Sunday 21 September 2014 17:05, UK
Team Sky narrowly missed out on a medal as BMC Racing claimed victory in the men’s team time trial on the opening day of the UCI Road World Championships in Spain.
The American squad stopped the clock on a rolling 57.1km course around Ponferrada in a time of 1hr 3min 29sec, which was 32 seconds faster than runners-up Orica-GreenEdge and 36 seconds ahead of third-placed Omega Pharma – Quick-Step.
Team Sky, led by Sir Bradley Wiggins, finished two seconds further back in fourth, despite being reduced from their six starters to just four early on.
BMC Racing’s Tejay van Garderen said afterwards: “It feels incredible. The team was confident, but we were nervous coming into this. A couple of years ago, in 2012, we were two seconds off the win, so we have had that in the back of our minds for a couple of years now.
"We knew coming in that we had a strong team – it was just a matter of everything falling into place. We went out there, did our thing, stayed calm, and we delivered.”
BMC Racing were quickest at the first intermediate time check, after 23.5km, but had dropped to third at the second split, after 36.1km, as defending champions and favourites Omega Pharma – Quick-Step took charge of the event.
However, the Belgian outfit, who were last to start and whose team included three-time world individual time trial champion Tony Martin, then suffered a dreadful third sector and fell to 12 seconds behind BMC Racing by the third split, after 48.9km.
Omega Pharma – Quick-Step’s reign was then effectively ended when rain began to fall on the closing kilometres of the course and forced them to slow down, while Team Sky, who had been second at 48.9km, also saw their challenge wilt as their remaining four riders tired in the last quarter.
Orica-GreenEdge had only been on the fringes of the podium places in the first three sectors, but Omega Pharma – Quick-Step and Team Sky’s final-sector troubles enabled the Australian squad to jump two places and snatch silver.
In the women’s team time trial, Specialized-lululemon claimed victory for the third year in a row with a dominant performance. The American squad negotiated the 36.1km course in a time of 43min 33sec, which was 1min 17sec ahead of second-placed Orica-AIS and 2min 19sec quicker than bronze medallists Astana BePink.
Britain’s Lizzie Armitstead helped her Boels-Dolmans team to fifth place, 2min 26sec down, but Rabo-Liv saw their hopes collapse in a spectacular crash in the closing kilometres.
The Dutch team were second quickest at the second intermediate checkpoint and had been on course for a medal, but then Annemiek van Vleuten hit a roadside barrier and brought down all of her three remaining team-mates.
Men’s time trial result
1 BMC Racing, 1:03:29
2 Orica-GreenEdge, +32
3 Omega Pharma – Quick-Step, +36
4 Team Sky, +38
5 Tinkoff-Saxo, +47
6 Movistar, +52
7 Trek Factory Racing, +1:02
8 Giant-Shimano, +1:27
9 Cannondale, +1:29
10 Garmin-Sharp, +1:45
Women’s team time trial result
1 Specialized-lululemon, 43:33
2 Orica-AIS, +1:17
3 Astana BePink, +2:20
4 Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies, +2:26
5 Boels-Dolmans, same time
6 UnitedHealthcare, +2:44
7 Bigla, +2:55
8 Giant-Shimano, +3:45
9 Hitec Products, +4:01
10 RusVelo, +4:08
