Ganna drags the three men, Italy is ahead halfway through the race, then the comeback of Germany and Holland. Switzerland beaten at the photo finish
BRUGES. Bronze, a painful but still great world bronze. The Italian trio with Filippo Ganna flies, the female one with the Friulian Elena Cecchini tries to defend itself but nothing can do on the return of the rivals of Germany (gold) and Holland (bronze) in the “mixed relay” the mixed time trial at the World Cycling Championships in Flanders , but for five cents they win a large bronze medal. Five cents after 44 km flown between men and women in front of Switzerland.
And so the collection of world and European medals for the 29 year old from Mereto di Tomba continues. The race is very fast, 22 km for the Azzurri with Filippo Ganna, Matteo Sobrero and Edoardo Affini who, compared to the golden train of two weeks ago at the European Championships in Trento, took the place of the Friulian Alessandro De Marchi. Objective: to close the first fraction in front and leave a nice nest egg to the other Friulian Cecchini, Marta Cavalli and Elisa Longoborghini.
The goal is centered. If Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland and Denmark are running on the edge of the seconds, Italy already in the middle of the first fraction is ahead of 12 “over Germany, 20 over Belgium and one more over the dreaded Holland which, among women, has a trio of stars with Van Dijk, Rjekanne and Van Vleuten.
They have to recover 42 seconds from the blue, however, because Ganna and his associates give their “colleagues” a 42 second advantage in the middle of the race, after trains at sixty per hour on the endless straights at over 55 per hour that lead to Bruges from the sea. Venice of the North. However, Germany is scary.
Led by a Tony Martin, star of the hands at the last performance, the train closes just 20 ”from the blues and gives colleagues Brennauer, Kein and Kroger a beautiful time. In fact, the Germans immediately make up the gap and after 13 km, practically halfway through the women’s race, the Italians are behind by 15 seconds with Switzerland at only 6 ”.
Holland goes to the intermediate and freezes Italian hopes because Van Vleuten and partners eliminate the 42-second gap on the Italians, who with that kind of specialists have to run in defense, and start to compete for the title against the Germans because now the seconds only 15. In short, with the Dutch in a great comeback, even the podium is at risk for the blue.
The finish is bronze, Cecchini comes off exhausted at the last kilometer, Cavalli and Longoborghini give everything and the bronze arrives to Italy and gold, a little surprisingly to Germany for the right triumph for Tony Martin’s career, which beats the favorite Netherlands.