Alec Segaert on the ITT defeat: "The course certainly does not lie, the strongest won today"

For the second year in a row, Alec Segaert finished second at the U23 time trial World Championships. This time the Belgian was the big favorite, but eventually lost to the Italian Lorenzo Milesi.

"I came to win and gave everything, but eleven seconds is a clear margin," said Segaert in conversation with Sporza. "The course certainly does not lie, the strongest won today."

Segaert got off to a good start though. “I had started ambitiously and that was the intention. That immediately gave me confidence and I quickly had Italian in front of me, that also gave a boost. But at the end I had less left than I had hoped."

"I tried to follow the plan as closely as possible, but it was a struggle to the end. It was still possible at the end, but I fell off a little more than hoped," says Segaert. "Every split was very close, so you know you have to get the most out of it. Only I felt that I was coming to a standstill."

Milesi's victory comes as no surprise to Segaert. "He is a strong rider, I have met him before and he has beaten me before. That is why I always take him into account and I also wish him well," he says. "In the back of my mind I kept in mind that he was a contender, but after last year's European and World Championships I had put myself slightly above it. But I got everything out, on to next year," he concludes.