Igor Decraene became the first Belgian junior world time trial champion since Jurgen Van Den Broeck in 2001 when he took a narrow win ahead of Dane Mathias Kriegbaum and American surprise Zeke Mostov. Despite his silver medal at the European championships, the first-year junior had never expected to become world champion at such a young age.

Belgian riders are mostly known for their skills in the big one-day races but now the country may have a big time trial champion in the making. Today Igor Campanerts took the junior world title when he took a narrow 8-second win ahead of Matthias Kriegbaum.

Campanerts set the best time at the first check and extended his advantage on the second part throughout the entire course. It was a perfectly executed time trial by the new world champion.

"It was really the best [possible ride]," he said at the pre-race press conference. "I'm the champion so I think it couldn't be better than that."

" I started fast," he added to CyclingQuotes.com after the press conference. "When I heard I was good, I kept my pace. I never faded. It was a good race. I thought I had started too fast but when I heard that it was good, it was extra motivation so I kept the pace."

The flat course suited the powerful Belgian perfectly.

"For me, it was the best course," he said. "I like it when it's flat. That is good for me."

Decraene finished second behind Russian Nikolay Cherkasov at the European championships earlier this year and so had proved that he was a potential winner of the race. However, the Belgian never expected to come away with the win in just his first year as a junior.

"No, I never thought I could win this," he told CyclingQuotes.com. "I lost the European championships by 1 second. I was motivated for this race but I hadn't a specific target. I couldn't be disappointed after the race. I had good legs this morning and have felt good all week. Today couldn't have gone any better."

Junior riders don't race that often against each other and so their races are more unpredictable. While Decraene knew Kriegbaum well, the 3rd place of Zeke Mostov came as more of a surprise for the Belgian.

"I knew Mathias," he said. "He was European champion last year. He [Mostov] is from America. We don't race much together. I don't know him very well but he is also a good rider."

Until now, Decraene has mostly shown his skills as a time trialist and that is where he hopes to excel in the future.

"For sure, I'm best in time trials," he said. "My climbing isn't bad either but I will focus on time trials."

"I hope that I can become a good pro cyclist. I take it step by step. I also go to school. Cycling is more than a hobby but I have more than cycling in my life."

There won't be two rainbow jerseys for Decraene this year as he won't race Saturday's road race.