time check and the finish
- Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) gives it everything
- Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) did well to save second place, but he clearly was after more
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) taking the first corner very fast
- Ooops... Nibali nearly loses it on the first corner
- Dominique Cornu (Belgium) rode consistently in the second half to finish 4th
- Christian Müller (Germany) started last, and finished 5th
- Francesco Rivera (Italy) did well to finish 6th
- Kai Reus (Netherlands) comes undone
- The Italians after their rides
- Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) on the podium in the rainbow jersey
- The happiest man in the U23 TT championships was not Thomas Dekker (L)
- The podium: Not happy (Dekker), pleased (Brajkovic), tired (Nibali)
- The podium: Thomas Dekker (2nd), Janez Brajkovic (1st) and Vincenzo Nibali (3rd)
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) doesn't mind the taste of bronze
- Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) shows off his gold medal
- The podium girls are certainly different this year
Images by AFP Photo
- Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) held the early best time
- Dominique Cornu (Belgium) goes out of the starting house
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) almost got the silver
- Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) was fairly confident at the start
- Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) flat stick
- Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) powers along
Results
1 Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) 46.56.39 (46.975 km/h) 2 Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) 0.18.93 3 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) 0.19.32 4 Dominique Cornu (Belgium) 0.20.95 5 Christian Müller (Germany) 0.47.75 6 Francesco Rivera (Italy) 1.00.68 7 Piotr Mazur (Poland) 1.21.80 8 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) 1.23.24 9 Lukasz Bodnar (Poland) 1.27.47 10 Stanislav Belov (Russia) 1.33.47 11 Olivier Kaisen (Belgium) 1.35.33 12 Lasse Bøchman (Denmark) 1.50.02 13 Paul Martens (Germany) 1.52.71 14 Andrei Kunitski (Bielorussia) 2.01.20 15 Miha Svab (Slovenia) 2.03.48 16 Mads Christensen (Denmark) 2.08.54 17 Ignas Konovalovas (Lithuania) 2.21.25 18 Alexey Esin (Russia) 2.21.31 19 Ricardo Martins (Portugal) 2.32.62 20 Dimitri Champion (France) 2.34.46 21 Tyler Farrar (USA) 2.35.38 22 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spain) 2.50.39 23 Eladio Sanchez Prado (Spain) 2.53.61 24 Thomas Rohregger (Austria) 3.27.05 25 Julian David Munoz Giraldo (Colombia) 3.39.77 26 Florian Morizot (France) 3.40.71 27 Peter Dawson (Australia) 3.41.54 28 Bogdan Stoytchev (Bulgaria) 3.50.08 29 Tim Duggan (USA) 4.02.09 30 Kai Reus (Netherlands) 4.03.85 31 Jeff Sherstobitoff (Canada) 4.14.49 32 Muradjan Khalmuratov (Uzbekistan) 4.16.00 33 João Cabreira (Portugal) 4.24.04 34 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bielorussia) 4.27.61 35 Daryl Impey (South Africa) 4.31.85 36 Rafael Infantino Abreu (Colombia) 4.33.36 37 Steve Morabito (Switzerland) 4.37.13 38 Andriy Pryshchepa (Ukraine) 4.37.60 39 Peter Velits (Slovakia) 4.44.26 40 Dominique Rollin (Canada) 4.46.12 41 Akos Haiszer (Hungary) 4.47.72 42 Andreas Schillinger (Germany) 4.47.91 43 Martin Velits (Slovakia) 4.53.91 44 Ruslan Sambris (Moldavia) 5.04.82 45 Harald Berger (Austria) 5.16.75 46 Aldis Abolins (Latvia) 5.24.36 47 Ryan Connor (Great Britain) 5.26.26 48 Carlos Fernando Vargas Artunduaga (Colombia) 5.27.31 49 Zolt Der (Serbia-Montenegro) 5.37.82 50 Byron Guama De La Cruz (Equador) 6.42.28 51 Aron Kovaloczy (Hungary) 7.41.40 DNF Andrius Buividas (Lithuania) Intermediate time checks 6.3 km 1 Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) 9.56.13 2 Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) 0.02.65 3 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) 0.03.34 4 Lukasz