Two young Americans, Larssyn Staley from Beaverton, Oregon and MichaelCreed from Colorado Springs, have a great chance of giving the U.S. teama winning start to the 2003 world road championships when the first timetrials are held in Hamilton, Ontario, on Tuesday.Staley, 18, is the top favorite in the junior women’s 15.3km time trialover one lap of Hamilton’s demanding course. She has already won a worldtitle this year, the points race at the world junior track championshipsin Moscow, and her Polish coach Merik Mazur (who lives in Hamilton) believesshe will be ready for the road time trial. On their restricted gears, juniorsneed to sustain a high cadence, and that’s one of Staley’s best qualities.Staley was sixth at the world’s TT last year, but the five who finishedahead of her are now all racing at the senior levelCreed, 22, successfully defended his U.S. under-23 time trial titlethis year, when he divided his team between domestic duties for the PrimeAlliance pro team (he won a stage of the Sea Otter Classic) and the U.S.national team in Europe. A year ago, Creed was only 17th in the very flatworld’s U23 time trial in Belgium; he’ll perform much better on the Hamiltoncourse with its climbing and technical descents.Here are the details of Tuesday’s time trials, including some eventhistory and our list of favorites. All the time trials start and finishoutside Hamilton City Hall on Main Street, Hamilton.JUNIOR WOMEN
Date and time: Tuesday, October 7, first start 11 a.m., lastfinish approx. 12:15 p.m.
Course: One lap of the 15.3km “short” TT course that featuresan early climb to the top of the Niagara Escarpment, followed by a loopthrough the neighborhoods on the plateau, with a fast downhill to the finish.
History: Event first held in 1995. In recent years, this eventhas revealed two outstanding champions: Canada’s Geneviève Jeanson(1999) and Britain’s Nicole Cooke (2001), who won both the junior timetrial and road race titles before going on to their present status as thetwo hottest riders in the women’s pro peloton.
Favorites: Beside Staley, the other 18-year-olds (the maximumage for juniors) with a chance of medalling include Petra Bublova fromthe Czech Republic (10th last year); Sara Peeters from Belgium (19th lastyear); and Canada’s own Audrey Lemieux (22nd last year). The Italians andGermans always seem to do well in this event, so look for challenges fromfirst-time world’s competitors Sabine Fischer and Bianca Knöpfle ofGermany, and Italian national champion Laura Bozzolo.UNDER-23 MEN
Details: Tuesday, October 7, first start 12:30 p.m., last finisherapprox. 4 p.m.
Course: Two laps of the “short” course for a total of 30.6km,with two climbs up the Niagara Escarpment.
History: Event first held in 1995. Former champions Thor Hushovdof Norway (1998), José Gutierrez of Spain (1999) and Evgeni Petrovof Russia (2000) have all gone on to become top professionals, while DannyPate (2001) remains the only American man to have won a time trial at theroad world’s.
Favorites: Last year’s silver medallist, Alexandr Bespalov ofRussia, is the clear favorite, but he’s likely to face stiff oppositionfrom his compatriot Vladimir Goussev; Germany’s Markus Fothen, who wonthe European title in August; Slovenia’s Jure Zrimsek and Gregor Gazvoda;former world junior champion Piotr Mazur of Poland (who lives in Hamilton!);and Creed. Also in the field is Nicholas Roche of Ireland, whose fatheris the 1987 Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and world champion, Stephen Roche.