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Friday, June 27, 2014

U23 TT National Championships

Great Britain: Scott Davies

Scott Davies (Madison-Genesis) pulled a minor upset by winning the British U23 TT in Celtic Manor ahead of An-Post ChainReaction's Owain Doull while Dan McLay (Lotto-Belisol U23) slotted into 3rd. 2-time defending champion Sam Harrison was a hot favorite heading into the event but was a DNS after being hit by the same illness that took out Mark Cavendish out of the weekend's road race.

1. Scott Davies (Madison-Genesis) 27'45"
2. Owain Doull (AnPost-ChainReaction) +24"
3. Dan McLay (Lotto-Belisol U23) +59"
4. Hugh Carthy (Rapha-Condor JLT) +1'13"
5. Harry Tanfield s.t.

Ireland: Ryan Mullen

Ryan Mullen kicked the crap out of everyone. On the 37 kilometer course, Mullen averaged over 50 km/h and while he beat the next closest U23 Sean Hahessy by over 2 and a half minutes, Mullen was also the fastest overall by beating Michael "Dr. Hutch" Hutchinson by 46 seconds. Thanks to being a U23, Mullen was only able to win the U23 title while Hutchinson took the Elite Men's TT.

Switzerland: Thery Schir

Thery Schir benefitted from Stefan Kung trying to take down Fabian Cancellara in the Elite Men's TT so Schir was able to take out the U23 Men's TT title by 23 seconds over BMC Development's Tom Bohli and 37 seconds over Fabian Leinhard. Schir races a lot on the track and has teamed up with Kung on many occasions including a bronze medal in the men's Madison this year at the World Championships in Cali.

Netherlands: Steven Lammertink

Taking advantage of a dearth of strong time trialists in the U23 ranks, Steven Lammertink (Jo Piels) won the Dutch U23 TT by 43 seconds over Mike Teunissen (Rabobank Development) after clocking a time of 45 minutes on the 37.3 kilometer course to average just shy of 50 km/h.

1. Steven Lammertink 45'00"
2. Mike Teunissen +43"
3. Tim Rodenburg +1'43"

Venezuela: Yonder Godoy

Yonder Godoy won. That's it. Not much competition.

Poland: Szymon Rekita

Szymon Rekita isn't the biggest name to many outside Poland. I've barely heard of him myself. He is a fairly good time trialist though and he was able to take the Polish U23 TT title by 1 scant second on Pryzemyslaw Kasperkiewicz and 5 seconds on Bartosz Warchol. Rekita was top 20 in the U23 World TT in Florence last year and while not having too many UCI results this year besides a 10th place overall in the Carpathian Couriers Tour, Rekita confirmed his TT prowess by taking the title, a good accomplishment for a rider in just his 2nd U23 season.

Russia: Alexander Evtushenko

Alexander Evtushenko defended his U23 TT crown after easily defeating his Russian Helicopters teammate Roman Kustadinchev by over a minute.

Czech Republic and Slovakia: David Dvorsky and Mario Dasko

Every year, the Czech Republic and Slovakia combine their National Championships, in cycling at least, and meet somewhere in one of the two countries. Must be some sort of Czechoslovakia nostalgia or something but the events are run on the same course and serves as a good comparison between the two countries. The Czech Republic U23 TT was won by David Dvorsky in a time of 59'43", which was just a second ahead of Michael Schlegel. By comparison, the Slovak U23 TT was won by Mario Dasko in a time of 1'02"01", which would have been good for 7th overall if you combined the countries. Just food for thought.

Luxembourg: Luc Turchi

I've never heard of Luc Turchi. No idea who he is. He is a first year U23 and he won the Luxembourg U23 TT, which is combined with the elite field, with a sizeable margin over 2nd place. He slotted into 7th place overall in the Elite/Combined TT standings at 1'03" behind winner Laurent Didier. Alex Kirsch should have won the U23 title but wasn't registered in the U23 class so therefore no win.

Canada: Kris Dahl

Team Smartstop continued their winning ways by taking the Canadian U23 TT championship with their young Canadian Kris Dahl, who joined the team last year as a stagiaire. On the rolling 40km course, Dahl clocked a 58'44", which was 23 seconds better than Nigel Ellsay, who rides for Sojasun Espoirs in France for the majority of the year.

Ukraine: Marlen Zmorka

So Zmorka won. Enough said.

Germany: Nils Politt

Stolting's Nils Politt was able to upgrade his silver medal from last year to a gold medal after winning the German U23 TT Championship in Baunatal-Edermunde. Politt, who has been having a strong season with the Gelsenkirchen-based squad, won the test by 6 seconds ahead of Giant-Shimano Development rider Maximillian Schachman at an average pace of nearly 48 km/h.

Japan: Manabu Ishibashi

Spain: Oscar Gonzalez

Latvia: Krists Neilands

Portugal: Rafael Reis

Finland: Matti Manninen

Albania: Nikaj Iltjan

Iltjan won the Albaian Elite Men's TT but I'm counting it here because honestly, there isn't many Albanian Elite Men so it was basically a U23 showdown between him and Xhuliano Kamberaj, who lost by just 8 seconds. Albanians don't exactly have a big history in the sport and many of them, including Iltjan and Kamberaj, race in Italy on the big amateur scene. Iltjan is notable in that he was on the podium of the Junior World RR Championship last year in Florence in 3rd place.

To be continued...

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