Armstrong, Thorburn give U.S. women best-ever road world’s result
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American women had their best-ever result in a world road championship on Wednesday when Kristin Armstrong was first and teammate Christine Thorburn third in the time trial at the 2006 world’s in Salzburg, Austria. On a welcome day of sunshine, Armstrong set a time of 35:04, averaging 44.638 kph for the difficult 26.12km course, to beat two-time defending champion Karin Thürig of Switzerland by 25 seconds, with Thorburn another four seconds back in third.
“The course had a little bit of everything in it,” said Armstrong, 33, who finished third at the 2005 world’s in Madrid. “You had to stay focused and stay tough. There was always something new around the corner. You had to take risks to set up each corner.”
After riding the course several times this week, Armstrong, who has been in Europe for a month, knew she had to start strongly. “The first half was all uphill,” she said, “either really steep or gradual.”
By the top of the first batch of climbs, after 8.3km, Armstrong was already the fastest; but after a sharp descent and starting the next, stiffer climb to Elixhausen, her chain derailed when she shifted to her bottom gear of 42x25.
“I had to get off my bike to put it back,” she told VeloNews.com. “I lost about 10 seconds, but maybe the adrenaline rush helped me.”
Perhaps that pump of adrenaline did help because by the top of the climb, at the 10.1km time split, Armstrong was only seven seconds behind the fastest at that point, the Czech Lada Kozlikova — a former track points race silver medalist — who went though in 15:27. Surprisingly, none of the seeded riders came close at this opening split: Thürig was 12 seconds back, her Swiss teammate Priska Doppmann was at 18 seconds and Thorburn was at 19 seconds, while world No. 1 Nicole Cooke of Great Britain was 22 seconds down.
After her brilliant start, Kozlikova was only 14th fastest over the remaining, mostly downhill 16km, to give her an overall time of 36:10. That put the Czech in the leader’s hot seat until Thorburn came home with an excellent 35:34.
There were still 13 riders to finish, but few of the expected favorites got close to Thorburn’s time. Australian Oenone Wood faded to a 27th-place finish, France’s 47-year-old legend Jeannie Longo was 19th, and Germany’s two-time TT silver medalist Judith Arndt, despite a fast finish, could muster a time of only 36:09, which would be good enough for seventh in the end.
It became clear that the race for gold was between Armstrong and Thürig. “My radio didn’t work,” said Thürig, “so I just did my best. I went down [the hill] as fast as I could, but Kristin went faster.”
Indeed, Armstrong averaged 49.3 kph for the speedy run back into town, some 20 seconds faster than the defending champion. “There wasn’t much wind, but that was the hardest stretch, with head-cross winds,” Armstrong said.
Behind the three medalists, Doppmann hung on to fourth place, while Cooke took fifth, in 36:00, while Zulfia Zabirova of Kazakhstan, the 1996 Olympic TT champ, was sixth in 36:03.
Armstrong, who took the bronze medal last year, is the first American since Mari Holden in 2000 to win the TT title. The rider from Boise, Idaho, perhaps benefited from the tough course, but also in play was Thürig’s decision to focus this year on her triathlon ambitions. In particular, the former world duathlon champion wants to win the 2006 Ironman triathlon world championship in Hawaii on October 7.
“Already at last year’s world’s in Madrid I said I might not come to Salzburg. If I want to win Hawaii, I know I have to give up cycling, but I don’t want to do that,” said the tall Swiss.
As for her 2006 season, Thürig said she first had to qualify for Hawaii at the Lanzarote Ironman (she won it). And then, in August, after a couple of months of cycling, she turned her training focus to running, putting in 100km weeks. Another win, at the Monaco Half-Ironman, gave her the confidence to challenge in Hawaii next month — but the sacrifice was her shot at the world time trial title.
The new champion, Armstrong, doesn’t run anymore. She was a pro triathlete, competing at the 1999 Hawaii Ironman, until chronic pain in both hips was diagnosed as osteoarthritis in 2001. Cycling was recommended as physical therapy, but Armstrong did more than just ride a bike.
“I have a competitive drive,” she said, “and I can’t get rid of it.”
That drive took her in 2002 to a local Boise cycling team that rode the HP Women’s Challenge. She turned pro in 2003, won the U.S. national road race title the following year and took the national TT title the past two years. Now the Team Lipton captain has added a world champion’s rainbow jersey to her growing collection of honors.
As for Thorburn, a 37-year MD from Sunnyvale, California, she was overjoyed to “finally make it on the podium.” Thorburn was fourth in the TT at the 2004 Athens Olympics, just behind bronze medalist Thürig, and placed eighth at last year’s TT world’s. When not practicing medicine at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, specializing in rheumatology, Thorburn races with the Webcor-Platinum team — and just gets better and better at the world championships.
World time-trial championship
Women
1. Kristin Armstrong (USA), 26.12km in 35:04.89
2. Karin Thurig (Swi) at 0:25.57
3. Christine Thorburn (USA), at 0:29.36
4. Priska Doppmann (Swi), at 0:55.09
5. Nicole Cooke (GB), at 0:55.68
6. Zulfiya Zabirova (Kaz), at 0:58.82
7. Judith Arndt (G), at 1:04.34
8. Lada Kovlikova (Cz), at 1:05.70
9. Trixi Worrack (G), at 1:18.76
10. Amber Neben (USA), at 1:26.81
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