World Championship U23 time trial: Johan Price-Pejtersen delivers for Denmark

Pre-race favorite Johan Price-Pejtersen delivered on Danish expectation and stormed to victory in the U23 world championships time trial Monday.

Price-Pejtersen, 22, bettered Luke Plapp (Australia) and Florian Vermeersch (Belgium) in the 30.3km test after also winning the European U23 TT title earlier this month.

Price-Pejtersen – who is currently racing his second pro season with Uno-X – continued the Danish winning streak in the U23 worlds time trial by succeeding three-time winner Mikkel Bjerg.

“It’s really satisfying, in the past I’ve been in the shadows because he [Bjerg] has been better than me. I could beat him sometimes but he was always best in the worlds. But when I had a clear shot without him I’m really satisfied I could put up the pace and take the win,” Price-Pejtersen said.

“Also for Denmark to keep the title – I think we’ve won five out of six time trial championships – it’s really important for the national team as well.”

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Like in the elite men’s race Sunday, the U23 test came down to fine margins Monday. Price-Pejtersen was last to roll down the ramp in Knokke-Heist after starting the race as the standout favorite and knocked Plapp off the top step of the podium after the Aussie had spent a long spell in the hotseat.

Plapp was one of the early starters of the day and had ridden a strong negative split, blasting the second half of the course to set the fastest time of the day. Plapp edged American contender Magnus Sheffield off the seat after the New Yorker had raced to a time that would eventually leave him in 10th, less than one minute slower than the winning time.

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Vermeersch was in the final five racers and came back from a slow start to finish just two seconds slower than Plapp as the Aussie endured a long, nervy spell in the hotseat.

Plapp wasn’t to survive Price-Pejtersen’s ride, however. The 22-year-old rode a near-perfect race, coming through the first intermediate check three seconds slower than Plapp before turning on the burners in the back half of the race to win by 10 seconds and continue the Danish domination over the discipline.