Wang fastest ever junior men’s time trial world champion

The individual time trials between Knokke-Heist and Bruges concluded today with a new record and an outstanding performance by the new junior men’s time trial world champion Gustav Wang. The Dane beat the Brit Tarling and the Belgian Segaert.

The final race of the junior men’s individual time trials began at 14:55. A route of 22.3 km to Bruges would decide which of the 79 riders would be crowned junior men’s time trial world champion. Belgian rider Jonathan Vervenne warmed up the home crowd as the first rider off the starting ramp in Knokke-Heist.

The second rider on the starting line was the Brit Joshua Tarling. In Vervenne’s wake, he set the first impressive time at the finish line. As Tarling settled into the hot seat, the Dane Wang was just setting off. Before the start of the time trial he was not the favourite, but did set a great time at the finish: 20 seconds faster than Tarling.

Meanwhile, the eyes of the home crowd were on Cian Uijtdebroeks. He came third at the European Championships in Trento but could not find his form between Knokke-Heist and Bruges. He ended up in sixth place. Wang’s compatriot and Denmark's leading man, Carl-Frederik Bevort, also failed to match the time set by the man in the hot seat.

Alec Segaert was the last rider to set off from Knokke-Heist. The new European Champion had been tipped as the favourite for this race. At the intermediate point, it soon became clear that Wang's time was too fast. Segaert was fourth at the intermediate point and fought hard for every second. In the end, he managed to finish third, narrowly holding off the Dane Bevort by less than a second.

Meanwhile, Wang’s incredible performance and Tarling’s speed guaranteed them gold and silver. With an average speed of 50km/h, Wang also recorded the fastest time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in the junior men's race, after the previous record in 2019.