Cycling Road World Championships: Dennis wins men's time trial – as it happened

Remco’s happy now!

The women’s and men’s elite road races are coming up at the weekend. On Saturday the women’s race will cover 150km, and on Sunday, the men’s race will unfold across 285km of demanding terrain. Thank you for following the action today - see you next time.

Going into today’s race, it was unclear where Dennis’s form was, given his lack of racing since July. He answered that question in emphatic fashion. After John Archibald put in a strong early ride for Great Britain, Alex Dowsett then produced a very well-paced performance to claim fifth place overall, four seconds and one place behind Patrick Bevin of New Zealand. Lawson Craddock (USA), Tanel Kangert (Estonia) and Nelson Oliveira (Portugal), in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, can all be very happy with their day’s work. Tony Martin (Germany) and Stefan Kung (Switzerland) rounded out the top 10. Victor Campanaerts of Belgium suffered bad luck with a crash followed by a mechanical which ended his hopes of glory (he still finished 11th). Archibald eventually finished a creditable 14th. But it was Rohan Dennis’s day.

An animated world men’s individual time trial champ:

His face says it all. The young Remco Evenepoel reacts as he is knocked off the top spot - and out of the hot seat - by a stunning ride by Dennis. The fact Evenepoel is even in the mix with a rider like Dennis, in the first pro season of his career, is astonishing in itself. His time will surely come.

A word for that amazing ride by Filippo Ganna, who was third, from cycling writer Andy McGrath:

To see a 19-year-old Evenepoel on the podium along with the 23-year-old Ganna is indeed quite something. Dennis aside, they have beaten a very high-class field of time triallists today.

That Rohan Dennis interview, via the magic of video:

A congratulation tweet to Dennis from his team, Bahrain Merida, is notable by its absence. He hasn’t raced for the team since he chose to get off his bike and go home in the middle of the Tour de France. In addition, he rode a blacked-out version of the BMC Timemachine TT today, the bike that also won him the title in Innsbruck last year.

Riders are free to choose their own equipment when competing for their country, as opposed to the strict sponsor requirements at a trade team, but the fact he rode a BMC speaks volumes for his opinion of the Merida bikes.

It’s time for the presentations, and “Advance Australia Fair” rings out across the fan park in Harrogate, with Dennis standing on the top step of the podium seemingly fighting back tears. He has clearly has so much invested in this, both emotionally and physically.

Here’s a screengrab of the official top 10:

Very, very emotional scenes as Dennis celebrates with his family:

On the final straight, Dennis was pointed repeatedly at his own head, as if to say - “I am mentally strong enough to be world champion again.”

After he walked out on his team at the Tour de France, there was a lot of speculation about if he would continue in the sport, and if he was suffering some kind of mental crisis. It’s clear that he disappeared from view in order to train, with everything being focused on this day, and the defence of his time trial title. He delivered, there is no question about that, and emulated the dominant ride by Chloe Dygart Owen in yesterday’s womens’ individual time trial.

On the final straight, Dennis was level with Roglic, but there seemed to be no congratulations forthcoming, and they didn’t even look at each other, despite being side-by-side. Clearly not the friendliest of rivals (unless they shared a big hug off camera).

The double Dennis air-punch on the finish line:

Rohan Dennis speaks to the BBC: “It didn’t go [like that] without a lot of preparation. A lot of time at home, a lot of work on my head, to get myself mentally prepared today. There are a lot of people to thank and look, it’s good to repay them on the day when it really matters ... I knew what pace I went out with last year, and I just stuck on that. I knew I was 20 seconds up at the first check, and I knew I had more to give ... It was absolutely perfect today.

“Look, it’s been a tough year, obviously there’s been a lot of talk since the Tour de France about what I’m doing, but this was really special. It meant a lot to come here and really defend this title. I haven’t hung the bike up, I am still here to race, I am still to here to win, and I’ve got a lot more to give in this sport. It was good to really get out there today and hit it out and smash it.”

You did smash it, Rohan. You really did.

Alex Dowsett (fifth place) speaks: “I’m satisfied. I did what I said. I got everything out. There’s a lot of work gone into this, and I executed it today as best I could. I am going to be looking at that gap to Rohan, and Evenepoel, and see what I can do to close it.”

The podium:

Rohan Dennis (Australia) 1 hr 5’05”
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) 1 hr 06’14”
Filippo Ganna (Italy) 1 hr 7’00”

Roglic has managed to almost keep pace with Dennis after being overtaken. It almost certainly did him good to have someone to chase. Here comes Dennis ...

