A fine display on Friday evening helped Bob become the second ever Luxembourger five-time winner of the ITT race.
Bob Jungels successfully defended his National Time Trial Champion title, racking up his third victory of the season after overpowering all his opponents in Soulevre, where the course comprised of three identical laps, whose main difficulty was Col de l’Europe (1520m, 7.5%).
A flying start saw the 26-year-old record the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint and set the early mark for success on home turf, his fifth since 2013, the year of Bob’s maiden win against the clock. At the end of the day, the reigning champion was clocked in 21:34, more than a minute clear of Tom Wirtgen (Wallonie Bruxelles) and Ivan Centone (Team Differdange-GeBa), who rounded out the podium.
“Winning a national title is always special, even more this time, as I equalled Christian Poos’ record of five ITT victories. I am proud that I get to wear this beautiful jersey for one more year and show it in some of the world's biggest races. Hopefully, on Sunday, I’ll have another reason to be happy about”, said Bob, who will try to defend the national road race title conquered in each of the past four years on the 175.1km-long course around Soleuvre.
Photo credit: ©cyclingpix by serge waldbillig