Villumsen creates her piece of history

Sep 29th, 10.  Kiwi rider Linda Villumsen created NZ and World history today when she podiumed in the Elite Women's Time Trial at the UCI World Road Championships.

Villumsen, 3rd in the Worlds TT ©Graham Watson

Villumsen won the bronze last year while racing for Denmark, today she won bronze riding for New Zealand.

The 25 year old took bronze after powering through the 22.9km course in a time of 33m04.24s to finish on the podium with Emma Pooley (GBR) and Judith Arndt (GER).

It might have been her first top level race for New Zealand, but Villumsen felt the full force of Kiwi support encouraging her during the Geelong route.

“I had lots of support out on the course. People were yelling my name, others were yelling “go Kiwi! It was great to win a medal for New Zealand,” Villumsen said.

“It doesn't really feel that different from last year. A bronze medal is nice in red colours (Denmark) and black colours (New Zealand), but to be honest I'm proud this year to be representing my new country.

Villumsen narrowly missed out on the silver medal by just 6/10ths of a second to her fellow HTC-Columbia teammate Arndt.

“It was a hard ride. I lost my rhythm on two steep climbs and so I had to work really hard to regain it.”

Her ride moves Villumsen into strong medal contention at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where the flat course will suit the strong riding Aucklander.

"I have not had such a good season this year and I have not done much time trials so today was a good result. I think my best chance in Delhi will be in the time trial. Today has definitely helped with my confidence going to the Commonwealth Games.”

Fellow Commonwealth Games-bound Kiwi Mellissa Holt (Cambridge) also had a fantastic ride on the tough course. She finished 16th from 38 starters in 34m53.83s.

The only other medal New Zealand has won at the UCI World Road Championship was a bronze to Peter Latham in theU23 men’s time trial in 2005.

Villumsen wins the bronze medal behind Emma Pooley (Great Britain) and Judith Arndt (Germany) ©Graham Watson

Podium results

1. Emma Pooley  - Great Britain 32m44.44s
2. Judith Arndt - Germany +15sec
3. Linda Villumsen  - New Zealand +15sec
4. Amber Neben - USA +37sec

World Champion's comments

Pooley became the first British rider to win the women's world time trial title after blitzing the field to lead at all three time checks, finishing 15sec ahead of silver medalist Judith Arndt (GER).

Linda Villumsen (NZL) was a further 0.63 seconds behind for bronze.

"I'm really happy and can't quite believe it. I am so proud to wear the World Champion's jersey with the stripes for a whole year" said Pooley who turns 28 on Sunday.

"It was pretty special to come 2nd at the Olympic Games, but in a way, that was easier for me because I had no expectations and no pressure. This time it was different. I trained specifically for this, doing a lot of hill training and intervals on my time trial bike".

"I think the time trial is a fairly good test, I'm really happy, I guess it all went well and I quite like the fact that this year no radios were allowed so no one was getting intermediate time checks which meant all you could do is ride your fastest and the fastest person wins."

Arndt, 34, was nearly three seconds behind Villumsen at the second time check before overtaking the New Zealand rider for her third world silver medal in the time trial, following the same result in 2003 and 2004.

Villumsen placed third in the discipline for a second consecutive championship.

Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (FRA), the oldest competitor at the championships at 51 years of age, placed fifth after earlier hitting the lead before Pooley crossed the line nearly 44 seconds ahead of the nine-time world champion.