BERGEN, Norway (Reuters) – Team Sunweb achieved the double at the road cycling world championships when their men’s and women’s teams won the team time trial events on Sunday.
Giro d’Italia champion Tom Dumoulin, Lennard Kamna, Sam Oomen, Soren Kragh Andersen, Michael Matthews and Wilco Kelderman clocked 47 minutes 50.42 seconds on the 42.5-km course to beat 2014 and 2015 champions BMC by 8.29 seconds.
Team Sky, who were down from six to four men 11 km from the finish when Geraint Thomas and Owain Doull could not follow the pace of their team mates, took bronze, 22.35 off the pace.
Sky had fielded an awe-inspiring line-up with Thomas, Doull, Michal Kwiatkowski, Vasil Kiryienka, Gianni Moscon and Tour de France champion Chris Froome, but they were not all in the same form.
The finish time is taken on the fourth rider to cross the line.
“It’s crazy. First the women and now the men. The team was so homogenous,” said Dutchman Dumoulin.
“We may not be the best time trial team on paper but with this team anything is possible.”
The women’s team clinched the title earlier on Sunday when Coryn Rivera, Leah Kirchmann, Ellen van Dijk, Lucinda Brand, Floortje Mackaij and Sabrina Stultiens clocked 55:41.63.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Rex Gowar)
