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On Friday our contingent in the men’s individual time trial will be led by the specialist in the event, Víctor Campenaerts. The 28-year-old Belgian won the bronze medal in 2018 and will naturally seek greater honors in 2020. He will face some very tough competition from players like Rohan Dennis, Filippo Ganna, Tom Dumoulin, Stefan Kung, Geraint Thomas as well as his compatriot Wout van Aert, among others.
Campenaerts will be joined by German Max Walscheid, who recently completed his Tour de France debut. The 26-year-old will also compete in Sunday’s road race.
The road race is just under 260km, including around 5000m of elevation gain, and will be a serious test for the field. Mads Pedersen (Denmark) will not be available to defend his title, but NTT Pro Cycling’s Michael Valgren will likely take a leading role in Danish attempts to retain the jersey.
Nicholas Dlamini and Louis Meintjes will fly the South African flag as they are two participants. The former continues to consolidate its racing season with the most advanced look on the way back to the Vuelta a España. Meanwhile, for Meintjes it will be, surprisingly, his first appearance in a senior World Championship. In 2013 he finished second in the U23 race behind Matej Mohoric when the event was his last in Italy and he finished not far from this year’s edition in Florence.
Also flying his country’s flag high will be Amanuel Ghebreighzabhier for Eritrea. He will line up alongside former teammates Natnael Berhane and Merhawi Kudus on a field that should suit the styles of all three.
Finally, the event promises to be emotional for Enrico Gasparotto, 38. He will proudly represent Switzerland in his first appearance at the World Championship and has been hard at work preparing with his colleagues on the national team for the event.
Individual time trial: Friday, September 25
Max Walscheid – 14:37:30
Victor Campenaerts – 15:37:30
Men’sroadrace – Sunday 27 September
Starts: 09:40
QUOTES
Louis meintjes
I am looking forward to competing in my first elite professional World Championship. It is always something special and something that I really want to do at least once in my life. This year seems like a good route, so I hope I can go there and have a good race.
Haven’t seen the trail yet, but in theory it should be good, lots of climbs! The objective of the day is to try to be happy with my route, since we are not going to go with a great team, so the odds are a little accumulated. She bit against us, but if I can finish the race and be in the front (group), then I will be very happy. My legs were pretty good in Tirreno, so I hope to feel the same and hope that everything works out for the day.
Nicolas Dlamini
Representing South Africa at the World Championships has always been something special (for me). This year ‘World is a particularly difficult and challenging course and given the fun season we’ve had, things get a bit tricky.
Louis and I just have to do our best and see what we can get out of the day. Just finishing the race is already an achievement with 5000m of climbing, so I imagine not many people will finish. I hope I am wrong, but the course is very tough and I hope we can get a good result and make South Africa proud. There will be many challenges that we will have to face.
For me, I plan to run from the getaway, go up the road. Every time the strong guys from the platoon decide to go, they may come across us and maybe by that time the group will have shrunk and we can get something out of that instead of just dropping from the platoon. I think there will be some guys that will fly out of the Tour de France, so I basically want to race from the front.
I think to finish the race and maybe aim for a top 20 as a goal, I think I would be very happy with that given the course as I know it favors light climbers.
Victor Campenaerts
After Tirreno-Adriatico (where he finished second in the final stage time trial) I stayed in Italy, since where we finished is only 200 km from Imola. I had a very good recovery after that race and I feel super, in good shape and the parcours (route) suits me very well.
So I’m looking forward to rock and roll for 20 miles on Friday.
Max walscheid
I am very happy to have been selected for my first World Championship. I was summoned late on Sunday night after the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysees; Nikias Arndt, who was supposed to start, has to take a break and I was next in line.
I don’t feel any pressure since it is my first World Championship, I think the parcours (course) suits me well and I will go as fast as possible. I don’t have crazy expectations for the race, but it would be amazing if I could be in the top 20; It’s a very high-profile starting line-up, so we’ll try to do my best possible race.
I think I came off the Tour de France well, but obviously it was not long ago, so hopefully I have recovered, my legs are good and I am looking forward to it.
AmanuelGhebreigzabhier
I am very happy to be here to represent my country at the World Championships, along with my teammates. I didn’t do anything special in terms of preparations for the World Championships, but I’ve done quite well, so I’m ready to give it my all on Sunday.
I just want to thank everyone for the incredible support that we continue to receive and I hope everyone feels proud at Imola.
Michael Valgren
I am very proud to represent the Danish national team as it is always a great honor to wear the red and white jersey and go fight for your country.
It was obviously a tough Tour de France, but hopefully I have recovered well and have good legs (on Sunday). The expectation for the race is that we have a strong team, I want to do well and I hope to have a good feeling again after the Tour and with a view to the races to come.
Enrico Gasparotto
First of all, I am very excited to participate in the World Championship and as it is the first time I have participated in this event, for me it is something very special. It will be even more special because I am with the Swiss team, at the World Cup, in Italy, so I think the location can give additional meaning (to me) for this particular event.
I am very happy to be racing through Switzerland as that is where I live and my wife is also Swiss so somehow I have the opportunity to give something back to Switzerland because at this point the country is giving me a lot.
I’m very excited and I’m just trying to keep my balance and not be too enthusiastic. Once the team reunites, it will be exciting, but I know that as soon as we get on the bike, we focus solely on the race. I really hope to travel home on Sunday very happy with my performance and why not include a result.
* Audio clips of the above quotes are available upon request.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of NTT Pro Cycling.
Media Contact: Jean Smyth (Head of Communications) Email: [email protected] Mobile: +27 63 4701 1710 or +31625739033
About NTT Pro Cycling: Founded in 2007, NTT Pro Cycling (http://www.NTTProCycling.com) (formerly Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) became the first African cycling team to obtain a WorldTour license, in 2016. With Backed by our title sponsor and technology innovation partner, NTT, we are the most purpose-driven, performance-oriented, and technology-enabled team in professional cycling today.
Our ambition is to continue to compete at the highest levels of world cycling, to develop cyclists to their full potential, and to inspire and motivate people across the African continent to ride bikes.
We have bases in South Africa, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy.
We also traveled to raise awareness of Qhubeka, a global charity operating in South Africa, through our #BicyclesChangeLives campaign.
The hands on the back of the team’s race jersey are a reminder that each Qhubeka bike is an aid to a beneficiary, provided through Qhubeka’s learn to win and work to win programs.
About Qhubeka: Qhubeka (https://Qhubeka.org/) is a charity that propels people forward with bicycles. People get bikes through our programs, improving their access to schools, clinics, and jobs.
A bicycle is a tool that helps people travel faster and farther, and carry more things. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can change lives by helping to address socio-economic challenges at the most basic level, helping people get where they need to go.
About NTT Ltd .: NTT Ltd. (https://hello.global.NTT/) is a global technology services company that brings together the expertise of leaders in the field, including NTT Communications, Dimension Data, and NTT Security. We partner with organizations around the world to shape and achieve results through smart technology solutions. For us, smart means data-driven, connected, digital and secure. As a global ICT provider, we employ more than 40,000 people in a diverse and dynamic workplace and provide services in more than 200 countries and regions. Together we enable the connected future.
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