The spectators at Sechseläutenplatz drummed loudly on the barriers and advertising boards to send the last starters in the mixed relay off the start ramp with this cheering. The defending champions, the home team from Switzerland. It was the hope of a first medal for the hosts in the elite races. But strictly speaking, the Swiss were already out of the race before it started - something the enthusiastic fans may not have realised.
The first decisions about titles and medals had already been made in the days and weeks beforehand. Marlen Reusser had tearfully explained in a TV interview that she had been unable to compete at the World Championships due to her long Covid illness. Instead of crowning her career with the longed-for World Championship title in her home country, the 33-year-old Swiss athlete was left with the role of spectator.
Home World Championships without Marlen Reusser
"Without Marlen Reusser as the locomotive, defending the title will be difficult," said Patrick Müller, Head of Sport at the Swiss Cycling Federation. She recently won gold twice in the mixed relay. And at the winners' press conference last year, Reusser and team-mate Stefan Küng emphasised how important it was for them to start and succeed in the team competition - also to give something back to the national cycling federation for years of support. Because no other competition like this combination of two team time trials for men and women shows so well why cycling is a team sport and why a world championship in national jerseys really expresses the performance of a national cycling team. "A really tough discipline", as Maximilian Schachmann reported after his debut in the relay.
The particular challenge in Zurich lay in the demanding course, which was a combination of aerodynamically optimised high-speed riding, climbing and riding technique tests as well as the fine-tuning of all participants. And Grace Brown, the newly crowned Australian world champion in the individual time trial, emphasised: "It's difficult to find three cyclists who are equally strong for a course like this." A selection that harmonises in terms of pacing and starts the race with a clear strategy - both on an unusually long climb and in high-speed rides with centimetre gaps between the extremely fast but difficult to control time trial bikes.
Heart-stopping final for gold
The guests in Switzerland showed how to deliver successful teamwork - for example the Australians around Brown and the Germans, who ultimately delivered a heart-stopping final for the World Championship title. "You could see it was going to be super close. I almost couldn't watch," Miguel Heidemann reported on the moments at the finish line when the German men and women had to watch on the screens to see whether the Australians would beat their best time. In the end, Grace Brown and Brodie Chapman crossed the finish line at Sechseläutenplatz a whole 0.85 seconds faster than the Germans - a tiny margin separated gold from silver. "Madness! Two teams race 56 kilometres and in the end the difference is less than the blink of an eye. What a density of performance!", summarised Schachmann. "Of course, it's always bitter when it's that close."
Combination of harmony and strategy
The German team had nothing to criticise, on the contrary. After the start, Schachmann had brought the formation up to speed as agreed, then youngster Marco Brenner took over as mountain guide on the long climb - the fine coordination led to the German trio setting the best split time. Brenner was left behind after his successful climbing shift - Schachmann and Heidemann continued at full throttle and handed over to the women's trio, eight seconds behind Australia and five behind the Italians. "I invented the three C's rule at the start: Concentration, communication, power," reported Schachmann after the work was done at the finish - the ingredients for a successful team time trial. "You have to be honest with each other," added the oldest member of the German team. This did not work for the French team. The weakening Audrey Cordon-Ragot failed to give her team-mates a free ride early on - the subsequent chase towards the medal ranks then came too late. All the top teams lost one of their riders early on - Germany's Franziska Koch, who was unable to keep up with Antonia Niedermaier's high pace early on in the climb; Niedermaier then almost single-handedly pulled the team into the race for gold. "I would have liked to have helped Antonia more," said Liane Lippert, who stayed behind her team-mate for a long time, weakened by digestive problems. Nevertheless, the German women's team managed the fastest time of all nations.
The mixed relay in figures
World champion Australia was ahead after 53.7 kilometres 0,85 seconds ahead of the German team - or to put it in terms of speed: the winners were 0.009 km/h faster.
Results
- Australia (Matthews, O'Connor, Vine/Brown, Chapman, Roseman-Gannon), 1:12:52 hrs (44.215 km/h)
- 2nd Germany (Brenner, Heidemann, Schachmann/Koch, Lippert, Niedermaier), +0.85 sec.
- Italy (Affini, Cattaneo, Ganna/Longo Borghini, Paladin, Realini), +8 sec.
- France, +23 sec.
- Denmark, +2:06 min.
Fancy more?
"The key to success was that André put together a relatively harmonious team that had never ridden together before," said Heidemann, adding: "Then you can also beat teams with very, very strong individuals." For example, the Italian selection, which had lined up with two-time time trial world champion Filippo Ganna and European champion Edoardo Affini, but lost a lot of time in the final with the women because mountain flea Gaia Realini could barely keep up with the rear wheel of speedy Elisa Longo Borghini. Despite the narrow defeat, the Germans were keen for more. "We showed a great performance together with the women. That was cool for us and for German cycling. I'm looking forward to the next time," summarised Schachmann. Grace Brown, Olympic and world champion in the individual time trial, still sees room for improvement: "I like the idea of doing something together with the men. But you could make this event even more exciting. Many nations have not entered any teams." For example, the cycling nations of the Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain decided not to take part this time.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