Bodnar (Poland) 0.08.51 5 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) 0.09.71 6 Dominique Cornu (Belgium) 0.15.48 7 Miha Svab (Slovenia) 0.17.42 8 Francesco Rivera (Italy) 0.19.75 9 Andrei Kunitski (Bielorussia) 0.24.35 10 Thomas Rohregger (Austria) 0.25.09 11 Piotr Mazur (Poland) 0.25.67 12 Lasse Bøchman (Denmark) 0.26.01 13 Mads Christensen (Denmark) 0.26.32 14 Ricardo Martins (Portugal) 0.27.65 15 Stanislav Belov (Russia) 0.29.23 16 Christian Müller (Germany) 0.30.63 17 Dimitri Champion (France) 0.37.44 18 Ignas Konovalovas (Lithuania) 0.38.64 19 Eladio Sanchez Prado (Spain) 0.39.78 20 Paul Martens (Germany) 0.39.89 21 Bogdan Stoytchev (Bulgaria) 0.39.94 22 João Cabreira (Portugal) 0.40.13 23 Olivier Kaisen (Belgium) 0.41.06 24 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spain) 0.41.30 25 Andrius Buividas (Lithuania) 0.41.31 26 Florian Morizot (France) 0.46.02 27 Alexey Esin (Russia) 0.48.72 28 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bielorussia) 0.49.93 29 Tim Duggan (USA) 0.50.19 30 Julian David Munoz Giraldo (Colombia) 0.50.74 31 Peter Velits (Slovakia) 0.51.79 32 Tyler Farrar (USA) 0.54.23 33 Andriy Pryshchepa (Ukraine) 0.56.86 34 Ruslan Sambris (Moldavia) 0.57.35 35 Muradjan Khalmuratov (Uzbekistan) 0.58.76 36 Peter Dawson (Australia) 0.59.51 37 Daryl Impey (South Africa) 1.01.49 38 Rafael Infantino Abreu (Colombia) 1.02.04 39 Steve Morabito (Switzerland) 1.03.48 40 Akos Haiszer (Hungary) 1.07.06 41 Jeff Sherstobitoff (Canada) 1.07.33 42 Andreas Schillinger (Germany) 1.07.52 43 Ryan Connor (Great Britain) 1.11.39 44 Kai Reus (Netherlands) 1.11.92 45 Martin Velits (Slovakia) 1.14.06 46 Byron Guama De La Cruz (Equador) 1.17.09 47 Dominique Rollin (Canada) 1.19.23 48 Aldis Abolins (Latvia) 1.20.81 49 Zolt Der (Serbia-Montenegro) 1.23.27 50 Harald Berger (Austria) 1.24.78 51 Carlos Fernando Vargas Artunduaga (Colombia) 1.31.37 52 Aron Kovaloczy (Hungary) 1.35.41 31.5 km 1 Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) 40.50.86 2 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) 0.11.13 3 Thomas Dekker (Netherlands) 0.20.88 4 Dominique Cornu (Belgium) 0.22.56 5 Christian Müller (Germany) 0.42.57 6 Francesco Rivera (Italy) 0.55.16 7 Lukasz Bodnar (Poland) 1.10.83 8 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) 1.12.51 9 Piotr Mazur (Poland) 1.13.18 10 Stanislav Belov (Russia) 1.20.21 11 Olivier Kaisen (Belgium) 1.33.10 12 Lasse Bøchman (Denmark) 1.39.13 13 Andrei Kunitski (Bielorussia) 1.40.34 14 Paul Martens (Germany) 1.40.44 15 Miha Svab (Slovenia) 1.44.09 16 Mads Christensen (Denmark) 1.54.19 17 Ricardo Martins (Portugal) 2.03.76 18 Ignas Konovalovas (Lithuania) 2.03.81 19 Alexey Esin (Russia) 2.05.42 20 Dimitri Champion (France) 2.10.26 21 Tyler Farrar (USA) 2.15.43 22 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spain) 2.30.28 23 Eladio Sanchez Prado (Spain) 2.36.08 24 Thomas Rohregger (Austria) 3.00.11 25 Peter Dawson (Australia) 3.10.53 26 Bogdan Stoytchev (Bulgaria) 3.15.68 27 Julian David Munoz Giraldo (Colombia) 3.17.00 28 João Cabreira (Portugal) 3.18.77 29 Florian Morizot (France) 3.19.80 30 Kai Reus (Netherlands) 3.24.50 31 Tim Duggan (USA) 3.25.67 32 Muradjan Khalmuratov (Uzbekistan) 3.45.44 33 Daryl Impey (South Africa) 3.52.96 34 Jeff Sherstobitoff (Canada) 3.53.10 35 Rafael Infantino Abreu (Colombia) 3.54.42 36 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bielorussia) 3.56.01 37 Andriy Pryshchepa (Ukraine) 3.57.14 38 Steve Morabito (Switzerland) 4.04.84 39 Dominique Rollin (Canada) 4.06.78 40 Peter Velits (Slovakia) 4.09.16 41 Andreas Schillinger (Germany) 4.11.39 42 Martin Velits (Slovakia) 4.13.22 43 Akos Haiszer (Hungary) 4.15.84 44 Ruslan Sambris (Moldavia) 4.29.36 45 Harald Berger (Austria) 4.38.80 46 Ryan Connor (Great Britain) 4.46.64 47 Carlos Fernando Vargas Artunduaga (Colombia) 4.50.84 48 Aldis Abolins (Latvia) 4.53.19 49 Zolt Der (Serbia-Montenegro) 4.58.48 50 Byron Guama De La Cruz (Equador) 5.51.88 51 Aron Kovaloczy (Hungary) 6.47.52
