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UCI Road World Championships: Netherlands win debut team time trial mixed relay, Great Britain third

Favourites take opening event of Yorkshire 2019 on a rain-soaked day in Harrogate

A strong Netherlands team have won the first-ever team time trial mixed relay to be held at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships as the week-long event got under way in Yorkshire today, with Great Britain claiming a surprise bronze medal.

The format saw three men ride the circuit in Harrogate, with the three women setting off when the second man crossed the line. The final time for the 27.6-kilometre parcours was taken when the second woman finished.

Of the first eight teams out on the course on a rainy day in North Yorkshire, Great Britain – represented by John Archibald, Dan Bigham and Harry Tanfield plus Lauren Dolan, Anna Henderson and Joscelin Lowden were the fastest by 31.77 seconds ahead of France.

It was an excellent performance from a young team on a day when several other countries opted for more experience, not least the last three starters – Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.

The intermediate time checks nudged Great Britain off the podium but on a day when a number of riders suffered mechanical problems, it was a puncture to Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini that put the home outfit back into the medal positions.

Rather than slow down and wait for her, the Italian’s colleagues carried on up the road. She rode strongly and eventually bridged back in the final couple of kilometres, but it was too late to eclipse Great Britain’s time.

The fastest time of the day – and the rainbow jerseys – went to the Netherlands, however, with Bauke Mollema, Jos van Emden and Koen Bouwman handing over at the mid-point to Lucinda Brand, Amy Ieters and Riejanne Markus.

The Dutch won the team time trial mixed really the only time it had been previously contested, on home soil last month at the UEC European Road Cycling Championships.

Their time today of 38 minutes 27 seconds proved 23 seconds faster than that of a German squad that included former world time trial champions Tony Martin and Lisa Brennauer, with Great Britain a further 28 seconds behind to clinch bronze.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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CygnusX1 | 4 years ago
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Great result for the young British team (with a little bit of help from Borghini's puncture).  Great result also for the new format of mixed TTT - the 'passing the baton' aspect certainly made for more interesting  viewing than standard TTTs.

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Simon E replied to CygnusX1 | 4 years ago
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CygnusX1 wrote:

Great result for the young British team (with a little bit of help from Borghini's puncture).  Great result also for the new format of mixed TTT - the 'passing the baton' aspect certainly made for more interesting  viewing than standard TTTs.

Agree, I thought it was great. The weather and route played a part but it was also good that each team only had 3 riders. Each team's ride only lasted about 20 mins, which is long enough for time gaps, drama and to sustain the viewer's interest.

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Rick_Rude | 4 years ago
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It was great yesterday. Warm, great atmosphere, really good reception for the paras. Apparently they all loved it as normally nobody ever sees them race. Saw them leave Tadcaster and then made my over to Harrogate and they had a lot of support at both of those ends. 

 

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kil0ran | 4 years ago
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Yorkshire? In late September? With a week of wet weather and high winds to come. Perfect conditions for a home rider.

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