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Home News 2014 WUC Cycling: First Gold Medals for Poland and Czech Republic!

2014 WUC Cycling: First Gold Medals for Poland and Czech Republic!

9 July 2014

 

 Time Trial Men

JELENIA GORA – Polish cyclist Martyna Klekot (W) and Czech Petr Vakoc (M) became the first ‘golden heroes’ at the 2014 World University Cycling Championship in Jelenia Góra. Both won the Time Trial Race, while host nation Poland became the leader in the medal tally.

The first competition day, yesterday 9 July, started with the Women’s Time Trial on the track near Cieplice. Punctually at 11 a.m., Japanese Anna Ito started the competition. If athletes wanted to obtain a leader position, they should go faster than 40 minutes. Monika Brzeźna (POL) did. She led the competition for a long time. Surprisingly even faster than Brzeźna was her team-mate Martyna Klekot (POL) with a result 38:18:98. Finally Brzeźna was third, because Kathrin Hammes (GER) finished 13 seconds faster. Martyna Klekot was happy about the competition. “It was a tough race for me, but I am really satisfied with the result”, Martyna said. “Winning gold at home tastes extremely good.”

Time Trial Women

In the Men’s Time Trial, the main favorites were Petr Vakoc (CZE) and Adrian Kurek (POL). They met the expectations and both climbed the medal podium afterwards. Vakoc finished first, Kurek was third, while Tim Gebauer from Germany ended on the second spot. He was a little bit disappointed, but after few minutes realized the success.

Women’s Time Trial Medal Podium

I race here for my country and university, it’s a great pleasure and I hope that my bronze medal give them a little bit of happiness”, said Kurek. Czech winner Petr Vakoc was all smiles after the race. “It was the first time I won a race this year. So far I have already two second places, last week in our national championships. So for a couple of days I have been on medal podiums three times. I am happy I could win here”, explained Vakoc. “The race was very difficult. In the end it was really, really close. I was also afraid of Adrian Kurek. I knew that he can go really fast in the time trial. But I really wanted to be on the podium, maybe hoping for the first place. But it was not that easy.

Men’s Time Trial Medal Podium

Today, 10 July, is the Mass Start. The host team promised that they will do their outmost to take a second gold. “In the evening we will be talking tactics. We hope that someone from our team will manage to win the race”, said Adrian Kurek from Poland. “It’s hard to say how it will be, it is very difficult track, lots of up and down”, Petr Vakoc added. “’m sure it will be a hard race.”


(Source: Michal Filarski, Media WUC Cycling)

 

RESULTS DAY 1

Women’s Time Trial

Men’s Time Trial