| Bespalov's success knocked on wood The very first day of the road cycling world championship, which started in Zolder, Belgium, brought Russia an award. Alexander Bespalov won the silver medal in the time trial race among young riders (in cycling these include those under 23 years of age).
This may seem paradoxical to some, but the feeling of understandable joy among the leaders of the Russian team was mixed with a fair amount of anxiety. For six years now, the Russian national team has begun the world championships by winning awards (at the same time, Olga Zabelinskaya in 1997 and Evgeny Petrov in 2000 became world champions). Unfortunately, something often prevents the team from continuing in the same spirit. Perhaps that is why, in the evening after the awards, the trainers, mechanics and masseurs, speaking about the next day, appropriately spat and knocked on wood too vigorously. There are still five days of competition ahead, and of the remaining 24 medals I would like to take as many of them as possible to Russia.
Zolder is a small town, even by Benelux standards (it can only be found on very large scale maps). It is known to sports fans in different parts of the world primarily due to the famous “formula” ring. The track on the border of Belgium and Holland hosted the Grand Prix stages for 11 years until 1984 and entered the annals of history, among other things, as the place of death of the legendary racing driver Gilles Villeneuve. There were fresh flowers at his monument on Tuesday, when the strongest young cyclists rode along the asphalt of the four-kilometer ring, competing for the title of winner in the time trial race. The champion's jersey and champion's gold medal were received by Lithuanian Tomas Vaitkus, the son of a road cyclist known from the USSR national team. Bespalov's silver medal, which was almost 42 seconds behind the winner, was generally expected.
Alexander Bespalov, Alexander Arikeev (6th place) and Vladimir Gusev, who was injured shortly before the start of the World Championships, train in Rinat Latypov’s group and have long become noticeable figures in the competitions of athletes under the age of 23 who have not had time to sign a professional contract. Not all of those who become world champions in this category grow up to become stars of professional tours in the future. But being registered here means at least the appearance of lucrative offers from potential employers. In this sense, Bespalov’s future should be promising, since the world vice-champion twice won awards of the same value at the European Championships.
“I would like to perform better, but, apparently, God decided that it was too early for me to reach the top,” Bespalov complained in a conversation with a correspondent of the Vremya Novostei newspaper. - I have one more year until I turn 23, so the next World Championship will be for me. The track in Zolder is very fast, and after a hand injury I received a month ago, it was not easy for me to optimally control the bike at speeds of more than 50 km/h. The Swede Olson, who beat me at the last European Championship, and the Portuguese Sergio Paulinho, were the ones I feared most, but today they did not work so quickly, eventually taking 4th and 3rd places. But Vaitkus was the winner in all respects.”
Russian juniors performed significantly below expectations. Both Elena Andreeva and Svetlana Sergeeva remained far outside the top ten. Vladimir ROSTOV, Zolder |
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