2006 UCI Road World Championships - Men's Elite Time Trial Live Part 2
The favourites hit the road in search of Gold as the live coverage continues...

Race Profile, official Start list, start times and jersey numbers for the Elite Men's Individual Time Trial. Live coverage NOW ONLINE!

2006 UCI Road World Championships
Men's Elite Time Trial

Part 1: Official Start list, start times and jersey numbers
for the Elite Mens Individual Time Trial.

Hello and welcome to part 2 of our live coverage of the Elite Men's ITT at the UCI World Road Champs from Salzburg, Austria. The contest runs over a tough parcours of 50.3 kms whose profile you could see above.

1507 CEST - The biggest roar of the day is reserved for Peter Luttenberger, as he comes into the home straight. He's into second with 01h04'24", a great time for the veteran.

Both Millar and Vinokourov are now underway, btw. David Millar, is the hope of Britain while victory here would be the icing on the cake for the Vuelta Champ.

Vladimir Gusev goes over the first check in 14'38" - sixth fastest, 17 secs down on Kirienka, thus kicking Stijn Devolder down to seventh. It all depends on how Gusev rides the next section. Not a long time earlier, Leif Hoste did better than both of them however.

Great ride - so far - by Nibali. The Italian got off to an excellent start, and is just six seconds down on Kirienka at the km. 10 check.

Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia) shows his pedigree with 46'06" at the 35km mark, 18 seconds down on Vandborg. In fact, he's the only man remotely near the Dane at that point so far. Meanwhile, 2005 silver medallist José Ivan Gutierrez starts.

1513 CEST - Ryder Hesjedal crosses the line... 1'04'24 - same time as Luttenberger, but a hair's breadth faster, so he's second on the road. Sebastian Lang is also going well on the way to the 10.1km check.

Fabian Cancellara has also left the starthouse - now there's just defending champ Rogers to go.

WOW! David Zabriskie has the new best time at the first check! 14'16 - five seconds quicker than Kiryienka.

The Belarusian has the second time also at the 35km. check, with Brian Vandborg on the top, and the Grivko (46'02") & Belovhosciks duo taking the other top 4 spots there (thus far, as usual).

1515 CEST - By the way, Rogers has gone. Can he make it four titles in a row?

Fostervold of Norway crosses the finish line twelfth, just ahead of Vaugrenard, with 1'06'51.

Andrey Kasheckin was ... 21st at the first time check! No less than 40 secs down on current leader Zabriskie. We suppose all of his chances to figure on this podium too after the Vuelta are already gone for the Kazakh.

 Hour record holder Ondrej Sosenka is 2'28" down at the second check. I can't fault him - he is MASSIVE, and must be feeling it

Vinokourov has dropped his chain approaching the first check! Exactly the same place where the U23 Russian did.

 Vassili Kiryienka comes across the line, teeth baring, clocking 1'02'25. Just 20 seconds down on Vandborg, he's easily second. Cancellara is really going well at the first check!

13'58 for Cancellara! 18 seconds better than Zabriskie, the Swiss is the only man to break 14 minutes. David Millar set a mediocre (for him) time at the first check - he's got it all to do if he wants a medal.

Raivis Belohvosciks (Lativa) is going to take third at the finish line.  Here comes Rogers , at the first time check He's not going to beat Cancellara, he looks a bit laboured. His time there is the 7th one: 14'25"40, The Aussie wasnt off to a flying stasrt to his ride, but there's a looong way to go - 28 seconds behind, and also down on the times of rivals Lang and Nibali.
Gutierrez was 30 seconds down, Millar 53 seconds behind. Wow. 

So we have got Cancellara, Zabriskie and Kyrienka in the top 3 places after ALL competitors crossed the 10.1-km line. 46'33" for Devolder over the second split, 44 seconds behind Vandborg who is still our leader.

Andriy Grivko (a Gonchar in the making?) finishes in 1'02'56 for provisional third, 52 seconds behind the Dane.  Bear in mind also that, with all the riders through, Vandborg "only" had the tenth best time at the first check.  So, though you don't want to get too far behind early on, it's not the end of the world.
An all-Swedish challenge for ... 11th place at the second time check, with Larsson doing slightly better than Loevkvist

 Poor performance from Frantisek Robon. The Czech set the 18th provisional time at the finish line.  But here comes David George, the South African ...

Chris Baldwin: "I overcooked it in the first 10km, where it's very hard. The strategy of Rogers may favour him - you build up a lot of lactic in that first 10k, and it's hard to get rid of."

George is battling it out with Hesjedal over 5th place.And he wins THAT challenge, but finishes 01'43" behind the current race leader.

