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World Championships, Austria

Time Trial, Salzburg, 50.8K

21 September

Cancellara Caps Season with Rainbow

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2005 Results

Signor Paris-Roubaix, Fabian Cancellara, swiped the stripes to become the 2006 World Time Trial Champion. The 25 year-old Swiss capped off a wonderful season, which included a solo stomp in northern France; claiming gold in Salzburg by one and a half minutes over American (and CSC teammate) David Zabriskie. Rounding out the podium, in third was 2006 Vuelta a España champion Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan). The Italians finished further down; Vincenzo Nibali in 16th at 3'27" and Marco Pinotti in 20th at 3'52".

Cancellara was one of the pre-race favorites going into today's rolling 50.83 kilometer parcours, but he was by no means the out and out man to watch. There were riders like Zabriskie (going off at 15.00), Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary, 15.04), David Millar (Britain, 15.06), Vuelta winner Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan, 15.08), Iván Gutiérrez (Spain, 15.10), Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland, 15.12) and 3X Champion Michael Rogers (Australia, 15.14).

Dane Brian Vandborg held the early best time (at 1:02'04") until Americano David Zabriskie stormed home to post a time 23 seconds faster. The American, who rides on the same trade team as Vandborg, looked darn fast and it was going to take a lighting time to oust him.

Bodrogi and Millar were way off pace. The rider from Britain looked nowhere near the form that took him to a stage win in the Vuelta a España. Crossing the second time check at 46'46" in 13th was not going to give him the gold medal. In fact, when seeing Millar approach the line with a certain Kazakh hot on his heels, we were guaranteed not to see him even on the podium.

The Kazakh was Vuelta champion Vinokourov, who stared two minutes back on Millar. Vino, hoping to pull of the Vuelta-Worlds double, blazed the latter half of the course. The 34 year-old Kazakh rode impressively, finishing the day third to two time trial specialists.

Spaniard Iván Gutiérrez was a pre-race favorite but was off the form that brought him silver in the 2005 Worlds. In fact, the Spaniard suffered a blow when he was caught by his two-minute man. That man was none other than our new World Crono Champion, Cancellara.

The 25 year-old Swiss smashed the best times through all the time checks. The closest anyone came to the Swiss was Zabriskie, where at the second time check he stayed 56 seconds behind his CSC teammate. Approaching Mirabellplatz and the finish, Cancellara had 1'30" on Zabriskie's early time of 1:01'41". Cancellara covered the 50.83 kilometer parcours in exactly one hour and eleven seconds, the only rider to hit the one hour marker.

It was an amazing bit of riding that could not even be topped by three-time world champion, Michael Rogers of Australia. Rogers was having an off Worlds and will have to wait until 2007 to have a crack at his fourth world title. The Aussie, known to have a strong engine in the later-half of a crono, could not lift himself up to even manage a podium spot, ending the Worlds with a time of 1:02'43" in 8th.

The Italians... After devoting the second half of his 2006 season to Worlds preparations, we were saddened by Pino's ride, 3'52" back. The upshot is Nibali, who in only his second year as a professional, on the longest crono he has ever ridden, managed to finish 16th at 3'27".

Results:
1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 1:00'11".75 (50.664 K/h)
2 David Zabriskie (USA) 1.29.97
3 Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) 1.49.72
4 Brian Vandborg (Denmark) 1.53.10
5 Sebastian Lang (Germany) 2.08.85
6 Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) 2.13.65
7 Leif Hoste (Belgium) 2.31.28
8 Michael Rogers (Australia) 2.31.86
9 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) 2.45.03
10 Vladimir Gusev (Russia) 2.53.71
11 Andrey Kashechkin (Kazakhstan) 2.54.05
12 Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia) 2.57.36
13 Stijn Devolder (Belgium) 2.57.87
14 Iván Gutiérrez (Spain) 3.07.46
15 David Millar (Great Britain) 3.21.99
16 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) 3.27.01
17 David George (South Africa) 3.34.13
18 Robert Hunter (South Africa) 3.39.83
19 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) 3.51.02
20 Marco Pinotti (Italy) 3.52.81
21 Ben Day (Australia) 3.53.42
22 Ryder Hesjedal (Canada) 4.12.29
23 Peter Luttenberger (Austria) 4.12.82
24 Stef Clement (Netherlands) 4.16.13
25 Gustav Erik Larsson (Sweden) 4.23.46
26 Christopher Baldwin (USA) 4.41.82
27 Andreas Klöden (Germany) 4.42.21
28 Svein Tuft (Canada) 4.45.57
29 Thomas Lövkvist (Sweden) 4.59.26
30 David O'Loughlin (Ireland) 5.02.61
31 Alexander Bespalov (Russia) 5.05.62
32 Ondrej Sosenka (Czech Republic) 5.15.38
33 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukraine) 5.16.21
34 Marlon Pérez (Colombia) 5.27.37
35 Ruslan Ivanov (Moldova) 5.30.08
36 Adrian Bonilla (Costa Rica) 5.32.69
37 Denis Shkarpeta (Uzbekistan) 5.45.81
38 Matti Helminen (Finland) 5.55.23
39 David Mccann (Ireland) 6.01.39
40 Frantisek Rabon (Czech Republic) 6.17.06
41 Christophe Kern (France) 6.25.95
42 Joost Posthuma (Netherlands) 6.37.14
43 Knut Anders Fostervold (Norway) 6.40.17
44 Benoît Vaugrenard (France) 6.42.55
45 Michael Schär (Switzerland) 6.44.76
46 Gregor Gazvoda (Slovenia) 7.00.93
47 Thomas Rohregger (Austria) 7.34.86
48 Pedro Nicacio (Brazil) 8.38.05
49 Erik Hoffmann (Namibia) 8.42.32
50 Zoltan Remak (Slovakia) 9.05.05
51 Csaba Szekeres (Hungary) 9.05.90
52 Vitaly Kornilov (Latvia) 12.13.37
DNS Piotr Mazur (Poland)

Time Check: 10.1 K
1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 13.58.92
2 David Zabriskie (USA) 0.18.01
3 Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) 0.22.30
4 Sebastian Lang (Germany) 0.25.07
5 Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia) 0.25.48
6 Leif Hoste (Belgium) 0.25.62
7 Michael Rogers (Australia) 0.26.48
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) 0.27.74
9 Iván Gutiérrez (Spain) 0.32.74
10 Brian Vandborg (Denmark) 0.35.43

Time Check: 35 K
1 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) 44:13'71"
2 David Zabriskie (USA) 0.56.20
3 Alexander Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) 1.25.95
4 Brian Vandborg (Denmark) 1.34.59
5 Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus)
6 Michael Rogers (Australia) 1.37.42
7 Sebastian Lang (Germany) 1.43.60
8 Andriy Grivko (Ukraine) 1.48.81
9 Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia) 1.52.54