Quick-Step Floors teammate Yves Lampaert finishes just outside the podium after a solid ride.
Five weeks from his previous outing, at the National Championships, Maximilian Schachmann proved he is on track for a strong second part of the season by claiming the bronze medal at the European Championships in Glasgow, which took place over a 45.7km-long course, Wednesday afternoon, when 34 riders pinned a number and rolled down the ramp.
One of the two Quick-Step Floors riders at the start of the race, Maximilian Schachmann put in a strong and consistent effort, clocking the third best at each of the two intermediate splits, where teammate Yves Lampaert had previously scorched through, setting the best provisional result. Despite the rain which began to fall heavily with more than 15 kilometers to go, Schachmann paced his effort very smartly and mounted an amazing recovery, correcting the fastest time at the finish by three seconds and going into the hot seat.
With just a few riders left on the course, the 24-year-old looked set for a podium finish, which eventually came in the form of a well-deserved bronze medal, as only Victor Campanaerts (Belgium) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain) managed to improve the result which Max clocked, 54:06.
For the young German, it was another huge performance, which he added to his already impressive string of results in 2018, a season that saw him take two stage victories at World Tour level, in Volta a Catalunya and Giro d'Italia, and a top 10 at the prestigious Flèche Wallonne.
"I'm very happy with this medal. I found my pace on this testing circuit and felt good, but didn't ride as fast as I could because of the rain, which complicated things, making the roads really slippery. Nevertheless, I am satisfied, because today's result gives me a lot of confidence for the BinckBank Tour, my first stage race since the Giro d'Italia", Max said after the ITT.
At the end of the day, Quick-Step Floors had two riders in the top five, after Yves Lampaert finished in fourth place, just three seconds off the podium, in his first individual time trial since the Tour de France.
Photo credit: ©Andy Buchanan/ Getty Images
