Cycling: Martin loses time trial title to Dumoulin

It wasn’t my race,”said the exhausted German cycling professional after a sobering ninth place in the World Cup individual time trial in Bergen:” I probably didn’t believe in myself at all.I’m disappointed.”

The four-time World Champion’s rainbow jersey was lost again, the four-time World Champion had prepared himself in advance.But at least bronze, Martins hopes, should be possible despite the challenging route with the finish to Fløyen.A solid but by no means outstanding performance in the valley as well as the expected disadvantages on the mountain let the dream of a medal burst abruptly.

Martin had to settle for ninth place after 31 km in 46:21 minutes.The gap to the dominating Dutch Giro winner Tom Dumoulin, who won gold in 44:41 minutes clearly ahead of former ski jumper Primoz Roglic (Slovenia/+ 57.79 seconds) and Tour and Vuelta champion Christopher Froome (Great Britain/+ 1:21 minutes), was a proud 1:39 minutes.To bronze was missing almost 20 seconds.

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Martin had worked out a tactic to make up for his deficits in the inclines.Before the 3.4 km long and on average 9.1 per cent steep target climb, the 32-year-old wanted to gain a larger lead and thus catch the expected loss of time.The plan failed.

Martin, who had triumphed for the fourth time last year in Qatar’s desert, went on the track as defending champion at 5.03 p. m. as the last starter and had more problems than expected when the rain set in.

On the wavy course Martin found it difficult to find his usual rhythm.The increasingly wet asphalt made manoeuvring even more difficult, especially in the curves.

Gold was out of reach at the last time before the final climb, the Cottbus native was about 50 seconds behind Dumoulin.With the sixth-best interim time, the medal ranks were at least still within reach.

The 320 m high Fløyen hill became Martin’s downfall in the effort to win a medal,”I didn’t have the courage to take a chance and drive the decisive part faster.Simply because of the fear of getting right at the top,”Martin said.

Thousands of fans created a Tour de France atmosphere as Martin made his way through the crowds to the finish line and fought for seconds.Compared to the dismal emptiness in Qatar last year, the sports-mad Norwegians provided the perfect setting – for Martin, the good mood was at least a little comforting.”The spectators were very helpful.It was a brilliant support,”he said.

Martin was powerless against the dominance of the mountain specialists.Dumoulin and Co.the new world champion Martin lost another 50 seconds or so.

Like Dumoulin and Froome, Martin had decided not to change the two kilograms lighter road bike before the climb.The decision of the UCI to allow the riders to switch to another apparatus had been one of several points of criticism of Martin at the WC-OK.

In the end, Martin was able to celebrate the best result of the three starters of the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer (BDR).Behind Martin, Nikias Arndt (Buchholz) finished 19th in 46:57.05 minutes.Rank 1, Jasha Sütterlin (Freiburg) finished the race in 48:09.07 minutes on the 35th place.Place.