Friday was the final day of time trial action at the national championships in Europe. Tony Martin made it five in a row in Germany, Sergei Chernetckii took his first win in Russia and Daniel Teklehaimanot defended his title in Eritrea. Nelson Oliveira and Bob Jungels did it again in Portugal and Luxembourg respectively and Ignatas Konovalovas returned to the top step in Lithuania.

 

We have gathered a few reactions.

 

Germany

Tony Martin: This was an important test for the Tour and Rio

2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and now 2016. All these years have one thing in common: Tony Martin’s success at the National Championships in the individual time trial race, which he has dominated in a way no other German rider has done it since this discipline made its way to the calendar, in 1995. Held in Struefdorf, on a 41-km long rolling course, the race saw Martin enjoy a very strong start, and by the time he passed at the first intermediate checkpoint, it became more than obvious that he was heading towards his maiden victory of the season, one which the 31-year-old took in commanding fashion.

 

Hitting an average speed of 49.97 km/h, Martin was the only rider to go under the 50-minute barrier, rolling over the line in a time of 49:14 and beating Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) by more than a minute and a half, with Nils Politt (Katusha) coming third, 2:23 down on the six-time champion. By taking top spot in Struefdorf – where he was supported by his family and old friends who came from nearby Erfurt, a town in which he spent most part of his childhood – Martin became the 14th different Etixx – Quick-Step rider to taste success since the beginning of the season, a feat no other team has matched.

 

“I’m happy about this win, because it’s never easy to do it when everybody is expecting it. The parcours wasn’t totally flat, had a few hills and some tricky corners, which you had to be careful not to overcook. Considering these and the hot temperatures, it wasn’t easy to find my rhythm, so that’s why I’m even more satisfied about this victory, which I see as a good test ahead the Tour de France and Olympic Games. Winning the sixth title and finally breaking the ice in 2016 was very important,” said Tony Martin.

 

"I'm glad that it worked again,” he told radsport-news.com. “With the demanding course and the temperatures, it was not an easy day for me. But now I enjoy it. It was my first long time trial of the season and my first win.

 

"I am very pleased with how it went. It was important to me that the gap to the second-placed rider was not too small. This showed me that my form is going in the right direction for the Tour de France. I think the test was successful today even though I lost power in the last 10-15 kilometers because of the heat.

 

"This race was harder than in recent years, but Rio is again one step tougher.”

 

Martin will ride also the road race on Sunday, together with teammate Marcel Kittel:

 

“It will be difficult, because it’s going to be just the two of us, but I’m ready to give everything to support Marcel, so we’ll see what will happen.”

 

After this, Martin will continue to prepare for the 103rd Tour de France, where he’ll have two opportunities to display his beautiful jersey, the Bourg-Saint-Andéol – La Caverne du Pont-d’Arc and Sallanches – Megève individual time trials.

 

Jasha Sütterlin: It’s good to be second behind Martin

Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) was second.

 

"To finish second behind Tony is fine," he told radsport-news.com "I've already done two time trials at the Thüringen-Rundfahrt in and around Streufdorf and know the area very well.”

 

Nils Politt continues great neo-pro season with bronze medal in German time trial

Team KATUSHA’s young rider Nils Politt provided a very strong performance at the individual time trial of the German National Championships. Politt, the U23 ITT Champion in 2014, debuted  at the Elite level and has immediately shown himself as a real contender.

 

Today in Streudorf, Nils Politt won the bronze medal of the National Championships, finishing the 41km distance with the third-best time, 2 minutes and 23 seconds behind the 2016 German Champion Tony Martin from Etixx – Quick Step.

 

”I am happy with this medal. This is my first year as a pro. Tony Martin is a class too high for all of us – this was his 6th title, his 5th in a row - and also the second place of Jasha Sütterlin was expected. Jasha has the Giro d’Italia and Tour de Suisse in his legs, but I am happy, especially on this really hard course. There was one big lap, but constantly up and down, including two long and steep climbs. The temperatures were above 30°C, so it was a demanding race. I would have been satisfied with a top 5 and now I’ve finished on the podium, so I am a happy man,” said Nils Politt.

 

“On Sunday, the National Road Championships are on a flat course. In theory we can expect a mass sprint, but you never know. A championships race is always something special. I will have no teammates, but sometimes this can be an advantage, too. We don’t need to take all responsibilities in the race,” added Nils Politt.

 

Russia

Hard TT training pays off for in-form Sergei Chernetckii at Russian Championships

It was a moment of glory for Team KATUSHA’s Sergei Chernetckii at the individual time trial of the Russian National Championships in Sevastopol.

 

Chernetckii began his race in the middle of the start list and posted the best times both at the intermediate points and at the finish line. With many riders still to finish the race he had to wait for a long time, but this waiting brought him his maiden gold medal of the national championships in the Elite category.

 

“I am really happy and honestly I did not expect to win the gold medal today. I can’t say the time trial is my strongest point, but as you know in the WorldTour this kind of race has a great impact when you are fighting for the GC. So I have worked a lot on this matter. Today, it was a question of giving your best on this hard course. I did not think about any concrete place, just working hard on the distance from the start until the finish. Of course before the start I thought about my possible result, and I thought maybe I could reach the podium. But to win this race – this is something special for me. I came here to the Championships in a good form after Tour de Suisse, so I was pretty happy I could transfer it to such a nice result. I want to thank my team for their great support during this time and I am glad to bring this gold medal to KATUSHA,” said Sergei Chernetckii.

 

It was a very close fight on the 49,1 km distance between Sergei Chernetckii and Pavel Brutt of Tinkoff. In the end, Brutt finished the race 1 second from KATUSHA’s rider, but that was enough to bring the gold medal to Chernetckii.

