With the sun shining and a daylong wind having died away, a triumphant Tomas Vaitkus flew across the line at the Circuit Zolder racetrack in Belgium to take home the men’s under-23 time trial title on the first day of competition at the world road championships. The 20-year-old Lithuanian, the only rider to crack 39 minutes for the 33.2km course on Tuesday, obliterated the competition, finishing 42 seconds better than runner-up Alexandr Bespalov of Russia.

Starting second-to-last on the point-to-point course from Hasselt to Zolder, Vaitkus was spared much of the wind that buffeted riders who came earlier. "It was a really stiff wind," said American Mark Fitzgerald, 31st on the day, who estimated that about 20-30 percent of his ride was into a stiff headwind.

"It was a majority headwind," confirmed fellow American Michael Creed. "A lot of it was cross wind, but you turn off of it and you turn into a headwind."

After winding through the streets of Hasselt, the course took a straight northwest route paralleling the canal between Hasselt and Zolder, then cut through the racetrack before heading out on a short circuit through Zolder, including the race’s only real hill, and back to the finish on the track.

For the race, Creed, who would finish 17th, chose a 56x14 fixed-gear track bike. "It was a little big in the headwind," said Creed, "but you don’t come to world championships to get a top 10. I knew if I got on top of it, I would win. To be honest, I’m surprised [at the result]. I felt like I was hauling ass."

However, starting 23rd from last, Creed was only fourth best across the line, with many big hitters still to come. The early charge was led by Spaniards Francisco Gutierrez (40:34) and Russian Alexandr Arekeev (40:20), whose times stood until the final 10 starters.

Starting ninth from last, Portugal’s Sergio Paulinho took a big chunk off the fast time, posting a time of 40:09, but that mark lasted only two riders, as Bespalov became the first to crack the 40-minute mark, in 39:22. But the intermediate checkpoint would tell the story, as Vaitkus blazed his way to the fastest midway time, and then shattered Bespalov’s mark to take the rainbow jersey.

Vaitkus noted that he fought a headwind early, but that things got easier as his ride went along. True, the Lithuanian may have benefited from the change in conditions, but with his convincing margin of victory, no one was arguing with the result.