After this morning’s bronze medal for Emma Norsgaard Jørgensen in the junior time trial, the Denmark national team wanted to keep their winning streak… and they did it. Racing at home, Pernille Mathiesen and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig got the gold and silver medals in the U23 time trial at the European Road Championships, held in Herning.
Mathiesen, who shone in the international field for the first time in 2014, getting the silver medal at the Ponferrada junior ITT World Championship, stopped the clock with a time of 41:28, placing herself in the hot seat very early… and what she didn’t know is that she wouldn’t leave that seat until the podium ceremony.
All the favorite riders but her started their time trial in the final part of the competition, but none of them could beat Mathiesen. Clara Koppenburg (Germany) approached Mathiesen’s time, although she finished 42 seconds later than the Danish. With only seven riders to go and knowing the intermediate times, only Mathiesen’s compatriot Uttrup Ludwig, plus German Lisa Klein, still had chances of winning the gold.
But neither Uttrup Ludwig nor Klein could. The German rider seemed to be the fastest rider in the first half of the course, but in spite of that her final time was 12 seconds slower than Mathiesen. Uttrup Ludwig, who had a little incident with the cars which were supposed to be opening the road for her, didn’t reach the central place of the podium for just 4 seconds.
The only Spanish rider who competed in the time trial, Sandra Alonso, ended up in 24th place at 6:06 from Mathiesen.