12 October 2016 – Doha, Qatar : Highlights of the press conference with gold medal winner Tony Martin (Germany), silver medal winner Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) and bronze medal winner Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain).

Tony Martin (Germany) - gold
On his expectations beforehand :
“I did not really expect to win today. Right from coming here, I felt pretty good. I had a good feeling, training with the team and on Sunday [Team Time Trial] I was in good condition. I expected a very good race today, and I also thought I could go for the title, but I did not expect to win."

On race tactics :
“I had a plan and I just followed the plan, to ride my own rhythm, not look at left or right. Not looking too much at the split times, especially in this heat you have to find your own rhythm otherwise you’ll for sure explode in the end. I was surprised I had the quickest split time from the start and then after the second split I knew more or less that I had a big gap and that made the moral a lot bigger.
"Already had a good preparation with team Etixx, what I learned preparing in Belgium and also here. I ‘m not sure whether this would have been possible without Etixx,"

On how he ranks this title among the other three :
“The best victory is always the first, in Copenhagen, because you never forget. But right after that comes the title today. I had a pretty tough almost two years, I couldn’t show my real level in the Time Trial. There was a point where I almost asked myself if I was still a big time triallist or if was already on the way down.”

On how he got his confidence back :
“Especially going back to the old position on the bike gave me a lot of confidence. The feeling was also better, like I was another type of rider compared to the last few months. I was looking forward to race today, make a good performance, but I’m pretty surprised that the gap was so big.”

On preparation :
“Preparation was not so different to the last months or year, one big change was going back to my old position. A special preparation was to get adapted to the heat here. We have good people around, who gave me a lot of advice. Everybody said that I was crazy training in the bathroom with the heaters on. It was a lot of suffering even more than today, but it paid off last Sunday and today.”

On equalling Fabian Cancellara’s record with four gold medals :
“Everybody asks me for the record. I don’t count my medals. For me it’s more important to go from year to year to the title, and wearing the rainbow jersey next year means more to me. The only thing I can say I’m still motivated to go for a fifth and a sixth medal. I’m not at the end of my career. I have two more years.
“For the moment Fabian has the bigger victories in Time Trials, two gold medals in the Olympic Games. For the moment he is still at the top, but I’m not at the end of my career. I’ve got two more years in cycling. But right now he is the man.”

On why he parts ways with Etixx – Quick Step after winning two world titles :
“It’s two different stories. Two titles now. Before my decision, I thought I have to change something. I needed new input, it was not important if these were better or worse, I just needed some new people around me. It doesn’t mean that the team was bad, not at all. But I was in a kind of comfort zone, where things were mentally a little too relaxed maybe. Now comes new pressure and you have to show again, fight for position in the team and that’s good for moral. I doesn’t mean the Etixx – Quick Step team was bad, not at all. Without the progression from the team in the last weeks this title would not have been possible, especially with Tom Steels. I have a really good feeling and I’m sure now we change jerseys, we’ll always stay in touch and stay friends. The cycling world is small.”

Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) - silver
On whether he’s satisfied with silver :
“I’m very satisfied. First because I was able to be able to compete with (Tony) Martin at his level, that I was more or less at his level in the first part of this Time Trial. It’s not a shame to lose, because I have the deepest respect for Tony Martin.”

On the heat and riding the course with not any spectators :
“With the heat it’s very hard. This is a type of race where you fight against yourself. This may not be the ideal place for a cycling race, but I have tried to put a good show for the spectators, even if it was tougher than usual.”

On whether he was surprised by Tony Martin’s performance :
“This is not a surprise. The surprise came last year when he was not even on the podium. But this year, he was going to be at least a medallist.”

On the performance of Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) and Rohan Dennis (Australia) :
“Both riders had been at quite a high level the whole season. It has probably taken a toll on this race today. This race came very late, and it’s hard. Anyway, I think they performed at a very good level.”

On losing the rainbow jersey :
“I’m generally very satisfied. After all, in my career I never managed to win any Time Trials until last year in the Giro. Afterwards I won another couple of Time Trials and the World title. This year I wanted to improve my Time Trial, but I did not manage. The rainbow jersey did help to go faster. Today I told the coaches I was going to do the best I could, and I confirmed that I was strong and I’m happy that I could show that to my supporters and to my enemies.”

Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain) - bronze
On the heat and riding the course with not any spectators :
“It’s very hard normally there are many spectators, but here not. That’s very hard, because the heat was very strong in the beginning in of the race. It’s very hard. There were not many fans, only the road. In all sports it is the same. Without spectators it’s very difficult.”

On whether he’s satisfied :
“For me this year was very difficult, I had a big crash. After all it’s a good result fourth in the Olympic Games and a gold medal in European Championships.”
On whether he was surprised by Tony Martin’s performance :
“No, that was no surprise. This is a course for Tony Martin, very, very good for him. It’s a flat Time Trial, very fast, 54 kilometres per hour. For me it’s very hard, with only 60 kilos body weight it’s very hard. Tony was the favourite from the beginning of the race.”
On the performance of Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) and Rohan Dennis (Australia) :
“With this heat, each rider has a different feeling, it’s very hard. You can have good days and bad days, It’s very strange.”

On the course :
“Beforehand I was very confident about my chances for today. The course was quite fast, we already saw that in the Team Time Trial. The wind was quite strong, which is not really good for me, luckily enough, during my race the wind was not so strong. I found very good legs at the start and at the end of my performance.”

On how far he is from winning the rainbow jersey :
“This result gives me a lot of confidence and I’ve been very consistent during this season. I knew I was going to be very good today, even though the course wasn’t particularly good for me. Luckily next year the course in Norway will be a little uphill and that will suit me better.”

Suite / Following -> Jour 5 : mercredi 12 octobre : CLM indiv Elites Homme : Reportage photos

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