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Australia was fastest in the mixed relay team time trial Wednesday to bring home gold at the UCI road cycling world championships.
In the final day of time trial competition, Australia was most consistent across the three-rider per segment mixed relay format featuring men and women racing against the clock.
Anchored by individual gold medalist Grace Brown and Jay Vine in the respective legs, the Aussies stopped the clock in 1 hour, 12 minutes, 52 seconds on the 53km course.
“We were down to two riders. I knew if I went at my maximum, Grace could stay with me,” said Brodie Chapman of winners Australia. “We know each other’s efforts, and she is the best in the world. In the last kilometers I was digging deep to stay with her.”
Germany was second by barely 1 second in arrears in a nail-biting finale in mixed relay.
Favored Italy, which featured podium finishers Filippo Ganna and Eduardo Affini along with Elisa Longo Borghini, were third at 8 seconds off the pace.
‘We can be proud’
Team USA — with Neilson Powless, Brandon McNulty and Kevin Vermaercke in the men’s and Emily Ehrlich, Amber Neben and Lauren Stephens in the women’s — finished sixth at 2:17 slower.
“It was as good as we could have expected. The second half was tough to pace,” said USA’s Neilson Powless. “It was a technical course, and it was hard to decide when to push. We did the recon this morning and you try to get yourself as comfortable on the TT bike as you can.
“I think I would prefer less twisty. It was difficult to work as a team on this course,” Powless said. “Over the course as a whole, you go faster as a team. We tried to do our best and I think we can be pretty proud.”
Road racing takes over at the Zürich worlds, with junior men’s and women’s racing Thursday.
