News Round-up: First time trial rainbow jerseys handed out in Glasgow

| Switzerland defend mixed relay TTT world title despite crash for Reusser

Switzerland successfully defended their world title in the mixed relay team time trial in Glasgow this afternoon, setting the fastest time over the city centre course to beat France into second, with Germany taking the bronze medal.

Switzerland were the only team to select the exact same team as last year - Stefan Küng, Stefan Bissegger, Mauro Schmid, Elise Chabbey, Marlen Reusser and Nicole Koller - and the formula of strong time trialists proved to be a winning one once again. Not even a crash for Reusser could get in the way of victory, with the SD Worx rider quickly getting back on and rejoining her team to ride the final 13km of the women’s half of the race.

“I think we can be really proud,” Reusser said at the finish. “It’s one thing to win once, and to win twice, it shows that we have the strength and the skills - maybe except for me! We have a good team.”

“We knew [the course] by heart, especially after racing on it for ten laps on Sunday,” Küng added. “There were two different sections and on a TT bike with a TT helmet it’s a little bit different, but with Mauro and Stefan we knew each other really well, we did already the last two editions [of the mixed TTT], so we each trusted each other, but we also know that you don’t have to overcook it.”

The Swiss team was head and shoulders above most of the field, going 51 seconds faster than third-placed Germany, but they were pushed close by the French team who eventually claimed silver. Led by the likes of Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Rémi Cavagna, the French team spent a long stint in the hot seat, only dethroned by the final team and claiming their first medal in this discipline.

Losing their third riders early on in both the men’s and women’s portions of the race, the Italian team struggled to back up their previous success in the mixed TTT to finish fifth, whilst Great Britain finished fourth, led by track star Dan Bigham and local hero Anna Shackley.

| Harrie Lavreysen’s unbeaten streak continues as Great Britain regains Madison world title

It was an exciting evening on the track on Monday evening with the Netherland’s Harrie Lavreysen continuing his winning streak in the men’s sprint, whilst home team Great Britain added to their haul with wins in the Madison and the elimination race.

The first able-bodied final of the session played out in dramatic fashion, with Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon crashing early on in the elimination race, before coming back to win the race and bag a rainbow jersey. Next up was the men’s individual sprint, where Great Britain’s Jack Carlin beat out Poland’s Mateusz Rudyk for bronze, whilst in the final it was Harrie Lavreysen who beat Nicholas Paul (Trinidad and Tobago) to take the title, his fifth consecutive rainbow jersey in the discipline.

Elinor Barker and Neah Evans took gold for Team GB in the Madison. Photo: © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

The women’s Madison wrapped up the able-bodied programme in what was another hotly-contested but crash-strewn race. The second of two major crashes saw the race neutralised with fewer than 10 laps to go, so it was then a hectic battle when racing resumed. The win was still up for grabs going into the final lap, and in the end it was a masterful ride from Great Britain that earnt gold for Elinor Barker and Neah Evans, GB’s first world title in this event since 2014. Australia took silver just three points behind the British pair, whilst France claimed bronze.

In the para-cycling programme, the men’s C5 individual pursuit kicked off proceedings, where Yehor Dementyev took gold. France’s Alexandre Léauté extended his list of career achievements with gold in the C2 1km time trial, adding to the individual pursuit and Omnium titles he’s already won at these championships. Keiko Sugiura (Japan) won the women’s C3 500m time trial, before Australia’s Emily Petricola took victory in the C4 individual pursuit. It was another medal for Great Britain in the men’s B tandem sprint as Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham beat the German pair for gold. Scratch races closed out the session, with Spanish veteran Ricardo Ten winning the men’s C1 race, whilst Australia’s Alana Forster took gold in the women’s C5 event.

| Tuesday morning track round-up

As usual, the early session at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome featured a mix of qualifications, quarter and semi finals, before more medals are handed out this evening. In the mixed C team sprint, China qualified fastest and will face Great Britain for gold, whilst Spain and France will battle for bronze. In the B team sprint, Great Britain are in the gold medal race again, against Italy, whilst bronze will go to either Malaysia or the United States.

