Leo Appelt gave Germany their first individual gold medal of the 2015 Road World Championships in the Junior Men’s Individual Time Trial, clocking a time of 37 minutes and 45 seconds, 17 seconds faster than silver medallist Adrien Costa of the USA and fellow-American Brandon Mcnultry.

A total of 57 riders took part in the 30 kilometre event where only two riders, Costa and Mcnultry, 59 seconds back, came within a minute of the winner’s time.

Whilst Costa had already captured silver last year in the same event, a delighted Appelt said in the post-race press conference he was “surprised” to have taken the rainbow jersey. “I just did my own race,” he said, “I still can’t believe it.”

“I will be taking part in the road race [on Saturday] too, and I hope to get a good result there too. But with this gold medal, there won’t be any pressure.”

The eighteenth rider to start and able to set the fastest times on checkpoint after checkpoint the entire course, Appelt was able to oust Kazahkstan’s Ilya Gorbushin, from the provisional best spot by nearly two minutes. Gorbushin had gone under 40 minutes with a solid final time of 39-37, but when Appelt swept under the finishing gantry in 37-45, the German had clearly set a time to beat for the following 39 riders.

However, only Costa, who pushed hard in the second half of the course, proved to be a real threat, clocking the second best times at the last two checkpoints and closing the gap to just two seconds on Appelt. However, as Costa faded late on, the American finally had to settle for silver for a second straight year.

“It’s definitely a bitter-sweet sensation for me,” added Costa, “one better place would have been great but two podium finishes in two years is good, too.”

Racing continues on Wednesday with the Elite Men’s Individual Time Trial and the battle to see who will succeed Britain’s Bradley Wiggins as the reigning World Champion.