Marco Pinotti crosses the 35km check in 47'00, eighth place at 1'11.  Marco Pinotti makes it to the km. 35 check, and scores the eighth time, 01'11" down on Vandborg, kicking Robert Huinter down to ninth.

Here comes Andreas Kloden. It should be under 47 minutes but he won't trouble the favourites, it seems. Nope: 47'33 and fourteenth fastest. Not his day today. The man from Cottbus, Germany is over 01'45" down on Vandborg.

 Fabian Cancellara is looking like a lean, mean, pedaling machine, as he powers towards the lake. Leif Hoste is going well though - at the second check, he's 19 seconds behind Vandborg with 46'07. He's in fifth place, ahead of teammate Stijn Devolder. It's a similar time for Discovery teammate Vladimir Gusev - 46'13.

He's in fifth place, ahead of teammate Stijn Devolder. It's a similar time for Discovery teammate Vladimir Gusev - 46'13. The Russian made his way in between the two Belgians and further kicked Devolder down to 7th. He's 42"66 down to Vandborg, while Devolder lost another place and moved down into 8th.

After the Discovery trio, here comes Vincenzo Nibali ...  the Italian is not doing too fine now, his time after 35k being the 7th: 46'30"96 He had a good start, but may be paying for that early effort.

Ben Day af Australia to the line: he clocked 01h 04'05"17. that's the 7th time. A time that puts Ryder Hesjedal down into spot number 8.

45:57 at the 35km mark for Lang - only the third man under 46 seconds, with Vandborg and Kiriyienka. He's only 9 seconds down on the Dane: can he be the first to better his time?

1545 CEST - DAVID ZABRISKIE COMES TO THE SECOND TIME CHECK!  He's well likely to better Vandborg's time .. and he does. 45'09 - he's a full 38 seconds inside the previous best time!!! The man from Utah is more than likely to figure on the race podium. But where exactly? At the top perhaps? We'll know more as Fabian Cancellara makes it to the second time check too. That's gonna happen soon.

Kashechkin is coming up to it now - he should score a reasonable time.  Kashechkin is only ninth, 1'12" down, at the second check. Kashechkin is only ninth, 1'12" down, at the second check.

Larsson of Sweden is the next rider to cross the line. But he's far from having the best performance of his carrer. Larsson of Sweden crosses the line, knocking Chris Baldwin down to twelfth.
So at the finish, it's Vandborg, Kiryienka, Grivko and Belohvosciks.

Fabian Cancellara is catching his 2-minute man - Jose Ivan Gutierrez, second last year! Then comes Clement of the Netherlands and knocks Larsson down to twelfth. And Baldwin down to 13th , bien sure.

Bodrogi is 1'56" down on Zabriskie at the second check; he looks uncomfortable on the bike.

Marco Pinotti is the next finisher, in a time of 01H 04'56", and in 8th (provisional) place This means Ben Day moved down one place into ninth, by the way.

Here comes David Millar... oh, it's average. Thirteenth at 1'36" over the top for the Saunier Duval Briton - any medals are out of his reach.

Another rider has beaten Vandborg's second-split time - Alexandre Vinokourov. He took 45'39, 30 seconds down on Zabriskie. How much will that dropped chain cost him though??

Hoste gets to the line ...  he scores the third time, and kickes Grivko into fourth place.1'02'43 for the Discovery man, a fine ride.

CANCELLARA IS ON THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME! He is going to better Zabriskie's time by a good 30 seconds. It was more than that - 56 seconds faster than the American. It's down to Rogers, it seems.
GO-FABIAN-GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

1558 CEST - 1'03'05 for Gusev at the finish, fifth place, ahead of Belohvosciks. Vandborg is still fastest at the finish, we remind you, but not for much longer...

Vincenzo Nibali is the next to the line. It's hard for him to get into the top 10. The Italian TT Champion is  not going to make it ... NOPE, he is! So far at least: he took time number 8. Though he's more than likely to be kicked out of the top ten as more and more riders cross the line.

Michael Rogers is 1'37 down on Cancellara, sixth place at the second check with 45'51.

 Sebastian Lang just fails to beat the time of Vandborg at the finish - still, the Dane leads, and looks nervous in the finish area.

ZABRISKIE TO THE LINE: ONLY A FEW METRES TO GO - it'll be close, but he should do it. He takes first place, but lost some time to Vandborg in the late part of the ride. Zabriskie crosses the line in 1'01'41 - he is the new leader.  He did better than the Scandinavian by slightly under 24 seconds.

