Not far from the beautiful beach of Wollongong City, Tobias Foss sat in the goal area and did not know what happened to him. It does not matter whether it is the talent of the century Remco Evenepoel, the former dominant in the tour Tadej Pogacar or the world champion Filippo Ganna – all the stars of the scene were duped by the relatively unknown Norwegian in the individual time trial in the Road World Championships. Down below.
“It feels like a dream”
With the force of his tour in the spring of Australia, the 25-year-old caused what might be the biggest sensation since Bert Grabsch’s time trial in 2008. “It felt like a dream. I couldn’t believe it, it wasn’t true. I had to realize that first. I would be satisfied with 10th place,” said Foss, who needed 40:02 minutes for the 34.2 km course. He was 2.95 seconds faster than Stefan Küng from Switzerland, who was always second. Belgian Vuelta champion Evenepoel, 9 seconds.
Former Tour champion Pocaga (Slovenia) and champion Filippo Cana (Italy) finished sixth and seventh. Two German players, Nikias Arndt and Miguel Heidemann, are also absent, finishing 16th and 20th. “The track is faster than expected. I found my pace well, but unfortunately I was two or three percent behind where I wanted to be,” Arndt told the German news agency. Heidemann said: “I am very satisfied. It’s my first World Cup with the elite.”
Ricarda Bauerfeind Pull up Gold medal in the U23 class
However, the German team, which comes with less ambition, can enjoy a successful start. Ricarda Bauernfeind won the bronze medal in the U23 from Italian winner Vittoria Guazzini and the Dutch Shirin van Anrooij. “It’s something completely new for me to step up to the racing scene. World Cup. I didn’t really expect to win a medal. 5th place could be nice, » said Bauernfeind, who was the first starter on the course and thus opened the world ball virtually.
At the World Championships in Australia, won the gold medal in the U23 series for the first time. The riders started as part of the women’s time trial, which Ellen van Dijk from the Netherlands won in 44:28 minutes. For the 35-year-old, it is the third time champion after 2013 and 2021. The second and third place are Australian Grace Brown and European champion Marlen Reusser from Switzerland.
Foss: “My legs are really good”
But the highlight of the day was provided by Foss, who no expert did not count. The 25-year-old from the Jumbo Visma team of Tour Champion Jonas Vingegaard has yet to win an international tournament apart from three championships in the Norwegian championships. At the Tour de France he was not in the team and in the Giro d’Italia he finished 54th.
“My legs are really good. The course is required. It is the perfect match for me, “said Foss, removing Ganna. The Italian has won the championship in 2020 and 2021 and actually wants to move on to the records of Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara (all four titles).