Rozemarijn Ammerlaan and Mikkel Bjerg raise Dutch and Danish flags

Great performances against the clock for Women Juniors and Men Under 23.

The Netherlands and Denmark collected the gold medals on the first day of nations contesting the time trials in the 2018 UCI Road World Championships Innsbruck-Tirol. Rozemarijn Ammerlaan discovered the joy of the Rainbow Jersey while Mikkel Bjerg claimed a back-to-back double.

Rozemarijn Ammerlaan delivered the first gold medal of the week for the Netherlands in the Women Junior Individual Time Trial at the 2018 UCI Road World Championships Innsbruck-Tirol. She edged out Italy’s Camilla Alessio, who had held the best time for almost an hour. Elynor Backstedt, daughter of the 2004 Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backstedt and 1998 British Road Race Champion Megan Hughes, rounded out the podium.

Being the defending champion, Denmark’s Mikkel Bjerg was the hot favorite for the title in the U23 category at the age of only 19. He was way ahead of all his rivals at each intermediate time check, and capped off the performance with a margin of 33 seconds over Belgium’s Brent Van Moer and 38 seconds over his compatriot Mathias Norsgaard Jorgensen who is also not only his training partner, but also his fiancé’s brother.

WOMEN JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL PODIUM

1 - Rozemarijn Ammerlaan - 19.8km in 27’02.95”, average speed 43.920km/h

2 - Camilla Alessio at 6.80”

3 - Elynor Backstedt at 17.94”

MEN UNDER 23 TEAM TIME TRIAL PODIUM

1 - Mikkel Bjerg - 27.7km in 32’31.05”, average speed 51.111km/h

2 - Brent Van Moer at 33.47”

3 - Mathias Norsgaard Jorgensen at 38.30”

WOMEN’S QUOTES

“I’m very proud”, the winner Rozemarijn Ammerlaan declared in the press conference. “Two weeks ago I raced against some of my adversaries, so I knew I was in good shape. It’s great to race as a Dutch rider because you can learn a lot from the Elite champions who are the best in the world. In the summer we came here together to ride the time trial and the road courses. We did some training camps as a team. We get a lot of support which paid off today and I hope to have a good future in the Elite ranks next year.”

MEN’S QUOTES

“The course suited me really well”, said Mikkel Bjerg in the press conference. “It was similar to Bergen, shorter but more explosive. We worked with our coach to be able to go really hard on the climbs and recover for being fast on the flat at the end. Mathias [Norsgaard Jorgensen] and I train a lot together. I’m engaged to his sister. A good training environment has paid off today. Normally at the end of the season, it’s hard mentally, but we were able to push each other to perform this late.”

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