2012 Men's ITT World Championships: 58 Riders Battle for the Rainbow

Tony Martin will roll down the ramp at 3:24pm today with 57 riders having gone before him. Second last in the order is the recent Vuelta a España champion Alberto Contador who was the 2009 Spanish ITT Champion. Martin's teammate on Omega Pharma-Quick Step Sylvain Chavanel will be riding in the French colours and may just challenge the reigning champion for the rainbow stripes. 

Chavanel and Martin already have one world title to their name in 2012 after their team took out the TTT over BMC. From that BMC team, two young Americans also look likely for high finishes. Taylor Phinney finished 4^th at the recent London Olympic games and looks to have carried his Olympic from into the worlds. Tejay Van Garderen was the winner of the Tour de France’s White Jersey competition this year and his time trialling was an important component of how he won that classification.  

The London Olympic ITT champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins has decided to skip the worlds after his highly successful season. His Sky teammate Chris Froome has pulled out of the ITT after back to back Grand Tour appearances at the Tour and Vuelta. Four time ITT world champion and 2008 gold medallist in the ITT, Fabian Cancellara will also be missing. Nevertheless the depleted field will still be a competitive field and the medals will be up for grabs. The inclusion of the Cauburg in the final kilometres will certainly test the riders after 40kms plus of racing. Contador’s opportunity to seize the rainbow stripes and cap of a fine return from his doping suspension has not been lost on the Spaniard. Martin is no slouch on the punchier climbs and being the last man out on the course will benefit the German. With only two minutes separating the riders, there could be some catches on the Cauburg, maybe even Contador.

Beside the riders mentioned above, the rest of the field is still of quite a high pedigree. The silver medallist of the 2008 worlds, Svein Tuft will be pushing for a top five and has performed well in ITT’s and TTT’s this season. As well as winning his seventh Canadian ITT crown, Tuft’s most notable win this season was at the Eneco Tour where he won the Stage 6 ITT. Tuft’s teammate Luke Durbridge has had an impressive beginning to his professional career which started by winning the Australian national ITT in January. Since then the under-23 ITT champion from last year has gone onto overall victories at the Tour de Poitou-Charentes and Circuit de la Sarthe after winning ITT stages in both races. Durbridge will be pushing the top ten but a medal looks to be evading the young Australian in 2012. Another challenger but one who looks like just falling short of medals is another BMC rider, Marco Pinotti. Pinotti is a five time ITT champion of Italy but hasn’t medalled at the world champs. Fifth place in the London Olympic ITT is a sign of his late season from but as his palmares shows, breaking into the top three is probably just beyond the Italian.

A podium of Tony Martin, Alberto Contador and either of the American BMC riders looks most likely. 2012 could be the year another rider adds their name to the roll call of ITT world champions. With Cancellara and Wiggins both missing and quite a technical course, the opportunity to become world champion for some riders may not come again.

Start Times

1 Segundo Navarrete (Ecu) 13:30:00 
2 David Albos Cavaliere (And) 13:32:00 
3 Elchin Asadov (Aze) 13:34:00 
4 Carlos Oyarzun (Chi) 13:36:00 
5 Gabor Lengyel (Hun) 13:38:00 
6 Reidar Bohlin Borgersen (Nor) 13:40:00 
7 Jiyong Kang (Kor) 13:42:00 
8 Michael Hutchinson (Ire) 13:44:00 
9 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) 13:46:00 
10 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) 13:48:00 
11 Matej Jurco (Svk) 13:50:00 
12 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) 13:52:00 
13 Jose Ragonessi (Ecu) 13:54:00 
14 Mykhaylo Kononenko (Ukr) 13:56:00 
15 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) 13:58:00 
16 Kristijan Koren (Svn) 14:00:00 
17 Sam Bewley (NZl) 14:02:00 
18 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) 14:04:00 
19 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) 14:06:00 
20 Ioannis Tamouridis (GRE) 14:08:00 
21 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) 14:10:00 
22 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) 14:12:00 
23 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) 14:14:00 
24 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) 14:16:00 
25 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) 14:18:00 
26 Rein Taaramae (Est) 14:20:00 
27 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) 14:22:00 
28 Alex Dowsett (GBr) 14:24:00 
29 Adriano Malori (Ita) 14:26:00 
30 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) 14:28:00 
31 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) 14:30:00 
32 Jan Barta (Cze) 14:32:00 
33 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) 14:34:00 
34 Tanel Kangert (Est) 14:36:00 
35 Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kaz) 14:38:00 
36 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) 14:40:00 
37 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) 14:42:00 
38 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) 14:44:00 
39 Janez Brajkovic (Svn) 14:46:00 
40 Patrick Gretsch (Ger) 14:48:00 
41 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) 14:50:00 
42 Jeremy Roy (Fra) 14:52:00 
43 Cameron Meyer (Aus) 14:54:00 
44 Jesse Sergent (NZl) 14:56:00 
45 Peter Velits (Svk) 14:58:00 
46 Gustav Larsson (Swe) 15:00:00 
47 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) 15:02:00 
48 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) 15:04:00 
49 Bert Grabsch (Ger) 15:06:00 
50 Luke Durbridge (Aus) 15:08:00 
51 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) 15:10:00 
52 Svein Tuft (Can) 15:12:00 
53 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) 15:14:00 
54 Marco Pinotti (Ita) 15:16:00 
55 Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) 15:18:00 
56 Taylor Phinney (USA) 15:20:00 
57 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa)15:22:00 
58 Tony Martin (Ger) 15:24:00