Cycling: Today's Friday was all about the German Time Trial Championships. As expected, Tony Martin (Katusha-Alpecin) in the men's race and Trixi Worrack (Canyon-SRAM) in the women's race came out on top in Chemnitz. However, it was much more exciting than expected.
Jasha Sütterlin sniffed at the title – but Tony Martin managed to defend it
In the women's competition there were a few contenders for the title. For a long time it looked like Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) would win. In the meantime, defending champion Trixi Worrack was ten seconds behind her teammate. In the final phase, however, she turned up the heat again and was able to catch up. In the end, Trixi Worrack triumphed, two seconds ahead of Lisa Brennauer and twelve seconds ahead of Stephanie Pohl (Cervélo-Bigla). The opposite picture was seen for men. Defending champion Tony Martin was already 27 seconds ahead of Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar). The decision seemed already made. But in the final section, Tony Martin was no longer able to keep up the pace. He lost twelve seconds to Jasha Sütterlin and even had to fear for the title on the way. Tony Martin wasn't satisfied with his lead of 15 seconds at the end. Third-placed Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) was 1:17 minutes behind. Thus, Tony Martin and Trixi Worrack were able to successfully defend their titles - even if it was close. In the U23 class, Richard Banusch (LKT Team Brandenburg) secured the German time trial title ahead of Patrick Haller (rad-net Rose).
Georg Preidler & Stefan Küng triumph
In Austria and Switzerland, too, the new champions were crowned in the Zeitahren. Stefan Küng (BMC) was able to leave his teammates Silvan Dillier and Théry Schir (Team Voralberg) behind and thus succeed Fabian Cancellara. In Austria, somewhat surprisingly, Georg Preidler (Sunweb) grabbed the title. He relegated Matthias Brändler (Trek-Segafredo) and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-hansgrohe) to their places. Another Sunweb pro, Tom Dumoulin, won his country's time trial championship. The Giro de Italia winner was able to safely defend his title in the Netherlands. Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) won as expected in Spain, Gianni Moscon (Sky) in Italy, Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Floors) in Belgium and Pierre Latour (Ag2r) in France. It was particularly exciting for viewers in Great Britain. Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) and Alex Dowsett (Movistar) duel on the Isle of Man. With a lead of just eight seconds, Stephen Cummings narrowly retained the upper hand.