Bauer fourth, Villumsen fifth in team time trial
AUCKLAND: New Zealand riders Jack Bauer and Linda Villumsen came up short of the medals on the opening day of the world road championships in Norway yesterday.
The duo were racing in the team time trial for their professional outfits, but neither managed to reach the podium,. Villumsen’s Team Virtu Cycling finished fifth, and Bauer’s Quick Step Floors was fourth.
Villumsen’s Danish team was hit by bad luck, losing two of its six riders early on in the 42.5km course.
Christina Siggaar was dropped early, but the big loss was former world champion individual time triallist Amber Neben, who had a chain problem and could not catch up to the four riders remaining.
With four riders needing to cross the line for an official time, the powerful Villumsen found herself having to wait up for her teammates on the climb, and Virtu was hampered as a result.
However, any hope of a podium was always a long shot, with the four remaining riders impressively holding their pace to finish in fifth, nearly 3min behind the victorious Team Sunweb.
Bauer’s Quick Step team was much closer to making the podium, missing the medals by a mere 13sec.
Bauer had to deal with a technical issue as he prepared on the starting blocks, but the defending champion was quick out of the gate to sit second through the first time check.
It slowly fell off the pace however, with Bauer and teammate Niki Terpstra being dropped before the top of the climb, leaving the Belgian squad with the mandatory four riders remaining for the rest of the course.
Eventually, they crossed the line 35sec behind Sunweb, which did the men’s and women’s double, and 13sec behind the bronze medalwinning Team Sky.
Bauer and Villumsen are back in action later in the week, when Villumsen participates in the individual time trial and road race, while Bauer suits up in the road race. — NZME