Day three belonged to the lowlands. A delivery of such promise from a young Belgian hotshot. A whole orange podium as a triptych of insanely strong Dutch women time- trialled to perfection on the road to Innsbruck.
Junior Men ITT
Belgian prodigy Remco Evenepoel headed to start gate as the odds on favourite to take the title and he did not disappoint. Rock solid and in perfect TT beast mode he blazed through the 27.8km coming over the line in full celebration mode to finish in 33:15 mins, 1:24 mins ahead of Luke Plapp (Australia). Italy’s Andrea Piccolo rounded out the podium
Embed from Getty ImagesYoung Mr Evenepoel only switched to cycling from football in 2017. A quick look at his results for 2018 show a palmares scattered with podiums – many of them first places. He’s going to by-pass U23 racing and go straight to the WorldTour with Quick-Step Floors, and I cant think it will take him long to start adding to the Wolfpack tally. Mark the name, but don’t call him the new Eddy Merckx!
Race report from Cycling News
Elite Women ITT
Holy moly, the mighty Dutch team wreathed the podium in orange with a triptych of ‘vans’. Annemiek van Vleuten retained her title with an effort that was timed to perfection as she blazed through the time checks, catching and passing her nearest competitor on the climb. As the dust settled when she came over the line, the clock showed she had the rainbows by 30 secs over a strong Anna van der Breggan – the only rider to finish within a minute the winner – with Ellen van Dijk taking the bronze. With the Dutch team in this form, I’m not ruling out a similar podium for the road race.
What it takes to win – start fast and die until the end…
One final thought – that Mitchelton-Scott helmet is just *sigh* plain ugly
Embed from Getty ImagesFull race report at Cycling News
Innsbruck Vibes
Header Image: Tim de Waele/Getty Images
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