In order to win the individual time trial competition at the European Road Cycling Championships held in Drenthe, Josh Tarling of Great Britain turned forth one of the most impressive performances of his whole professional career.
The 19-year-old Tarling finished first, 42.92 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Stefan Bissegger, with Wout van Aert of Belgium coming in third.
Anna Henderson, who is 24 years old, came in second place in the women’s race, finishing 43.36 seconds behind the winner, who is from Switzerland.
In the women’s Under-23 competition, the gold medal went to Britain’s Zoe Backstedt.
Following his victory at the British Championships and his bronze medal performance in the time trial at the World Championships held in Glasgow in August, the Welsh rider has had a year to remember thanks to Tarling’s recent achievements.
In Glasgow, both Remco Evenepoel of Belgium and Filippo Ganna of Italy finished ahead of Tarling, but in Drente, the Netherlands, neither of those competitors were present.
Tarling, who is in his first season as a professional with Ineos Grenadiers, was the final rider out on the 29.5-kilometer route. He was in the lead at both the first and second split, and he completed the race in 31 minutes and 30 seconds.
Tarling told Eurosport, “It was a challenging experience.” Today I felt weaker than I did in the World Championships.
“The wind was really hard, and I had to hold the high power throughout the entire day.”
It was a tense wait for the final competitor, Reusser, to finish, as Henderson, who had finished in fourth place at the Worlds in Glasgow, was the 25th out of 30 competitors to attempt the course and crossed the finish line in first place.
However, the Swiss rider was faster, which ensured that she would win the European title for the third year in a row. Completing the podium with the Swiss rider was Austria’s Christina Schweinberger.
Elinor Barker, a fellow Brit and competitor, finished in ninth place.
According to what Henderson said to Eurosport, “It was an extremely challenging course.” “It may not have been the most difficult technically, but it was challenging on both a physical and mental level. My ride exceeded my expectations in every way.
“I wanted to finish in the top five today, but to get on the podium is really something special.”
An authority on time trials Backstedt, who is only 18 years old, won the competition by a margin of 57.51 seconds over Antonia Niedermaier of Germany. Anniina Ahtosalo of Finland came in third.
In addition to Henderson and Baker, the British squad will be comprised of Alice Barnes, Pfeiffer Georgi, Claire Steels, and Beckie Storrie. The elite women’s race will take place on Saturday.
Ethan Vernon is expected to take the lead for Great Britain in the elite men’s road race that will take place on Sunday. Other competitors are Tarling, Luke Rowe, Lewis Aksey, Mark Stewart, Connor Swift, Ben Turner, and Sam Watson.
On Friday, Backstedt is scheduled to take part in the Under-23 women’s road race. She will be joined in the competition by her sister Elynor, Anna Shackley, Millie Couzens, Flora Perkins, and Alice Towers. Shackley is the current holder of the world road Under-23 bronze medal.
