Team Sunweb’s year has been incredible, but even they might think this is starting to feel like a dream. Just a few hours after their women’s team upset the hot favourites to take the team time trial, their men followed suit to make it a double for the Dutch outfit, taking their first ever gold medal in the discipline in what was another phenomenally tight race.
They held on by the slim margin of just eight seconds from two-time winners BMC, inflicting the first defeat in a team time trial this season on the two-time World Champions, with Team Sky matching their previous best of Bronze, finishing just 22 seconds behind.
Under clear skies and infront of rapturous crowds, the local Norwegian outfits got their time to shine in the sun with Team Fixit.no the first to hit the road, followed by fellow home outfit Team Sparebanken Sør. Fixit.no had the honour of sitting in the seats reserved for the leading team, although they were quickly unseated by Uno - X Hydrogen Development Team and Joker-Icopal in quick succession.
The more serious players were about to roll off the starting mat, and CCC Sprandi Polkowice, the lone Pro Continental outfit in attendance, set a very respectable first marker of 49:34.47. It would be too quick for the first World Tour team, Astana, who would finish 33 seconds down on the Polish outfit at the line.
That initial marker was standing up well, but the first team with more than one powerhouse was out and it was not a surprise that Lotto-Jumbo posted the first serious time-check, managing to take a full 20 seconds out of CCC at the first time-check. They would then go onto drop much of that time approaching the second time-check – when they were down to five riders – but they would come in 20 seconds faster to lay the first big marker.
It became very clear that they would not be there for too much longer, though. Movistar were 35 seconds quicker at the halfway point and managed to snatch the top spot by less than a second after fading through the second half of the ride.
By this point all of the teams had set off, however, and Team Sky were already amongst the pacesetters, topping the first checkpoint by 10 seconds from Team Sunweb and hurtling towards the second checkpoint, when things began to go array. Owain Doull was dropped first, which perhaps was not a surprise given the early pace that had been set, but Geraint Thomas was soon struggling as they hit the last climb. Chris Froome appeared to want Gianni Moscon, Vasil Kiryienka and Michal Kwiatkowski to slow up for the Welshman, and they did knock off their pace, but soon after the top of the climb he was dropped, and the four of them had to push on into town having ceded crucial seconds and momentum there.
They were nine seconds down on Sunweb, time that they would eventually not gain back on their way to a final time of 47:50.42.
In the middle of all this, Team BMC had hit the first checkpoint nine seconds off Sky’s pace, before then posting a storming middle section to be fastest at the final checkpoint, although just as with the women’s event, there was set to be a nail-biting battle with Sunweb as just three seconds were in it.
Quick-Step blazed through the opening splits, but the more difficult terrain seemed to just puncture their power and by the time they’d reached the climb they had shelled a rider and were behind the eventual podiums, whilst still posting a very strong time.
The battle now, was clearly between BMC and Sunweb, with Quick-Step coming in for a fine time of 48:25.62, some 30 seconds faster than Orica-Scott had just posted, and once again a team of riders from Sunweb were sat biting their nails as BMC hurtled for the line. And once again, they were the ones celebrating at the end.