Britain’s Dowsett remains fourth overall. Portuguese Nelson Oliveira, of Movistar Team, rolls in and is seventh-fastest.

“He could even afford to have a small mishap now,” says Boardman of the stranglehold Dennis now has on this race. Dennis went through the second time check in 45’44”, 1’06” up on his nearest challenger, Evenepoel.

Tony Martin rolls in, 1’18” down on Evenepoel, in seventh place. There is a close-up for Martin panting, sweating and wiping his face down with a towel. The effort these riders to put in is pretty insane.

Campanaerts woe - “the full Michael Rasmussen”.

“It’s all gone pear-shaped for him today, and the form was clearly there.” Campanaerts also missed out on a Giro d’Italia stage win in May due to a mechanical. He has had some poor luck this year, but the Hour Record will be significant consolation.

Maciej Bodnar, who comes from Wroclaw in Poland, rolls in to finish his ride - but he’s quite a way off the pace.

Current top three to have finished: Evenepoel, Ganna, Bevin.

Dennis breezes past Vuelta champion Roglic at the foot of a climb. Roglic started three minutes before Dennis. Dennis, for want of a better expression, is smashing this.

Campanaerts is off the bike again! Was it just a mechanical? Not sure, but he is losing time. Unbelievable. Really bad luck, it seems, for the hour record holder. Meanwhile Evenepoel takes his place in the hot seat.

Here is Dennis catching Campanaerts. Dennis is going like a train. Or like a really, really fast bike.

Chris Boardman sees a brewery on a helicopter shot, and can hardly contain his excitement. “One of my favourite buildings in the region,” he says.

Luxembourg rider Bob Jungels rolls in. He is a phenomenal rider, but it’s not his day, he’s well down on the leaders.

Here is Campanaerts, picking up the pieces after his crash. Dennis overtook him soon after this:

Ganna, Dowsett, Kangert, Durbridge and Archibald is the top five. Ganna 6.77sec faster than Dowsett.

Ganna tops the time charts right now. But is he Ganna be on the podium? We will know in about 30 minutes!

Archibald speaks to the BBC after his excellent ride: “It was good. I did what I could. I had a good ride. The course being dry made a huge difference. It was a big relief [that it dried up after yesterday].”

It looks like Campanaerts has crashed. In fact, Rohan Dennis has just accelerated past him. This looks like it could be a masterpiece of a ride by Dennis.

Lampaert, speaking about the crash that ended his hopes of a competitive time: “I went down quite fast, luckily with no big damage on myself. It is what it is. I wanted to finish the race, just out of respect for the world championships. It’s an honour to represent my country, and not finishing is not an option.”

Respect, indeed, due to Lampaert too. Cyclists are tough.

Thanks Paul Griffin for the email:

“It’s not like a proper British Time Trial. AT ALL. None of the riders appear to have dressed behind a hedgerow; there is no sign of finishers clutching a cup of tea in a polystyrene cup, and a slice of homemade fruitcake; and most importantly, the roads are closed. It’s therefore not a proper test of bike handling under stress, as no fiscally conservative but loudly articulate car and van drivers are forcefully making the case for hypothecated road taxes through their vehicle window.”

Dowsett fastest! We have a new leader. The Essex man is 59” faster than Durbridge. But Ganna almost immediately takes the hot seat, six seconds up on Dowsett, in 1hr07’00”. Dowsett second, Durbridge third.

Primoz Roglic is obviously feeling the effects of that Vuelta win. He is off the pace. Meanwhile there is now a rain shower out on course. Lampaert comes home very slowly, and there is evidence of a crash for the Belgian with a ripped race number. Disappointing end to the day for him.

Campanaerts, the current world Hour Record holder, is one second down on his compatriot Evenepoel at the first split. It looks like the Belgian fans are going to have a medal to cheer, but maybe not a gold one if Dennis keeps going like this.

Pollitt of Germany, a complete powerhouse of a rider, finishes fourth-fastest and a minute down on current clubhouse leader Archibald. That illustrates how strong Archibald’s ride was.

Of the finishers so far, Archibald (Great Britain), Van Baarle (the Netherlands) and Latour (France) are the top three.

Don’t forget you can contact me with any thoughts on the race - on email or on Twitter, as above. Who is your tip for the win?

