Marco Mathis Wins u23 ITT World Title

Oct 10, 2016 – The U-23 Men’s Time Trial, over a distance of 28.9 kilometers, – again, one kilometer shorter than in Richmond – was won by Germany’s Marco Mathis, 18 seconds ahead of his compatriot Maximilian Schachmann and 37 seconds ahead of Australia’s Miles Scotson. Another German, Lennard Kamna, was in fourth.

UCI/Image: Yuzuru Sunada

Second down the ramp at 11.31 this morning, Mathis completed the race with the best time on each of the intermediate checkpoints and crossing the finish line on the Pearl Island in a time of 34 minutes and eight seconds. He then had to wait until the last starter, 2015 defending champion Mads Wurtz Schmidt of Denmark, completed the course. The Dane faded badly to 21st and Mathis could start to celebrate.

Recognizing that Germany has a long tradition of top time trialists, Mathis said, “We have a lot of riders for this like [former World TT Champion] Tony Martin,” and he promised himself “a small celebration this evening and a much bigger one after Thursday’s [U-23] road-race.”

“I’m very surprised about this victory, but I’m very happy.”
“I didn’t win, of course, but in the end it’s the best thing to beaten by a teammate, so I’m happy,” Schachmann argued.

“We Germans are a time trial nation, we’re always good in this discipline.”

Asked about the final result, Schachmann said “I was surprised because six riders from the top ten started early, I expected the opposite to be honest.”

Finally asked about Tony Martin – who will race on Wednesday in the elite men’s time trial event, which he has won three times – Schachmann said “I know him fairly well and we were talking to each other six days ago when we trained together. I guess we can learn from each other but he is for sure the more experienced guy.”

Racing continues on Tuesday with the Junior Men and the Elite Womens’ individual time trials, both over distances of 28.9 kilometers.