USA finish Third and Fourth in the Time-Trail at Worlds
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- September
- 25
By ERIC SYLVERS
Associated Press Writer – All Photos by the Associated Press
VARESE, Italy (AP) _ Germany’s Bert Grabsch won the time trial world championship on
Thursday with a strong finish to beat Canada’s Svein Tuft.
David Zabriskie of the United States took bronze, while teammate and pre-race favorite Levi Leipheimer was fourth.
The 33-year-old Grabsch finished fourth in the time trial last year and had a disappointing Olympics, where he took only 14th place. But in perfect sunny conditions on the course near Lake Varese, Grabsch finished the 27.16-mile ride in 52 minutes, 1.60 seconds to beat Tuft by 42.79 seconds.
“It was a perfect day for me, the course was perfect, the weather was perfect,” Grabsch said. “What can I say, I’m world champion.”
Double world champion Fabian Cancellara did not compete after winning Olympic gold in Beijing saying earlier this week that he was too tired.
“Without Cancellara it was a wide open race that could have been won by six to 10 riders,” said Grabsch, the first German to take the time trial gold medal since Jan Ullrich in 2001.
Tuft led the first half of the race but was already behind Grabsch when his front tire went flat with four miles to go. Still, he finished nearly 10 seconds ahead of Zabriskie to become the first Canadian to medal at the world championship in more than two decades.
Zabriskie, who crashed in the second stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia and had to abandon the race with a fractured vertebrae, said he was happy with the bronze.
“It’s always nice to do better, but with me having a tough season it’s nice to have something,” he said. “It has been a difficult year so I’m happy.”
The 34-year-old Leipheimer failed to medal despite finishing second at the Spanish Vuelta, where he won two time trials. He also finished third at the Olympic time trial in Beijing.
The world championships continue Friday with the under-23 road race. The women’s road race is Saturday with the men’s event rounding out the championships Sunday.
1. Bert Grabsch, Germany, 52 minutes, 1.60 seconds.
2. Svein Tuft, Canada, 52:44.39.
3. David Zabriskie, United States, 52:53.87.
4. Levi Leipheimer, United States, 53:07.02.
5. Gustav Larsson, Sweden, 53:07.44.
6. Stijn Devolder, Belgium, 53:17.01.
7. Tony Martin, Germany, 53:17.86.
8. Janez Brajkovic, Slovenia, 53:26.76.
9. David Millar, Britain, 53:26.86.
10. Sylvain Chavanel, France, 53:27.42.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 2:53 PM by Randall Wolf. 
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