Ireland’s Ryan Mullen and Mads Würtz Schmidt of Denmark are joint favourites to capture the U23 Time Trial title at the World Championships in Richmond today according to www.bet365.com.
They have both been given odds of 5-2 to win with Filippo Ganna of Italy next best at 7-1 and Steven Lammertink of the Netherlands at 12-1.
Würtz Schmidt has taken a number of notable victories this season including the Danish U23 time trial title, and the time trial in the Tour of Denmark where he beat both Chris Juul-Jensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Trefor – Blue Water) by 15 seconds. More recently, Würtz Schmidt won a road stage of the Tour de l’Avenir so is clearly in good form.
Ganna is also in very good form. Last weekend, he took the win in a UCI 1.2 time trial, the Chrono Champenois Masculin International. Steven Lammertink meanwhile, has had a phenomenal season. He won the European U23 time trial championships in August. He has also taken wins in the Dutch U23 time trial championships and a stage and GC in the Tour de Berlin.
Mullen is deservedly joint favourite having come so close to taking the title last year. He was beaten by 0.5 secs by Australia’s Campbell Flakemore. He’s also the current Irish time trial champion. He also came close to getting a podium finish in the European Championships. If he can manage to win the Worlds, he would join a small band of Irish riders to have ever claimed World titles.