Maciej Bodnar tucks in for a high-speed descent, wearing Polish colours. Alex Dowsett meanwhile is growing into this race - at the second check, he is fastest, in 47’41”. Durbridge is second on the road in 47’56”.

Dunbar, after that excellent performance, currently fourth-fastest out of 13 finishers: “The crowds are always incredible here. The Tour of Yorkshire is one of my favourite races.”

Patrick Bevin, from New Zealand, is another very strong TT performer and someone to watch out for. His time at the first split is 19’33”, one second slower than Van Emden.

Evenepoel sails close to the wind on a left-hand bend over a bridge. He went into it quite narrow and as a result didn’t have much road to work with once he was through the apex.

Wearing the German national champion’s skin suit, and riding a Bianchi bike, Tony Martin looks to be going very well as he approaches the first time check. This is a very open race. Several riders are in with a shout - at the moment, Evenepoel is fastest on the road.

Remco Evenepoel looked set for a career in pro football a few years ago. He took up cycling late - he had been on the books at Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven as a teenager.

All the riders, and all the favourites, have started the race. Evenepoel, Ganna and Van Emden are the current top three.

Brilliant ride by John Archibald. He finishes fastest, in 01:08:16. Hour record holder Victor Campanaerts sets off. He is a big threat.

According to people in the know, defending champion Rohan Dennis will be riding a BMC bike today. He is a Bahrain Merida rider, but has expressed displeasure with the team’s equipment. As he’s representing Australia, he is not obliged to use the Merida bikes of his normal WorldTour pro team. Psychologically that could make a big difference for Dennis, and a real difference too if he finds the BMC bikes more suited to his needs.

Dunbar has finished: 01:09:52. Ganna still the fastest overall. The weather still looks set fair.

Alex Dowsett, one of the home hopes, went through the first check in 19’35”.

The current top three are Ganna (19’24”), Durbridge (19’31”) and Dowsett (19’35”).

Ex-Manchester City footballer Micah Richards was just having a chat with Clare Balding on the BBC. He says he is busier now than when he was a footballer, with punditry and Manchester City ambassadorial duties. Now, Tony Martin starts!

‘Der Panzerwagen’, Tony Martin, will be off in a couple of minutes. Bob Jungels of Belgium has also started.

Belgian prodigy Remco Evenepoel is now out on course. Van Emden starts soon after. The weather has really improved, with sunshine on the course, which should play into the hands of the favourites who will soon be rolling down the ramp. Tony Martin is getting ready.

Luke Durbridge of Australia has flown to the first time check, at 17km, and is fastest in 19’31”. Further up the road, after 38km, Archibald is quickest at the second intermediate. He is going well. The TV director singles out Durbridge, who is churning out a huge gear.

Lampaert is fast! 19’48 at the first time check. Four seconds down on leader Archibald.

Alex Dowsett’s team with a word of encouragement for the Briton:

Jos Van Emden, the Dutchman, is getting ready to start. He won the final stage of the 2017 Giro d’Italia and is an extremely strong time trialler.

An Olympics-related stat from Michael Hutchinson on Twitter:

Dunbar is the fastest through the second time check, in 49’36”. Navardauskas is more than four minutes slower. Back at the start, Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) starts. He is a former world champion in this discipline.

Nils Politt of Germany is having problems with his gears. He literally kicks his bike into gear, though, and seems to be OK now. Dutchman Dylan Van Baarle, meanwhile, goes second-fastest in 19’59”. Luke Durbridge, AKA “Turbo Durbo”, of Australia has started, and quickly passes Jan Andrej Cully of Slovakia.

Breaking news: The sun has come out at the finish.

Italy’s Filippo Ganna, a powerhouse of a rider and a track specialist, rolls down the start ramp.

Archibald remains the leader, the only rider with a “19” at the start of his time. (19’44”) Lutsenko goes fourth-quickest, 36” down on Archibald.

Chris Boardman, commentating on the BBC: “It’s a horrible event. It’s about suffering from the word go - that’s the point of it. It’s about who can dish out pain to themselves the most.”

Alex Dowsett of Great Britain starts, to a suitably large cheer. Dowsett is one of the relatively few riders to have won a Grand Tour stage. He won a stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2013, defeating none other than Bradley Wiggins in the process.

