UCI Gran Fondo TT report

The picture shows the UCI Gran Fondo TT World Champions. There was one Brit amongst them - Andrea Nightingale, who won the Female 65-69 group.

The World Championships took place in Niseko Japan this year.  The Time Trial was on a flat 15km course. There was an 11 km out and back section on a dual carriageway combined with a square with perimeter 4 km that provided 7 ninety degree turns to slow the rider down. 402 riders representing 52 countries competed. There were 19 competitors from Great Britain, with four VTTA members among them: Karina Jackson (Surrey/Sussex), Pippa O'Brien (London & Home Counties), Margaret Docking (Merseyside), and Jon Fairclough (Scotland). The fastest man was Daniel Hochstrasser (Austria, 35-39), 17:42. The fastest woman was Evilina Wolos (Poland, 35-39), 20:17. To provide some perspective, the time of 17:42 scales to 18:53 on a 10 mile course, which is not as fast as what we typically see from the best time trialers on UK courses. Great Britain medallists were Andrea Nightingale who won gold in the Female 65-69 category with a time of 23:39, Hayley Simmonds who won silver in the Female 35-39 category with a time of 20:23, Margaret Docking who won bronze in the Female 75-79 category with a time of 29:15, and Russell Bell who won bronze in the male 80-84 category with a time 25:26.

The full story of the event will appear in the next Veteran