Van Vleuten wins World Time Trial Championship

Dutch champion Annemiek van Vleuten of Orica-SCOTT has claimed the gold medal with an impressive ride in the women’s time trial event at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Bergen, Norway today.

Van Vleuten won the event by 12seconds to compatriot Anna van der Breggen with Australian Katrin Garfoot in third to give ORICA-SCOTT two riders on the podium.

“I still cannot believe it, this season I keep surprising myself with what I can do. To be world champion in the time trial I never thought I would be able (to do) this.  This year I started to believe in it and to finish it off is incredible. It was really hard because it started almost pouring rain on the course. I did my practice in the dry conditions so I had to be really careful and for sure I lost some time there. I heard on the climb I was on almost the same time as Anna but in the last five kilometers I heard I was faster so I gave it everything to the finish.”said Van Vleuten.

It’s been a miraculous turnaround for van Vleuten, who just over 12months ago took a heavy fall whilst leading at the Olympic Games in Rio.

Katrin Garfoot took back to back the bronze medal

After her bronze medal in 2016, Garfoot was the third-to-last rider off the ramp After a steady start that saw her eighth fastest at the first split, the Australian lifted the pace over the climb to move into third overall at the second intermediate split – a position she held until the finish of competition.

UCI Road Cycling World Championship – Women’s TT Results:

1. Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands/ORICA-SCOTT) 28:50.35

2. Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands/Boels Dolmans) + 12

3. Katrin Garfoot (Australia/ORICA-SCOTT) + 19