Time trial: race of truth

The time trial which is often called the race of truth, was on the menu for our young riders today. Love or hate them, TT’s are an important part of cycling. Here in Assen we proudly have a time trial every year to give our young riders the chance to race against the clock in this special discipline. For some young riders they come specially with the TT as their focus for the week, for others like Rapael Vesey Holt in category 6 ‘its about limiting losses’.

In a TT it’s very much you against the clock and sometimes against the wind and rain. This was very much the case today as Oscar Chambers in category 6 told me at the finish ‘before the head wind section the wind was coming from the right so you really had to hold your line as otherwise you were going in the gutter’. Matilda Wilks in category 5 described today’s TT as ‘leg zapping’ due to the nature of today’s wind.

Rain can often play a huge part in TT’s due to the balance between risking it too much and coming into trouble, and not risking it enough and taking too much speed off in the corners. Irish rider Ava Baker in category 6 told me at the finish that ‘The rain started just as I left the start house so I was a bit scared going round the wet corners’.

TT culture differs around the world. This means that for some riders this is their first time ever racing in this beautiful discipline yet for others it’s a regular fixture in their racing calendars at home. Mathilde Smolka is no stranger to TT’s back home in Germany yet she feels it is still not her strongest discipline despite her regular practice at them.

For a lot of our British based riders they are no strangers to TT’s due to the British love for a 10 or 25 mile TT whether that be simply for training or as a focused discipline. This was something that category 5 winner Edward Peters felt he benefitted him as every month he takes part in a ten mile TT at his local racing circuit. Despite his young age he has a lot of experience in this discipline.

A young rider looking to add his name onto the list of British TT success stories in years to come, which includes Chris Boardman to more recently Josh Tarling and Zoe Backstedt is cat 6 winner Jacob Day. Jacob credited his time on the track for his success today; ‘Riding on the velodrome teaches you to keep a high and smooth cadence and that was really beneficial today’.

The question of do you enjoy TT’s is one that is often hard to answer. Florence Cooper of category 5 answered with ‘in a weird way’ which was a view echoed by a lot of her fellow competitors today. Australian Adrian Zhang answered with ‘when I beat my PB’. This again demonstrates the brilliant nature of this discipline in the sense that it is simply you and your bike against the clock.

Well done to all our riders in today’s TT!