Two medals for U.S. as German Appelt wins junior TT

RICHMOND, Virginia (VN) — The American contingent of junior riders has been cleaning up at UCI World Road Championships, as Adrien Costa and Brandon McNulty earned silver and bronze medals, respectively, in Tuesday’s time trial. Germany’s Leo Appelt won the 30-kilometer test by 17 seconds in Richmond, Virginia. McNulty, of Phoenix, finished 42 seconds behind his compatriot, who hails from Bend, Oregon.

Top-10 results

• 1. Leo Appelt, Germany, in 37:45.01
• 2. Adrien Costa, United States Of America, at :17.22
• 3. Brandon Mcnulty, United States Of America, at :59.74
• 4. Keagan Girdlestone, South Africa, at 1:07.73
• 5. Gino Mader, Switzerland, at 1:11.38
• 6. Jasper Philipsen, Belgium, at 1:22.48
• 7. Niklas Larsen, Denmark, at 1:34.70
• 8. Tobias Foss, Norway, at 1:35.73
• 9. Ilya Gorbushin, Kazakhstan, at 1:52.67
• 10. Alexys Brunel, France, at 1:52.82

It was Costa’s second silver in as many years. The Oregon native, who speaks fluent French and conducted half his post-race interview in the language, was hoping for one better this year but put the second silver into perspective.

“It’s bittersweet,” Costa said. “I want to go one better, but to be able to podium two years in a row, I can’t be too bummed about it.

“I was super motivated going into it, with it being in the U.S., and the pressure of being second-to-last year. I knew I had to keep my head level in the first part, which I think I did well. I just ramped it up. My TT really started on the bridge on the first lap; that’s when I started to really suffer.”

Moderate, gusty winds had riders spinning out their smaller junior gears as they crossed the Robert E. Lee bridge on the way out of Richmond, and struggling into a block headwind on the return leg. Conditions were variable, and timing of the gusts affected overall times.

“I thought I kept it going pretty well, but coming back on the bridge the second time, I was doing the same power as on the first lap but I was going 3km slower,” Costa said. “But I think I left it all out there.”

McNulty, 17, earned bronze with a time of 38:44, 59.74 seconds behind Appelt. “It feels great, amazing. It’s my first worlds,” he said after the race.

“It was 30k, so longer than anything I’ve done. I had to conserve on the first lap. On the way out of town I was spun out on the junior gears, going 60km an hour. Coming back on the first lap into the headwind I knew I had to drill it, because that’s where a lot of time could be lost. I conserved a bit though the city, then hit it pretty hard up the hill, and did the same thing a bit harder on the second lap. You had to kill it up that hill,” he said.

The pair of medals brings the total U.S. junior medal count to four of an available six. On Monday, two junior women from the U.S. team collected gold and silver medals in the individual time trial.

“We have a bright future ahead, definitely,” McNulty said.

Full results

• 1. Leo Appelt, Germany, in 37:45.01
• 2. Adrien Costa, United States Of America, at :17.22
• 3. Brandon Mcnulty, United States Of America, at :59.74
• 4. Keagan Girdlestone, South Africa, at 1:07.73
• 5. Gino Mader, Switzerland, at 1:11.38
• 6. Jasper Philipsen, Belgium, at 1:22.48
• 7. Niklas Larsen, Denmark, at 1:34.70
• 8. Tobias Foss, Norway, at 1:35.73
• 9. Ilya Gorbushin, Kazakhstan, at 1:52.67
• 10. Alexys Brunel, France, at 1:52.82
• 11. Toms GavarsEriks, Latvia, at 1:57.81
• 12. Matteo Sobrero, Italy, at 2:01.35
• 13. Michael Storer, Australia, at 2:04.62
• 14. Javier Montoya, Colombia, at 2:07.57
• 15. Vadim Pronskiy, Kazakhstan, at 2:15.15
• 16. Julian Cardona, Colombia, at 2:16.07
• 17. Stan Dewulf, Belgium, at 2:16.10
• 18. Pavel Sivakov, Russian Federation, at 2:18.68
• 19. Wojciech SajnokSzymon, Poland, at 2:20.32
• 20. Torjus Sleen, Norway, at 2:29.71
• 21. Robert Stannard, New Zealand, at 2:30.33
• 22. Nikolay Ilichev, Russian Federation, at 2:30.72
• 23. Pablo Alonso, Spain, at 2:35.13
• 24. James Fouche, New Zealand, at 2:38.24
• 25. Max Singer, Germany, at 2:45.33
• 26. Louis Louvet, France, at 2:49.95
• 27. Derek Gee, Canada, at 2:54.67
• 28. Stefan Bissegger, Switzerland, at 2:57.87
• 29. Jakub Otruba, Czech Republic, at 3:04.92
• 30. Mehdi ChokriEl, Morocco, at 3:10.58
• 31. Sergey Rostovtsev, Russian Federation, at 3:10.84
• 32. Anthon Charmig, Denmark, at 3:11.09
• 33. Nicola Conci, Italy, at 3:15.33
• 34. Felix Gall, Austria, at 3:16.75
• 35. Patrick Gamper, Austria, at 3:21.85
• 36. Gustav Andersson, Sweden, at 3:24.55
• 37. Mouhcine ElKouraji, Morocco, at 3:56.79
• 38. Michael O’loughlin, Ireland, at 3:59.72
• 39. Islam Mansouri, Algeria, at 4:02.51
• 40. Antonio Barac, Bosnia And Herzegovina, at 4:09.81
• 41. David Gabor D.Kovacs, Hungary, at 4:17.08
• 42. Gregory DeVink, South Africa, at 4:23.28
• 43. Simon Tuomey, Ireland, at 4:28.72
• 44. Masahiro Ishigami, Japan, at 4:31.70
• 45. Keitaro Sawada, Japan, at 4:36.50
• 46. Joel Taylor, Canada, at 4:36.52
• 47. Harry Sweeny, Australia, at 4:52.25
• 48. Tegsh-bayar Batsaikhan, Mongolia, at 5:12.00
• 49. Erik Sierra, Ecuador, at 5:44.51
• 50. Santiago YeriMingo, Argentina, at 6:25.22
• 51. Bryan Portilla, Ecuador, at 6:32.91
• 52. Pedro MonteiroMartins, Brazil, at 6:37.63
• 53. Oussama Mansouri, Algeria, at 6:38.48
• 54. Patompob Phonarjthan, Thailand, at 7:09.00
• 55. De Oliveira Filho M. Pessoa, Brazil, at 7:17.98
• 56. Yuttana Mano, Thailand, at 8:52.07
• 57. Jern-e ChuaMerrill, Singapore, at 9:31.86