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World Championships - CM

Stuttgart, Germany, September 26-30, 2007

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Race 1 - September 26: Under 23 men's time trial - 2 laps, 38.1km

Complete live report

Live commentary by Susan Westemeyer

Live coverage starts: 11:30 CEST
Estimated finish: 13:00 CEST

Welcome to the Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 2007 Road World Championships in Germany, Stuttgart. The first will already bring two decisions and Cyclingnews will bring you the live action from the U23 time trial now, followed by the women's race against the clock. The course is challenging as Stuttgart is surrounded by hills, so don't necessarily expect a pure time trial specialist to be at the front..

11:32 CEST   
Welcome to Stuttgart, German, the home of fast car and fast cyclists! This morning the “kiddies” are underway – or to put it another way, now we will take a look at the future of cycling. We will follow the U23 men on the time trial circuit in our first live report of the 2007 World Championships.

11:39 CEST   
Our leader right now is Tanel Kangert of Estonia, with a time of 50'11". The first rider started this morning at 9 a.m., and the last will take off at 11:55.

11:42 CEST   
Marcel Kittel of Germany has just passed two rider who started in front of him. We have lots of riders who are here for the experience rather than for the win. For example, Mohd Fauzan Ahmad Lutfi of Malaysia, who was passed by Lars Boom of the Netherlands, who started a whole five minutes later.

11:45 CEST   
The 70 riders in the race were divided into 4 groups, with a good half hour break between each group. The last group of 16 just started at 11:40, and we can probably expect our winner to come out of this final "sweet sixteen".

11:50 CEST   
There could be a complicating factor today, and that is the weather. The forecast is anything but “cycling friendly”. The predicted high is 12° with anything from “partly cloudy” to “heavy showers” predicted. We hope it stays dry, as this course could be right nasty in the rain. The humidity is high, 8%, but the wind shouldn't be a factor at only 6 km/hour.

The good news, though, is that the clouds and rain seem to be holding off! We even see some sunshine out there on the course.

11:52 CEST   
Boom had the fastest intermediate times and the last check he clocked 39.29, giving him the lead by a staggering 1'16"

Lars Boom of the Netherlands has just come in with the best time, 48'57". He also set the best intermediate times along the way, 39'29" and 40'45". Will this be the fastest time of the day? WE think he has a good chance.

11:54 CEST   
It's going hot and heavy now. Ignatas Konovalovas of Lithuania has just left the start house. Before him, we had Mikhail Ignatiev, Malori, Hagen...... and here goes Coppel of France!

11:55 CEST   
Maxim Belkov is underway, the last to hit the course.

Boasson Hagen rides in Ireland
Photo ©: Stephen McMahon
(Click for larger image)

11:56 CEST   
One of those on the course right now is Edvald Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian is the new young hope and has had good results this year, which netted him a contract with T-Mobile. You can find more about the young rider at our in-depth interview..

11:59 CEST   
Kristjan Koren of Norway just went through the first intermediate time check as fourth fastest, at 14'50".

12:03 CEST   
Young Francis de Greef of Belgium just crossed the finish line for the first time with the fifth fastest time.

12:04 CEST   
Did someone mention fast cars? Since we are here in Stuttgart, the home of Mercedes-Benz, we went over to the factory and picked out a pretty little toy for the next few days. That's us buzzing around in the snappy little SLK 55 AMG sports car. In light of the weather forecast we decided against the convertible, unfortunately. But we don't want the leather interior to get wet, now do we?

12:05 CEST   
Van Emden of the Netherlands was second fastest as he crossed the finish line for the first time. Boasson Hagen was second fastest at the first intermediate time check.

12:06 CEST   
Ignatiev of Russia just set a new best at the first time check, 14'10".

12:09 CEST   
Coppel is fourth fastest at the first time check, with 14'33".

12:15 CEST   
This just may be Ignatiev's day. His countryman Belkov came through the first time check 44 seconds down.