 

Third place and the bronze medal was won by another Team KATUSHA rider, Maxim Belkov, who finished the distance 1 minute and 3 seconds behind the winner.

 

Pavel Brutt not disappointed to lose Russian TT by 0.6 second

Pavel Brutt has raced to the silver medal at the Russian time trial championship in the Crimea. His finishing time was just 0.6 seconds slower than the winner Sergey Chernecky's time, over the 48 km long race route. Each rider faced two 24 km laps each taking in an initial climb, a lengthy downhill and then one more hill, and all this in temperatures of over 30C.

 “On the one hand 0.6 seconds over 48 km race is a minimal difference, but I am not disappointed at all," said Pavel Brutt. "I didn’t even think about winning before the start, I just came here to do my best ITT. I lost 30 seconds last year, and less than a second this time so I can see the progress.

 

“As for the upcoming road race on Sunday, it will consist of five laps of 35 km each which is not typical for a Russian championships. I’ve seen the route, and tomorrow we will have a training ride there with my teammates. After the training we will make a decision on who will be the leader. In order to succeed in this race we will have to be in the right place at the right time."

 

Brutt’s medal follows Maciej Bodnar's national title in Poland, as well as Michael Valgren's and Manuele Boaro's silver medals in Denmark and Italy respectively.

 

Portugal

Nelson Oliveira targets Tour de France after successful title defence in Portugal

Nelson Oliveira claimed his fourth career Portuguese TT title on Friday and completed a wonderful 24 hours for the Movistar Team, with three time trial victories in National Championships that add up to a magnificent 29 victories so far this season, by twelve different riders. The 27-year-old from Oliveira do Bairro continued Thursday's double success - Dowsett with a record-breaking fifth jersey in GB; Ion Izagirre in Spain, followed by Castroviejo, Valverde and Jesús Herrada - as he conquered his third consecutive victory in the race (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016).

 

Over a course identical to last year's route in Braga (36km), Oliveira completed the race 15" quicker than in his winning display from 2015. After a marginally better first stint by Rafael Reis (W52), Oliveira flew over the second part of the race to win with 1'13" over José Mendes (BOA). Oliveira will seek for a second road race title on Sunday at the Sameiro circuit (177km), his last appearance before a decision is made on his Tour de France official selection.

 

Oliveira said: “I'm super happy to have won again in my country against the clock. It makes me just as happy as it did when I grabbed this jersey for the first time. It was a good day, considering I was looking for some strong legs due tothe point of the season we're in. I knew this course really well from last year's Nationals and I knew what I had to do and what I'd tackle during the race. I tried to keep the same speed and following the references I put on myself in 2015 while saving some energy for the final part of the race, where I really wanted to test my legs at maximum effort.

 

"The feelings through that finale were really good and make me hopeful for the future. Movistar and Canyon's job with the new Speedmax TT bike has brought us a massive advantage; this bike's design is a big improvement over the previous one, and this success has been quite based on that. Now we're setting our sights on Sunday's road race and, then, the Tour. I'm raring to go there; I just can wait and see if the team wants me in. Let's hope I can make it in."

 

Luxembourg

Bob Jungels: This win shows that I have recovered from the Giro d’Italia

Bob Jungels’ first half of the season can be easily described as the best he has enjoyed since turning pro. One of Etixx – Quick-Step’s new recruits for 2016, Jungels opened his account early, with a stage victory at the Tour of Oman, before going to finish third in Tirreno-Adriatico, with the white jersey in the bag. But the most impressive feat came more than two months later, at the Giro d’Italia, which he raced for the first time in his career. There, besides working for the team, Jungels spent a three-day spell in the maglia rosa and climbed his way to a 6th place in the general classification, while also winning the young rider standings in the process.

Following these exploits, the Luxembourger took a well-deserved three-week rest, returning to racing on Friday, at the National Championships, for the individual time trial race held in Berbourg, a small town located in the eastern part of the country. Jungels, a two-time winner of the event and the last rider to roll down the ramp, covered the 15-km long course in 17 minutes and 44 seconds, half a minute faster than the second placed rider, Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC). 

“I’m really happy about my race and this title. Wearing this jersey is always great and I can’t wait to show it off as soon as possible in a race. It was a hard course with a few small climbs and false flat sections where it was important to speed up. Actually, I’m quite surprised with the rhythm I managed to keep after a few weeks without competing and this means I’ve recovered well from the Giro d’Italia”, a smiling Jungels explained after arrival. “So far, this season has been really special for me and I hope to be able to keep this momentum going for as long as possible. On Sunday I will also ride in the road race at the Nationals. The course is harder than today and as always the race will be super fast, but I will try to do my best.”

 

Alex Kirsch continues solid 2016 season with third place in Luxembourg time trial

In Luxembourg, Alex Kirsch (Stölting) was up against a.o. Bob Jungels (Etixx – Quick Step) and Jempy Drucker (BMC Racing Team). On the 15 km course in Berbourg consisting of two 7.5 km laps Jungels rode the fastest time as expected, Drucker came in second. Kirsch lost some time on the second lap and rounded out the podium.

 

After the race, Kirsch said: “Like I said before, the last two weeks didn’t go perfectly for me. I could feel that in the race, too. Many changes in rhythm made for a challenging course, and it hurts a lot when you’re missing a couple of percents there. But I can’t blame myself for this and also have to say that the others are really strong riders. Bob is one of the best time triallists internationally, Jempy regularly gets into the top-10, so it was always going to be hard to beat them. I was aware of that, and a podium place is a nice thing, too.“