Lennard Kämna turned out to be in a class of his own in today’s junior time trial world championships. Having beaten nearest rival Adrien Costa by a massive 44 seconds, the German now hopes to emulate his compatriot Tony Martin who is a big inspiration for the new world champion.

Germany has a strong tradition of fostering great time trialists and the country has had several ITT world champions in both the men’s and women’s ranks. Today a future star was born when Lennard Kämna became the new junior world champion in the discipline.

Kämna crushed the opposition on the 29.5km course which he covered in a time that was a massive 44 seconds faster than second placed Adrien Costa. The German was the fastest in all parts of the course, increasing his advantage between all time checks

“It’s great,” he said at the post-race press conference. I am very happy to win here. I hope I will realize it in the next few days.

“The last 5km were the hardest because it was uphill. After 25km, that was very hard. At the top of the climb, my coach told me that I had the best time so I hoped not to crash on the descent. Then I knew that I could win.”

Last year Kämna didn’t achieve any notable time trial results and wasn’t even selected to represent Germany in the discipline at the Worlds. This year he has progressed a lot, winning the time trial at the Trofeo Karlsberg and taking both the German and European TT titles.

“This season and this winter I have trained a lot,” he said. “I have a good trainer who made me fit for this season. I think he is the reason why I am so good.”

Nonetheless, the result was a big surprise.

“I hoped that I would be on the podium. I never dreamt about this result,” he said, referring to his big winning margin.

With Tony Martin being three time world champion, Germany is currently at the top of the TT hierarchy. Kämna hopes to emulate his compatriot in the future.

“Tony Martin is a big inspiration for me,” he said. “In a few years, I hope to reach his level but I think it is far away. I hope I can talk to him in the next few months.”

Kämna’s win is Germany’s first victory in the event since Marcel Kittel won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.