Continental rider Ryan Gal holds off top WorldTour talents to pull off an U23 upset at the World Championships

Gal got into the action fairly early on at the World Championships, which featured a 31.3-kilometer time trial. When Gal beat the fastest time set so far, it wasn’t really that surprising. Earlier this year, the Dutch rider had won the Dutch time trial championship in the U23 category.

At the time, his main competition came from talents on the continental circuit; at the World Time Trial Championships, the major WorldTour teams fielded their top riders. Among those at the start were Hector Alvarez and Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek), Nicolas Milesi (Netcompany INEOS), and the Visma | Lease a Bike duo of Ashlin Barry and Matisse Van Kerckhove.

So Gal took his place on the hot seat early on and then watched as one rider after another failed to beat his time. Alvarez, Milesi, and the Dane Mads Landbo were indeed faster at the first two split times, but Gal turned out to have paced his time trial perfectly.

The Dutchman saw Milesi finish 3 seconds behind him, and Alvarez was 7 seconds behind. The gap between Barry and Gal was already 33 seconds, which made the world champion's time even more impressive.

1. Ryan Gal (Ned)

11. Ben Wiggins (GB)