And Boasson Hagen hit the 18.8 km time check in second place, at 24.14

12:17 CEST   
Oh is Ignatiev slowing down? At the second time check he came in at 23'34", in second place, 5.74 seconds behind Boom. Is he just looking to save some strength for later or.........?

12:18 CEST   
Frenchman Tony Gallopin goes over the finish line for the first time as third, in 24'10", ahead of Boasson Hagen.

12:19 CEST   
Ignatiev has just passed the Italian Malori who started a minute earlier than the Russian.

12:21 CEST   
Ignatiev, who finished second in this race last year, has some pretty impressive palmarès. He won two world time trial title as a junior before finishing second last year. He also won a gold medal in the points race at the 2004 Olympics in Athens – as an 18-year-old!

12:23 CEST   
Ignatiev is riding for the Professional Continental Team Tinkoff this year, and that sure hasn't stopped Ignatiev from his winning ways. What has he done this season? Well, let's see ... he won a stage in the Tour Mediterranean and the Trofeo Laigueglia, as well as time trials in Ster Elektrotoer and the Regio Tour. Not bad.......

12:24 CEST   
Ignatiev is riding just ahead of Malori -- or should we say that Malori is riding perhaps a bit too closely behind the Russian? He had better watch out.

12:25 CEST   
And now Malori has passed Ignatiev and is taking off!

12:26 CEST   
Malori, who just turned 20 years old, is the Italian U23 time trial champion and surely isn't going to give up here without a fight.

12:26 CEST   
Our secret favourite, though, is Rafai Chtioui, even if we have absolutely no idea how his name is properly announced. There even seems to be some confusion as to how his first name is spelled with many references giving it as “Rafaa”.

The 21-year-old Tunisian won the silver medal in the Juniors World race in 2004. Earlier this month he won the 24 km time trial in the Tour de l'Avenir, an U23 stage race open to national teams.

Mikhail Ignatiev (Russia)
Photo ©: Bjorn Haake
(Click for larger image)

12:28 CEST   
And now Ignatiev is in front again -- quite a game of leapfrog he and Malori are playing!

12:30 CEST   
Alexandr Pliuschin of Moldavia has passed Schäfer, who started just before him. He is also second-fastest through the second intermediate time check.

Belkov is not living up to his start number one, as he was 20th through the last time check he went through.

12:31 CEST   
Boom may take a medal today, but his countryman won't. Van Emden just crossed the finish line in 50'40, in fifth place, 1'42"50 behind Boom.

12:33 CEST   
Ignatiev is definitely slowing down. He was 10 seconds down at the intermediate time check, behind Boasson Hagen.

12:38 CEST   
Frenchman Coppel has just crossed the 31 km time check in third place at 40.18.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, at the finish line, Pliuschin was 4th at 50.15. De Greef of Belgium comes in as sixth fastest, practically together with our favourite Tunisian, who started one minute before the Belgian.

12:39 CEST   
One km to go and we have three rides virtually together. Hagen, Gallopin and Smukulis.

12:40 CEST   
Hagen pulls away and crosses the line in 3d place, at 50'11.

12:42 CEST   
Ignatiev nears the finish line and won't take the title. He is nine seconds slower that boom, at

12:42 CEST   
And Frenchman Coppel passes under the 1 km mark. Will he take the gold?

12:43 CEST   
This has to be the longest km in Coppel's life.

12:44 CEST   
No! He is only third, crossing the line at 49'4", nearly 46 seconds behind Boom.

12:45 CEST   
It's a Boom Boom day for the Netherlands! Belkov is still on the course, but he has no chance.

12:46 CEST   
It's a world title for the 189 cm tall Dutchman, who rides for the Baby Rabo team. Will he be able to repeat his success in the road race Saturday?

12:47 CEST   
Belkov finally makes it across, a disappointing 30th place, 2'52" down.

12:49 CEST   
We have our final podium! Congratulations to winner Lars Boom, second place winner Mikhail Ignatiev and third place finisher Jerome Coppel!

We are going to find a protected place to park our cute little Mercedes and grab a bite to eat before we head out to the women's time trial race this afternoon. Join us then!

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