Tobias Foss (Norway) was the surprise winner of the men's TT world title in Australia early this morning while Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands retained the women's crown she won in Belgium last year.
While riders like Vuelta winner Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Stefan Küng (Switzerland) and defending champion Filippo Ganna (Italy) were the favourties going into the men's race, 25-year-old Foss pulled the perfect performance out of the bag to surprise even himself and won the rainbow bands. The Tour de l'Avenir winner of three years ago, Foss said he had been hoping for a top 10 placing in the TT and perhaps a top five.
Related News
However, he ended the 34.2km TT in Wollongong with three seconds to spare over Küng while Evenepoel took bronze at nine seconds. Ganna could only manage 7th at 56 seconds.
In the women's race, van Dijk claimed victory from Grace Brown of host nation Australia; just 12 seconds separating them over the same course as the men. Marlen Reusser of Switzerland, who beat van Dijk to the European title earlier this year, claimed the bronze medal at 41 seconds.
One of the big pre-race favourites, Olympic TT champion Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands, had an off day and finished in 7th place, at 1:43.