In the able-bodied programme, Jeffrey Hoogland (Netherlands) topped the 1km time trial qualifications ahead of Matt Glaetzer (Australia) with the top eight ready to contest the medals this evening. The women’s sprint quarters and semis saw Emma Finucane (Great Britain), Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) and the German duo of Emma Hinze and Lea Sophie Friedrich through the finals, whilst the likes of Sophie Capewell (Great Britain) and Mathilde Gros (France) were knocked out.

| Mathieu van der Poel will race short track cross-country mountain bike on Thursday

After winning the road race on Sunday, newly-crowned world champion Mathieu van der Poel could don another rainbow jersey as soon as Thursday as he has been confirmed to line up for the mountain biking short track cross-country (XCC) race in Glentress.

Mathieu van der Poel training on the Glentress cross-country course on Tuesday. Photo: © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Van der Poel’s participation in the short, fast cross-country race was initially subject to qualification, which was due to take place on Tuesday, but the qualification was cancelled after too low a number of riders registered to participate - instead, all registered riders are able to take part in the final on Thursday.

Having not raced any XCC races so far this season, Van der Poel will race as an unranked rider, meaning he will start on the back row. He will then race the cross-country Olympic (XCO) event on Sunday, chasing another title and an important victory as he hopes to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

| Egan Bernal on Ineos Grenadiers’ Vuelta a España shortlist

GCN has learned that Egan Bernal is on the Ineos Grenadiers shortlist for the Vuelta a España and is training hard in a bid to earn selection.

Bernal is enjoying a comeback season after a career-threatening crash at the start of 2022. The former Tour de France and Giro d’Italia winner raced this year’s Tour as part of his continued rehabilitation and finished 36th overall in Paris. He has enjoyed a number of consistent performances in week-long stage races this year but has not appeared at the Vuelta a España since 2021.

Bernal, 26, hasn’t raced back-to-back Grand Tours at any point in his career and it’s still unclear if he will be selected for the Vuelta at this point. However, Ineos Grenadiers has confirmed to GCN that Bernal is on the team’s shortlist with Geraint Thomas set to lead the team after his second place at the Giro d’Italia. The core of the Ineos team for the Vuelta is likely to come from the recent Tour de Pologne squad, which included the likes of Thomas and Pavel Sivakov.

| Jonathan Milan signs with Lidl-Trek until 2026

Lidl-Trek today announced the signing of Italian sprinter and track rider Jonathan Milan from Bahrain-Victorious, on a deal that will see him ride for the team through to the end of 2026.

Jonathan Milan took home the ciclamino jersey from the Giro d’Italia in May. Photo: © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Milan, who is currently competing at the Track World Championships in Glasgow and has already picked up a bronze medal, will hope to bolster Lidl-Trek’s sprinting ambitions and support Mads Pedersen in the Classics, as well as building towards the Paris Olympics. Milan has risen to the top of the sprinting field this year, winning a stage and the points classification at the Giro d’Italia earlier in the season.

“My biggest wish for my new adventure with Lidl-Trek is to get results, grow and enjoy what I do,” Milan said of the move. “I am confident that I have made the best choice to achieve these goals. I believe that feeling fulfilled in what you do is the key to doing better and better. It’s like lighting a fuse. In short, I want to end on a high note this great year and then throw myself headlong into the new chapter of my career.”

| First Spanish Tour de France winner Federico Bahamontes dies aged 95

Widely regarded as one of the greatest climbers of all time, Federico Bahamontes has died at the age of 95, Spanish officials confirmed on Tuesday morning. Bahamontes won the Tour de France in 1959, becoming the first Spanish rider to win the race.

During his career, he won 11 Grand Tour stages and the mountains classification at all three Grand Tours - including six times at the Tour - building a reputation as one of the sport’s best-ever climbers and earning himself the nickname ‘the Eagle of Toledo’. The mayor of Toledo, Carlos Velázquez, announced two days of mourning to mark the death of the city’s “adopted son”.

“We will honour his memory with two days of official mourning, as a sign of pain and recognition of all the people of Toledo,” Velázquez said in a Tweet. “Thanks to him we all won the Tour. Our deepest condolences to his loved ones. May he rest in peace.”

Bahamontes returned to the forefront of cycling’s mind this summer when the Tour de France visited the Puy de Dôme, a climb the Spaniard conquered on his way to winning the yellow jersey. His time, 36 minutes and 15 seconds, still stands strong in the modern era, faster than this year’s Puy de Dôme stage winner Michael Woods and only three minutes slower than the current record.

And that’s all for today! Check back tomorrow for the latest from Glasgow and around the world of cycling.