Ivanchenko on a winning streak, Wang rises to rainbow glory

The individual time trials (ITT) continued at the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Flanders (Belgium) on Tuesday with the Junior events. Russia’s Alena Ivanchenko claimed her fourth rainbow jersey this summer while Gustav Wang swapped his Danish jersey for the international rainbow stripes.

Women Junior ITT: Bäckstedt comes close but Ivanchenko rules the world

Alena Ivanchenko is making the most of the opportunities she can still grab as a Junior before graduating from that category next year (she was born in November 2003). In Bruges, after 19.3km of racing from Knokke, she took her sixth gold medal in a major event held in the past weeks: she won the points race at the UEC Junior Track Cycling European Continental Championships; the team pursuit, the Omnium and the Madison at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships; the individual time trial at the UEC Road European Championships; and now the individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.

“It’s wonderful,” the Russian youngster said after racking up another rainbow jersey with a time of 25:05.49 (46.390km/h). “It’s a lot of fun when you go on the road and you have beautiful weather, good sensations, beautiful views… I’m very happy.”

Last of the 55 starters on the road, Ivanchenko already had the best time at the first intermediate split (km 10.7) but Great Britain’s Zoe Backstedt was only trailing by 2secs. She eventually settled for the silver medal (+10.64secs), building on the great cycling heritage of her family after her sister, Elynor Backstedt, took bronze in the same event in 2018 and 2019. Backstedt also enjoyed an impressive summer, notably claiming three gold medals and two world records (in the team and individual pursuits) at the UEC Track Cycling European Junior Championships.

Germany’s Antonia Niedermaier (+25.32) rounded out the podium, bringing Germany a 13th rainbow jersey in the Women Junior ITT. Ivanchenko succeeds her Russian compatriot Aigul Gareeva, winner in 2019.

Men Junior ITT: Wang shows the depth of the Danish pool of talents

The Danes had already won the Men Under 23 ITT on Monday, with Johan Price-Pejtersen succeeding Mikkel Bjerg. They also proved to be dominant in the Men Junior ranks with Gustav Wang taking the rainbow jersey in the afternoon ahead of Great Britain’s Joshua Tarling (+20.20) and Belgium’s Alec Segaert (+29.48), who narrowly edged out another Dane, Carl-Frederik Bevort (+30.00), for the bronze medal.

“It feels amazing. I have dreamed about this since I won the Nationals in 2019. Last year the Worlds were cancelled [for Juniors] so it was my first real go at proving that I’m the best in the world,” Wang said with a laugh of delight. “[Price-Pejtersen’s victory] definitely inspired me. It’s amazing to have two Danish guys on top of the podium. I don’t know [how we’re so successful]. We know a lot about aerodynamics.”

Tarling was the second rider to start, after the local talent Jonathan Vervenne, and the Brit held the best time for some 20mins before Wang edged him at the finish. Fifty-six riders were still to make it to the line, after 22.3km, and none of them managed to go faster than the average of 52.217km/h achieved by the Danish youngster.

France’s Eddy Le Huitouze had the third best time after 12.8km but he couldn’t maintain his position on the podium at the end, finishing fifth ahead of another rising star, Belgium’s Cian Uijtdebroeks (+41.82). Wang’s victory was sealed but the battle for the podium remained open until Segaert, the last rider on the road, took the bronze half-a-second ahead of Bevort.

Wang is the second Danish rider to win the Men Junior ITT in the UCI Road World Championships, 10 years after Mads Würtz Schmidt in Copenhagen. He succeeds an impressive line-up of former Junior ITT UCI World Champions who quickly proved their worth among the Elite ranks, not least Brandon McNulty (2016), Tom Pidcock (2017), Remco Evenepoel (2018) and Antonio Tiberi (2019).