World Road Race ChampionshipsKristin Armstrong of the United States blitzed her rivals to claim the women's time-trial title at the World Road Race Championships at Salzburg yesterday.
Armstrong's time of 35 minutes and four seconds for the 26.1km course was 25 seconds better than defending champion Karin Thurig of Switzerland. American Christine Thorburn was third.
Armstrong said afterwards that she shares the same determination as namesake Lance Armstrong - winner of the Tour de France a record seven times.
"We share the same last name, but we're not related - but I see similarities we both have," the 33-year-old said. "We're both very determined and strive for the highest goals with the same focus.
"We're both good time-trialists because we both competed as triathletes before focusing on cycling. I look up to Lance because he's done a lot for cycling in the USA and around the world. I hope I can keep the Armstrong name flying now that he's retired."
Armstrong used her strength on the climbs in the first half of the course to gain a decisive lead on Thurig. "I knew that the first half of the course was going to be the key to winning because of my style of racing.
"I had to make as much time as possible out there, because I knew Karin would be fast on the descent. It was one of the hardest world championship courses I've done."
Armstrong will also compete in the 132km women's road race on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ryan Connor finished back in 44th place in the under-23 time-trial at the World Championships, conceding four minutes 8.13 seconds to gold medallist Dominique Cornu of Belgium.
Mikhail Ignatiev (Russian Federation) was second, 37.1 seconds back, while Jerome Coppel of France was a further 7.56 seconds in arrears.
The Irish campaign will continue today with the 50.83km elite time-trial. National TT champion and Irish record holder David McCann finished 15th in the race against the clock two years ago and will hope to equal or improve upon that result.
He will be joined by Navigators Insurance professional David O'Loughlin, who could also ride well if his form is right. Australian Michael Rogers will be massive favourite for the time-trial after claiming his third straight individual gold last year.
Meanwhile, three riders failed pre-race blood tests on the first day of the championships yesterday.
Martin Garrido and Matias Medici of Argentina and Magno Nazaret of Brazil were found to have blood haematocrit values above the 50 per cent limit allowed and were declared unfit to take part.
They will be suspended for two weeks and will have to undergo a urine test to detect if they took the banned blood-boosting drug Erythropoietin. A total of 18 riders from Brazil, Argentina, Switzerland, Australia and the USA were tested.
World Road Race Championship
Women's 26km Time-trial
1 K Armstrong (US) 35:04. 2 K Thuerig (Swi) +25 sec. 3 C Thorburn (US) +29. 4 P Doppmann (Swi) +55. 5 N Cooke (Britain) +55. 6 Z Zabirova (Kaz) +58. 7 J Arndt (Ger) +1:04. 8 L Kozlikova (Cze) +1:05. 9 T Worrack (Ger) +1:18. 10 A Neben (US) +1:26. 11 N Boiarskaia (Rus) +1:35. 12 T Hurikova (Cze) +1:35. 13 N Braendli (Swi) +1:41. 14 L Serup (Den) +1:47. 15 S Ljungskog (Swe) +1:52.
Men's Under-23 39.54km Time-trial
1 D Cornu (Bel) 49:28.42. (47.904 km/hr). 2 M Ignatiev (Rus) +37.1 secs. 3 J Coppel (Fra) +44.66. 4 A Filippov (Rus) +51.52. 5, E Boasson Hagen (Nor) +1:12.69. 6 S Schaefer (Ger) +1:21.28. 7 L Den Hutchings (Nzl) +1:25.06. 8 S Spilak (Slo) +1:26.60. 9 P Latham (Nzl) +1:29.03. 10 K Koren (Slo) +1:36.32. 11 A Rasmussen (Den) +1:38.90. 12 I Konovalovas (Lit) +1:41.11. 13 M Belkov (Rus) +1:43.21. 14 M Mortensen (Den) +1:46.17. 15 D Grabovskyy (Ukr) +1:49.32. Other: 44 R Connor (Ire) +4:08.13.