There is a very decent crowd in Northallerton, at the start, and each rider is being cheered down the start ramp. It’s all about pacing for these riders - about maintaining the highest possible average speed, while leaving enough left in the tank for this demanding 54km distance. Lampaert is nearing the first time check. Meanwhile Pierre Latour, of France, has gone second-fastest at the first time check. He got there in exactly 20’00”.

Lutsenko is nearing the first time check and is looking very good. Archibald is still the fastest at that first check. Here is Ryan Mullen of Ireland, who is a very strong time-trialler, and has finished fifth in this race before.

“God’s Own Country”? I thought that was County Cork?

Archibald, who was looking so good, has indeed gone fastest. He passes the time check in 19’44”. Dunbar is second as it stands, Kamil Gradek of Poland is third.

Yves Lampaert (Belgium) is off now. Ryan Mullen (Ireland) will go off at 14.00 BST on the dot.

Conditions were shocking yesterday. Here’s a video showing you exactly how bad:

Meanwhile, Lutsenko is out on the course in those distinctive Kazakhstan colours, turquoise and yellow. The rain is holding off. Riders yet to go off - especially the main contenders - will be praying they don’t have to deal with rain.

Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar passes the first time check in 20’18” and is fastest on course right now. Navardauskas is second-fastest but is more than 90 seconds down. That illustrates that we will see some very big time gaps between the slowest and fastest riders in the early part of the course.

Lutsenko will be off at 13.48. Here are all the riders and times up until the final 20:

Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) 13:48:30
Dylan van Baarle (Netherlands) 13:50:00
Nils Politt (Germany) 13:51:30
Alexander Evtushenko (Russian Federation) 13:53:00
Yves Lampaert (Belgium) 13:54:30
Ahmad Badreddin Wais (Syrian Arab Republic) 13:56:00
Jan Andrej Cully (Slovakia) 13:57:30
Luke Durbridge (Australia) 13:59:00
Ryan Mullen (Ireland) 14:00:30
Matthias Brändle (Austria) 14:02:00
Muradjan Khalmuratov (Uzbekistan) 14:03:30
Martin Toft Madsen (Denmark) 14:05:00
Alex Dowsett (Great Britain) 14:06:30
Filippo Ganna (Italy) 14:08:00
Josef Cerny (Czech Republic) 14:09:30
Benjamin Thomas (France) 14:11:00
Tanel Kangert (Estonia) 14:12:30

Navardauskas passes the first time check in 21’53”. Meanwhile there’s a shot of John Archibald, in Great Britain kit, in an impressively aerodynamic tuck position.

Here are the final 20 riders and their start times. There are 56 riders in total:

Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) 14:14:00
Bob Jungels (Luxembourg) 14:15:30
Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) 14:17:00
Stefan De Bod (South Africa) 14:18:30
Lawson Cradock (USA) 14:20:00
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) 14:21:30
Jos van Emden (Netherlands) 14:23:00
Patrick Bevin (New Zealand) 14:24:30
Daniel Martinez (Colombia) 14:26:00
Maciej Bodnar (Poland) 14:27:30
Edoardo Affini (Italy) 14:29:00
Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain) 14:30:30
Tony Martin (Germany) 14:32:00
Stefan Küng (Switzerland) 14:33:30
Chad Haga (USA) 14:35:00
Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) 14:36:30
Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) 14:38:00
Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) 14:39:30
Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) 14:41:00
Rohan Dennis (Australia) 14:42:30

Great Britain’s John Archibald is out on course now. His compatriot Alex Dowsett will be hoping for a positive result today. Meanwhile Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) has just set off ...

Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) will go off at 13.48 BST. The Astana Pro Team man is a contender in the mens’ road race, and will most likely be treating today’s event as some fine-tuning ahead of Sunday’s showdown.

The UCI’s Twitter take on proceedings:

Meanwhile Kamil Gradek (Poland) and Luis Mas Bonet (Spain) have just set off.

As always in a time trial, most of the stronger riders and genuine contenders will be going out towards the end. The wind is light, between 5 and 10km/h, which the riders will be grateful for. These guys have certainly got a better day than yesterday’s riders.

Eddie Dunbar of Team INEOS rolls down the start ramp. I’ll bring you a time check for Navardauskas when he passes the 17km mark.

Weather conditions look much, much better than yesterday. The roads have dried out and although it’s a far cry from that famous sun-drenched Grand Départ in Yorkshire in 2014, there are some patches of bright sky among the clouds, if not actual sunshine.

