The time-trial events have brought in some surprises in the World Championships, and one was that Norway has so far conquered both men's events, as
Soren Waerenskjold took the under-23 title today.
“I knew you had to be fast in the corners. I also got a tip from Tobias [Foss]. He said you should save a little bit for the climbs and use the descents to slow down a bit. Also to save some energy for the last lap," the 22-year old said in a post-race interview. Following the shocking success of his compatriot Tobias Foss in the Elite race, Norway has once again worked through a successful strategy as Uno-X Pro Cycling Team's Waerenskjold took the win on the day.
Like Foss, he started off his effort some seconds behind the competition, but on the second lap of the Wollongong circuit he turned up the gas and started taking time on his rivals. He arrived at the finish with the best time, and then eagerly awaited the arrival of Alec Segaert who proved to be the closes rival to the Norwegian.
“I was worried because he had a good start. But I knew I had a good last lap. A lot of emotions went through me," he said of those minutes. "You think you're coming second, you're losing, and then you think again, maybe I'm going to win. It goes up and down. But when I saw the red numbers, I was very relieved.”
At the end of the day Waerenskjold was 17 seconds faster than the Belgian, and went on to conquer the gold medal. He had the Norwegian road race title in the under-23 ranks and a stage at the Tour de l'Avenir this year, and now he's added another very important achievement to his palmarès.