National Time Trial Champions 2017 – Review I

Jun 21
cyclical

Of course, it’s only fair to say that not all national championships are held at the same time around the world (Katrin Garfoot won the Australian TT in January, for instance), so this will be a first little look at those decided during the traditional nationals week around the end of June.

Netherlands

One of the most fiercely-contested jerseys across any of the women’s national events is always the Dutch TT. On Wednesday 21st June, Annemiek Van Vleuten came out on top of a mighty field, edging former world champion Ellen van Dijk (Team Sunweb) by just four seconds.

Van Vleuten covered the 25.2-kilometer course in just 32’44”, with Boels-Dolmans’ Olympic road race champion Anna Van Der Breggen in bronze.

Van Vleuten said afterwards: “I knew it would be really hard and close with the times at the end and I couldn’t believe that I had won so I am really, really happy. You must be very good in the Netherlands if you want to be a champion with the competition of Ellen van Dijk and Anna van der Breggen. Last year I was maybe a little stronger when I looked at the wattages, but this title certainly tells me so much.”

For Van Vleuten, this is a big confirmation of her form ahead of the Giro Rosa in ten days time, arguably her biggest target of the season. She told Wielerflits: “This national championships is very positive. I’m really getting better climbing, but now I know that the power is still there when I’m pushing uphill. So in the Giro it should be alright.”

Poland

Kasia Pawłowska put a thoroughly miserable few months behind her with a powerful ride to take one of the coolest national champions’ jerseys, Poland’s white kit with the iconic red eagle. She averaged 40 km/h for the 19.8-kilometer course in Krakowa, which featured a vicious last kilometer climb of 10% gradient.

“I don’t have words to describe my feelings. I’m over the moon. After all the adventure with my leg injury at the beginning of the season, I’m just super happy to be back at a good level. We have an eagle on our national jersey. This eagle gives me wings. I hope the second half of my season is better than the first. I have a feeling that I’m going in the right direction.”

Luxembourg

In perhaps the least surprising result across Europe, Christine Majerus took an incredible 26th national title across all disciplines. The Luxembourg women’s scene might not necessarily be the strngest in the TT, but Majerus still had to go out and do the business.

Finland

Another country where the pool of TT talent is not as strong as the Netherlands or Belgium is Finland. Again, Lotta Lepisto repeated her title defence in style last week to pull on another champion’s jersey. It’s her fourth national TT in a row, but hopefully the next generation is inpsired to run her closer in 2018.