Kahsechkin comes next. The Kazakh almost crashes into a barrier on the last corner. He comes under the flame rouge. 1k to go; and with 600m to go, he's "already" fifth. What a poor ride he's having. Eighth overall for him at the finish: he should be knocked out of the top 10 by the end. He finished 01'24" down on Zabriskie.

1606 CEST - Only six riders left, the next one being Bodrogi. It looks like gold and silver is settled - Cancellara and Zabriskie.

 Bodrogi arrives: Poor ride by the Hungarian too. Laszlo was 14th at the line, losing well over 02 minutes to Zabriskie.

Vinokourov goes under the flamme rouge - he has to do the last kilometre in 45 seconds to beat Zabriskie. Good luck with that Vino.

David "Hope of Britain" Millar comes in 11th, only a few seconds ahead of Nibali with 1'03'33. Disappointing.

... and Alexandre Vinokourov crosses the line second with 1'02'01. Vinokourov finished 19 secs down to Zabriskie

Vandborg is down to third by just 3 seconds!! The Dane grins ruefully on the TV screen - he knows that 3 seconds will cost him a podium place, with Cancellara still to come. Nonetheless, a great ride from Vandborg.

1611 CEST - But here comes the Swiss Express ... You'd better watch out: Fabian Cancellara is coming to town! He's having a HELLUVA ride, going at over 50kphm he's flying towards the 31st win o his career and arguably the greatest ones...AND HE WINS
1'00'11 for Fabulous Fabian Cancellara!!! He has beaten Zabriskie into second by 1'29! Phenomenal!! Fabian-lous Cancellara!!!!

FABIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANCELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAA IS THE BRAND NEW WORLD CHAMPION!

He covered the last km in about a minute, flying at about 60 kp/h, impressive! Thirteenth for Gutierrez - well, he's missed a lot of racing with an injury from the ENECO Tour.

Michael Rogers must know that it's over for him. It's likely he'll miss the podium places too. 2k to go for the guy that might be regarded as the biggest loser of the day, the dethroned king of TTs, Rogers, 1'02'33... disappointing, he's in for seventh. He won the Junior Worlds TT in 1998 at Valkenburg, has worn the yellow jersey, stages in Tirreno-Adriatico, Paris-Nice, the Tour

What a year for Cancellara, the How many riders can boast of winning Paris-Roubaix and the World TT championship - and in the same year!!?? He won the Junior Worlds TT in 1998 at Valkenburg, has worn the yellow jersey, stages in Tirreno-Adriatico, Paris-Nice, the Tour, of Switzerland, the Volta a Catalunya and the GP Eddy Merckx. AND he's only 25.

First past-win words from the brand new champion. "I can t believe what I did. I had a perfect ride. I had sensational legs. "Since early this morning I thought today could be a fantastic day for me. I want to thank all those who supported me throughout this fantastic season. Both this and P-R were great victories. And this morning my legs were as good as on P-R day.  To finish the season like this is simply wonderful. I'm on cloud nine."

Time for the Ceremony now, with the three main stars of this events that - again - were:
1. FABIAN CANCELLARA (SWI) World Time Trial Champion
2. DAVID ZABRISKIE (USA)
3. ALEXANDER VINOKOUROV (KAZ)

The young Brian Vandborg of Denmark also had a stellar ride, but unfortunately missed the podium by just 4 seconds. We think we're going to hear his name again and again however. Yep, kudos must also go out to Vandborg and Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus. A shock by Kiryienka in particular, who actually moved from OTC Doors to Rietmu Bank of Latvia in June of this year. Surely this performance will have attracted the attention of bigger teams.

1625 CEST - Today's "Terminator", Fabian Cancellara can finally smile on the podium, with the gold medal around his neck  And now the notes of the Swiss national anthem can be heard on the roads of nearby Austria. 

A million Austrian mothers now have to answer the question: "Mommy, why didn't Peter Luttenberger win? I thought he was Superman?" There's only room for one superhero on the road today - Fabian Cancellara.

Zabriskie and Vinkkourov also raise their arms. They've got reasons to smile too. This was a great ride full of top competitors; full of top class athletes, some of whom may well hit the headlines also the next Sunday.

Results: (Provisional)
1. Fabian Cancellara (SWI) 1'00'11
2. David Zabriskie (USA) 1'01'41
3. Alexander Vinokourov (KAZ) 1'02'01
4. Brian Bach Vandborg (DEN) 1'02'04
5. Sebastian Lang (GER)
6. Vasil Kiryienka (BLR)
7. Leif Hoste (BEL)
8. Michael Rogers (AUS)
9. Andriy Grivko (UKR)
10. Vladimir Gusev (RUS)

Thanks for joining us for the Ticker. Commentators Fabio and Andy. Full official results and photos to follow.