World championships: Van Dijk dominates women’s time trial

Villumsen misses out yet again, takes silver, while Small pips Stevens for bronze

Ellen van Dijk followed up on the gold medal she and the Specialized lululemon riders took in the team time trial two days ago when she raced to an impressive victory today in the individual event.

The 26 year old Dutchwoman was clearly quickest on the 22.06 kilometre course, covering it 24.1 seconds faster than last year’s third place finisher Linda Villumsen (New Zealand). She was 28.74 ahead of the surprise bronze medallist Carmen Small.

The 2012 runner up Evelyn Stevens was just 0.04 seconds off the podium in fourth place, while Trixi Worrack made it four Specialized lululemon riders in the top five.

“I dreamt of this jersey and I felt the pressure a lot in the last few days, so now I’m very happy,” said Van Dijk after the finish.

“I started very fast, I slowed down only in the last kilometres. I’d studied the course carefully, training at five in the morning to avoid traffic and watching videos to get to know the turns better.”

Villumsen was in great form, setting the fastest times while on her ride. However van Dijk had started just behind her and went through the same intermediate time checks quicker again; she was twenty seconds ahead at the first one, and didn’t give up any time after that.

For Villumsen, the experience was a frustrating one. “Five times on the podium and not a single gold medal: I don’t think it was bad luck, I just believe my opponents were stronger,” she said. “I’m always missing something, I’ll try to figure out what it is and try again next year.”

Small has had a fine season and did a great ride today, beating her better known team-mate Evelyn Stevens to take land the bronze medal. That follows her gold alongside van Dijk on Sunday, and makes for a memorable campaign.

“Both medals made me happy: the gold medal because I won it with my team and this bronze because I won it representing my country,” she said.

“My teammate Ellen Van Dijk is a very special person, she’s a hard worker and she’s really strong”.

How the medals were decided:

Forty-eight riders competed in the 22.06 kilometre race, which followed same course as the junior men’s TT earlier today. Katzina Sosna (Lithuania) was first to start and clocked a time of 30 minutes 41.17 seconds; minutes later Canada’s Denis Ramsden raced in 35 seconds quicker.

Frenchwoman Melodie Lesueur had been close on the two intermediate checkpoints, being marginally faster at the first, slightly slower at the second, and then pushing ahead of Ramsden at the finish. That put her into the hot seat but other faster riders were already on the course, including Denmark’s Annika Langvad. She was 52 seconds faster at the 12.5 kilometre point and looked on course to take over at the top.

However before she finished Switzerland’s Jutta Stienen hit the finish, going two seconds faster and nabbing the provisional lead. Less than ten minutes later she was bumped down to second, with Langvad’s strong effort one minute 25 seconds quicker than the Swiss rider.

Lesueur was still in third at that point but was nudged out of that placing by Ukrainian rider Valeriya Kononenko. The latter was soon pushed out of the medal positions when Norway’s Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen slotted in behind Langvad and Stienen.

The top three then changed once again when Lithuania’s Inga Cilvinaite finished second, a minute and three seconds off the top pace. Poland’s Eugenia Bujak then raced in for provisional third.

Out on the course, the German rider Trixi Worrack was riding very strongly, going second quickest at the first time check. She was clearly on a good time and working hard; back at the finish, Dutchwoman Loes Gunnewijk took the second best time, but was beaten almost right away by Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy).

Their time in the top three was looking very limited, with Worrack continuing to ride well and the American rider Carmen Small posting the quickest time at the first intermediate check. Soon after Ukrainian competitor Ganna Solovey moved into second place, Worrack thundered into the finish, beating Langvad’s time by just under eight seconds.

However she too was displaced when Small finished, the American taking over the hot seat from her Specialized lululemon team-mate.

It was far too early for her to celebrate, though, as out on the course Linda Villumsen had taken the fastest time at the first intermediate point, and was then herself edged out by a flying Ellen Van Dijk. She went 20 seconds faster than Villumsen there, and was clearly on a great day.

American Evelyn Stevens was herself trying for a medal and pounded the pedals up the finishing straight, but came in a scant 0.04 seconds short of Small.

Out on the course, Van Dijk was still far quicker, being thirty seconds up on the fastest time and 24 seconds ahead of Villumsen. The New Zealand rider was ahead of her on the course due to the starting order and went 4.64 seconds quicker than Small, bumping her from provisional first to provisional second.

The victory would not be hers, however. Van Dijk came into view, grimacing and fighting with her bike and rolling her shoulders around as she sought to get the last watts out. She battled all the way to the line, where she went a superb 24.1 seconds quicker than Villumsen and grabbed the time trial gold medal plus the rainbow jersey.

World road race championships, Italy:

Elite women’s time trial:

Aisha Kiwanuka Peace (Uganda)
Lorena Maria Vargas Villamil (Colombia)
Rebecca Nalubega (Uganda)