We just had a shot on TV of some very cheerful Belgian fans in Yorkshire. They were holding up a sign in support of the young Evenepoel. Here are the three Belgians racing today:

Champion Rohan Dennis has not raced since walking out of the Tour de France with Team Bahrain Merida. He has not been happy with the equipment at his new team, apparently, after signing from the now defunct BMC Racing Team for this season. The wheels and skinsuits have been an issue. Given his lack of recent racing it is difficult to say how he’ll go today. It’s certainly an opportunity for his rivals to test him.

Who are the other riders to look out for today? Remco Evenepoel is certainly one. The 19-year-old Belgian prodigy has enjoyed a dream start to his pro career after signing for Deceuninck - Quick Step. The most eye-catching result has been his victory at the Clásica San Sebastián, a prestigious one-day race.

Stefan Küng, from Switzerland, is one of the most powerful riders in the peloton and already boasts nine top-10 finishes in ITTs this season.

Yves Lampaert could also be one to watch. He’s generates enormous power for a relatively small rider and this up-and-down course may suit him well.

We are less than 20 minutes away from the start of today’s race. Lithuanian Navardauskas, the first rider to start today, has an interesting history. He was the rider that replaced David Millar at the 2014 Tour de France, after Garmin-Sharp managers decided Millar didn’t have the necessary form. The Lithuanian went on to win Stage 19 with a brilliant solo attack, fully justifying his selection. He also won a Giro d’Italia stage in 2013. He then signed for Team Bahrain Merida, where a heart condition kept him out of racing for a year in 2017. Last season the 31-year-old switched to Delko-Marseille Provence. He won the national road race title in Lithuania in June.

This was one of the more unpleasant crashes yesterday in that under-23 race. Thankfully it seems Hungarian rider Attila Valter escaped without serious injuries:

A UCI video of that wet and wild day yesterday:

There was plenty of criticism from riders yesterday aimed at the UCI. Some riders insisted the races should have been called off - especially the men’s under-23 race in the morning, when the riders were having to ride around, or in some cases into, massive puddles of standing water on the road. Thankfully, we should avoid such controversy today, even if the conditions will be far from perfect in sodden Yorkshire.

In the womens’ individual time trial yesterday, Chloe Dygert Owen of the USA produced what some said was an almost-perfect time trial, beating her closest rival Anna Van der Breggen by 1’32”. Catch up on the action with William Fotheringham’s report:

Today’s course is 54km long, starting in Northallerton and ending in Harrogate.

There are timing points after 17km and 38km. Between those timing points are the two significant climbs on the route: Gate Bridge Road (1.1km, average 4.9% gradient) and a second climb of 0.7km (average gradient of 7%).

The route begins heading in a south-westerly direction out of Northallerton. There is a short, steep ramp as the road runs towards Masham, followed by a fast and flat section heading into Risplith. The route undulates all the way to Harrogate, including those two climbs.

The way each rider paces their effort will be crucial to the final result. Go out too hard and fast on a course that is this long and demanding, and you will leave yourself short towards the end. All the up-and-down along the route means it should suit the lighter riders, like Dennis and Roglic.

Ramunas Navardauskas of Lithuania will be the first rider down the start ramp at 13.18 BST.

Here is how the podium looked last year. Campanaerts, the current Hour Record holder, will be up against Dennis again today, but Dutchman Dumoulin is absent and not expected to return to racing this season. He suffered a bad knee injury during the Giro d’Italia in May, missing the Tour de France as a result.

Preamble

Greetings, and welcome to our live coverage of the mens’ individual time trial at the 2019 Cycling Road World Championships. In Yorkshire this afternoon, Australia’s Rohan Dennis will defend the world title he won in Innsbruck last year. It’s a 54km course including two significant climbs, which the fastest riders will complete in about an hour. Yes, that means they will average over 50km/h, an astonishing speed.

There are a few notable absentees - Tom Dumoulin, Chris Froome, and Geraint Thomas among them. But Slovenian Vuelta a España champion Primoz Roglic, hour record holder Victor Campanaerts (Belgium) and ‘Der Panzerwagen’ Tony Martin, of Germany, are among the riders with a realistic chance of stopping Dennis retaining his rainbow stripes.

Mercifully, the weather looks a lot better today than it did yesterday. It’s overcast, but the rain is expected to hold off. A closer look at the course is coming right up. Here is the kind of thing competitors were dealing with yesterday in sunny Yorkshire: