September 26/18 12:06 pm - Houle 32nd in Worlds ITT
Posted by Editoress on 09/26/18
Hugo Houle, Canada's lone entry in the Elite men's time trial at the Road World Championships on Wednesday, finished 32nd. His time of 1:08:42.09 for 52.1 kilometres was five minutes and 39.52 seconds behind winner Rohan Dennis of Australia. Defending champion Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands was second and Victor Campenaerts of Belgium was third.
"It was a long one, but I had a good ride," said Houle. "The start was fast, but I was a bit conservative because of the big climb in the middle. My climb was a little less than what I was expecting, but still pretty good. I think I managed the race well and my pacing was good; it's what I had in my legs today. This year I really tried to progress on the road, so my time trialling suffered a bit. But, Argon 18 just produced a new [time trial] bike and I will have it to practice on over the winter. It would be nice to target a top-15 for the [2020] Olympics, so I will start to work towards that."
Tom Dumoulin, Rohan Dennis, Victor Campenaerts
The course featured a tough four kilometre climb at the 31 kilometre mark. Dennis was the fastest through every time check. He was over eight seconds ahead of Dumoulin at the 16.6 kilometre time check, and over a minute faster at the 35.2 kilometre split, to finish 1:21.09 in front at the finish. Campenaerts was only 0.53 seconds behind Dumoulin.
"It's a dream come true to be World Champion," said Dennis. "I've been chasing this since I was a Junior, I've never won it in any age group, so to win my first one in seniors is really special. It's an amazing feeling. There's a lot of people I have to thank and the first person is my wife. She's back home and I'm sure she is pretty happy at the moment. Now, I'm just going to enjoy the moment and enjoy the next year in the rainbow jersey and try again next year."
"I was being coached from the car by Brad McGee and he gave me confidence at the top of the climb once Dumoulin came through and I was one minute up, and he just kept me calm. I was considering a bit of a victory salute but I wanted to make sure, as you are never sure until Tom crosses the line."
Road World Championships: Elite ITT results
Canadian Women Finish Top-10 in World Championship Time Trial
Boilard Fifth in Junior Women's ITT at Road Worlds
Canuel & Kirchmann on the Podium for Worlds TTT
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