Three and a half months before he will turn pro with the Katusha team, Russian rider Anton Vorobyev posted a dominant under 23 time trial victory at cycling’s road world championships.
While the gaps were tight in today’s earlier junior road race, the 21 year old was far ahead of his competitors this afternoon, clocking a time of 44 minutes and 9 seconds over the 36.6 kilometre distance. He put 44.39 seconds into the tipped Australian Rohan Dennis and 51.12 seconds into Damien Howson (Australia).
Olympic Omnium champion Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) was the only other rider within a minute of the winner, while one of the big pre-race favourites Rasmus Christian Quaade (Denmark) had to be content with fifth.
"I was confident of my ability and hoped to win,” the winner said afterwards. “I studied the course twice before the race and rode at my maximum from the start.”
Vorobyev was quickly up to speed in the test, covering the opening 13.1 kilometres in 15 minutes 41.55 seconds and clocking the quickest provisional time there ahead of Dennis and Hansen. He was four seconds and thirteen seconds faster over the other two, and extended his advantage to 25 seconds and 35 seconds respectively by the second check, at km 26.5.
He showed no signs of slowing down between there and the finish, riding strongly up the Cauberg to seal his gold medal.
Seventh in the stage 2b time trial at the GiroBio/Baby Giro in June, he was one place out of the medals in the European time trial championships in August.
Since then he has been riding as a stagiaire with Katusha and has made a good impression; he was fifth in the stage five TT in the Tour of Denmark and, earlier this month, third in the Memorial Davide Fardelli.
Katusha team manager Hans-Michael Holczer was stunned by the winning margin today. “I expected Anton to be really good, that he could compete for the gold. But this…” he said, his voice trailing off in appreciation.
“He’s good in time trials, but also a strong road racer. A quiet guy that has a Tony Martin-like style. He’s got a keen eye in the race. We’ll take it real easy on him, bring him on slowly. He’s an exceptional talent, that’s for sure.”
The world road race championship continues tomorrow with the time trials for elite and junior women.
Under 23 world championship time trial, Limburg:
1, Anton Vorobyev (Russian Federation) 36 km in 44 mins 9.02 secs
2, Rohan Dennis (Australia) at 44.39 secs
3, Damien Howson (Australia) at 51.12 secs
4, Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) at 53.28 secs
5, Rasmus Christian Quaade (Denmark) at 1 min 2.56 secs
6, Marlen Zmorka (Ukraine) 1 min 9.42 secs
7, Rasmus Sterebo (Denmark) 1 min 25.24 secs
8, Jasha Sütterlin (Germany) 1 min 28.70 secs
9, Sergey Chernetski (Russian Federation) 1 min 37.95 secs
10, Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) 1 min 40.78 secs
11, Johan LeBon (France) at 1 min 50.26 secs
12, Bob Jungels (Luxembourg) at 1 min 52.92 secs
13, Hugo Houle (Canada) at 1 min 59.72 secs
14, Yoann Paillot (France) at 2 mins 12.09 secs
15, Gabriel Chavanne (Switzerland) at 2 mins 17.05 secs
16, Yves Lampaert (Belgium) at 2 mins 19.25
17, Oleksandr Golovash (Ukraine) at 2 mins 26.80
18, Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan) at 2 mins 31.61
19, Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) at 2 mins 40.89
20, Nathan Brown (United States of America) at 2 mins 41.60
21, Jasper Hamelink (Netherlands) at 2 mins 41.94
22, Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) at 2 mins 45.30
23, Patrick Konrad (Austria) at 2 mins 46.09
24, Jakob Steigmiller (Germany) at 2 mins 48.80
25, Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay (Ethiopia) at 2 mins 49.91
26, Kevin De Jonghe (Belgium) at 3 mins 00.44
27, Lawrence Warbasse (United States of America) at 3 mins 08.34
28, Silvan Dillier (Switzerland) at 3 mins 09.08
29, Joseph Perrett (Great Britain) at 3 mins 09.30
30, Sean Patrick Downey (Ireland) at 3 mins 10.86
31, Daniel Turek (Czech Republic) at 3 mins 16.71
32, Tobias Ludvigsson (Sweden) at 3 mins 26.91
33, Andreas Hofer (Austria) at 3 mins 28.71
34, Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spain) at 3 mins 29.74
35, Hernando Bohorquez Sanchez (Colombia) at 3 mins 35.15
36, Louis Meintjes (South Africa) at 3 mins 42.48
37, James Oram (New Zealand) at 3 mins 43.95
38, Davide Martinelli (Italy) at 3 mins 50.26
39, Samuel Harrison (Great Britain) at 4 mins 07.29
40, Klemen Stimulak (Slovenia) at 4 mins 12.79
41, David Boily (Canada) at 4 mins 16.33
42, Andrei Holubeu (Belarus) at 4 mins 23.48
43, Marcos Jurado Rodriguez (Spain) at 4 mins 25.85
44, Mark Dzamastagic (Slovenia) at 4 mins 29.31
45, Jason Christie (New Zealand) at 4 mins 36.73
46, Soufiane Haddi (Morocco) at 4 mins 41.75
47, Alex Kirsch (Luxembourg) at 4 mins 42.42
48, Conor Dunne (Ireland) at 4 mins 46.77
49, Mattia Cattaneo (Italy) at 4 mins 51.15
50, Till Drobisch (Namibia) at 5 mins 15.64
51, Issiaka Cisse (Ivory Coast) at 5 mins 25.00
52, Tural Isgandarov (Azerbaijan) at 5 mins 44.66
53, Nikita Zharoven (Belarus) at 5 mins 55.50
54, Paulius Siskevicius (Lithuania) at 5 mins 57.04
55, Sarawut Sirironnachai (Thailand) at 6 mins 25.01
56, Quinten Winkel (Netherlands Antilles) at 6 mins 39.49
57, Reda Aadel (Morocco) at 6 mins 53.02
58, Carlos Eduardo Quisphe (Ecuador) at 6 mins 53.67
59, Piter Campero (Bolivia) at 7 mins 01.77
60, Manuel Andres Sanchez Cuevas (Dominican Republic) at 7 mins 04.53
61, Hillard Cijntje (Netherlands Antilles) at 7 mins 08.26
62, Johann Schwabik (Slovakia) at 7 mins 12.94
63, Hiroshi Tsubaki (Japan) at 7 mins 16.61
64, Maxim Rusnac (Republic of Moldova) at 7 mins 29.65
65, Julio Marcelo Paspuezan Carlozama (Ecuador) at 7 mins 50.10
66, Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mexico) at 8 mins 31.69
67, Stefan Petrovski (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) at 9 mins 08.71