Cycling: The first act of three for the male elite at the cycling world championships in Doha is on the program on Sunday. In the fight against the clock, six drivers per team compete in the 40-kilometer team time trial. Team BMC is looking to create the hat trick and win the title for the third year in a row.
The team time trial, which is so unpopular at the World Cycling Championships
In the months leading up to the World Cycling Championships in Doha, the event was repeatedly in the headlines. Here in Germany, the main focus was on the captaincy for the road race. In the international media, however, the main focus was on the team time trial. The reason: The team association AIGCP has been arguing with the world cycling association UCI for several weeks. It was about the UCI's obligation to start for all World Tour teams. Some teams did not want to accept these. Because no costs should be taken over, which means that all expenses have to be borne by the teams themselves. The dispute has now settled and the UCI has lifted the obligation to start. However, only ten of the 18 World Tour teams will start the race on Sunday. Tinkoff, Cannondale, Trek-Segafredo, FDJ, Lotto Soudal, Lampre-Merida, IAM and Dimension Data are missing.
The art of the team time trial
To be honest, it has to be said that the teams that ultimately stay away from the team time trial probably wouldn't have had a chance of winning the title anyway. In order to shine in the team time trial, the six selected drivers have to harmonize perfectly with each other. It's not enough to simply add up the riders' time trial skills and then compare them to those of the other teams. While a certain quality is certainly helpful in the fight against the clock, internal tuning and scooter skills are even more important. It is striking that the sprinters in particular do much better in a team time trial than in an individual time trial. This is probably due to the constant change of rhythm that the drivers have to keep up with when they are the engine of the train and then have to drop back to the end of the string of pearls.
Who can get the title?
Of course, Team BMC is once again the top favorite at the World Cycling Championships this year. Already at the last two world championships you could leave all other teams behind. That's why you're now aiming for the triple. Six of the eight drivers who have already won the team time trial on the ENECO Tour will be there. Compared to last year, only one position has changed: Briton Joey Rosskopf will cycle for the title in place of Swiss Silvan Dillier. The biggest competitors for gold should be the men from Etixx-Quick Step with Tony Martin. At least in the fight for bronze, Movistar, Orica-BikeExchange and Sky could intervene. Cycling fans can also look forward to some rather unknown teams. The teams Cycling Academy, Kolss-BDC, Verandas Willems, Vino4Ever and the German team Stradalli-Bike Aid are also at the start. These names should probably only be known to real cycling experts.
The participants and the start times of the team time trial
- 15:00:00 BMC
1DENNIS Rohan
2 KUENG Stefan
3OSS Daniel
4PHINNEY Taylor
5 QUINZIATO Manuel
6 ROSSKOPF Joey
- 14:57:30 Etixx Quick Step
11 YOUNG Bob
12 COAT Marcel
13 LAMPAERT Yves
14 MARTIN Tony
15 TERPSTRA Niki
16 VERMOTE Julien
- 14:55:00 Movistar
21 AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA Andrey
22 CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS Jonathan
23 DOWSETT Alex
24 ERVITI Imanol
25 SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA Nelson Filipe
26 SUTTERLIN Jasha
- 14:52:30 Orica BikeExchange
31 DURBRIDGE hatch
32 EDMONDSON Alexander
33 HEPBURN Michael
34 IMPEY Daryl
35 MATTHEWS Michael
36 TUFT Svein
- 14:50:00 Sky
41 KIRYIENKA Vasil
42 KWIATKOWSKI Michal
43 ROCHE Nicholas
44 SWIFT User
45 THOMAS Geraint
46 VAN POPPEL Danny
- 14:47:30 Giant Alpecin
51 ANDERSEN Soren Kragh
52 SPOILER PISTON John
53 DUMOULIN Tom
54 HAGA Chad
55 PREIDLER George
56 SINKELDAM Ramon
- 14:45 Lotto Soudal
61 CAMPENAERTS Victor
62 KELDERMAN Wilco
63 LEEZER Tom
64 ROGLIC Primoz
65 ROOSEN Timo
66 VAN EMDEN Jos
- 14:42:30 Astana
71 CATALDO Dario
72 FUGLSANG Jacob
73 GRIVKO Andriy
74 KANGERT Tanel
75 LUTSENKO Alexey
76 SMUKULIS Gatis
- 14:40:00 Katusha
81 BYSTROM Sven Erik
82 KRISTOFF Alexander
83 KUZNETSOV Vyacheslav
84 MORKOV Michael
85 POLIT Nils
86 VOROBYEV Anton
- 14:37:30 Ag2r
91 BAGDONAS Gediminas
92 GASTAUER Ben
93 GOUGEARD Alexis
94 GRETSCH Patrick
95 HOULE Hugo
96 RIBLON Christophe
- 14:35:00 CCC
101 DE LA PARTE GONZALEZ Victor
102 GROSSSCHARTNER Felix
103 MIHAILOV Nikolai
104 OWSIAN Lukasz
105 PATERSKI Maciej
106 SAMOILAU Branislau
- 14:32:30 Verandas Willems
111 CORDEEL Sanders
112 GHYSELINCK Jan
113 KRUOPIS Aidis
114 PREMONT Christophe
115 VAN BREUSSEGEM Elijah
116 VAN ZUMMEREN Stef
- 14:30:00 Kolss BDO
121 BRATASHCHUK Andriy
122 BUTS Vitaliy
123 KONONENKO Mykhailo
124 KULYK Andriy
125 LAGKUTI Sergiy
126 VASYLYUK Andriy
- 14:27:30 Cycling Academy
131 BOIVIN Guillaume
132 CRAVEN Dan
133 RÄIM Mihkel
134 SAGIV Guy
135 TUREK Daniel
136 YECHZKEL Aviv
- 14:25:00 Vino4Ever
141 ASTAFYEV Stepan
142 BIZHIGITOV Zhandos
143 GIDICH Yevgeniy
144 SHUSHEMOIN Alexandre
145 VOLOSHIN Alexey
146 ZEMLYAKOV Oleg
- 14:22:30 Skydive Dubai
151 HADDI Soufiane
152 JELLOUL Adil
153 MANCEBO PEREZ Francisco
154 OBAID Tarek Murad
155 PALINI Andrea
156 ZMORKA Marlene
- 14:20:00 Stradalli Bike Aid
161 BECK Joschka
162 BIHLMANN Daniel
163 LECHNER Patrick
164 MERSEBURG Dominik
165 SCHAFER Timo
166 TESHOME HAGOS Meron