Moscon looks to surprise in Worlds time trial

Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin top the bill in the elite men’s time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen on Wednesday but the testing course and 3.4km climb to the finish atop Mount Fløyen is expected to produce surprises, with rouleur-climbers better suited to the finish than pure time triallists.

Defending champion Tony Martin has ruled out the chance of a fifth title due to the climb, with new French coach Cyril Guimard tipping Froome as the favourite but suggesting his Team Sky teammates Vasil Kiryienka and Gianni Moscon could produce a surprise.

Kiryienka was world time trial champion in Richmond in 2015, while Moscon is arguably the revelation of the 2017 season. His only victory was the Italian national time trial title but he finished fifth at Paris-Roubaix, while riding a full Classics campaign. Still only 23, Moscon made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana, helping Froome complete his historic Tour-Vuelta.

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Moscon made headlines of a troubling kind in April, when he racially abused Kevin Reza of FDJ during the Tour de Romandie. Team Sky kept Moscon in the Tour de Romandie until the end of the race, but eventually suspended him from racing for six weeks.

Moscon appears to have huge potential for the Classics but showed, like Geraint Thomas has done in the past, that he could be a Grand Tour rider while working for Froome. He was often able to stay with the front group and work for Froome alongside Wout Poels and Mikel Nieve. He finished 13th on the stage to the Angliru finish and reached Madrid in 27th place.

Moscon is one of a handful of riders who will ride all three elite men’s races in Bergen. He was part of Team Sky’s line-up that finished third in Sunday’s team time trial. He is Italy’s only rider in the time trial and then has secured one of the nine slots in the Italian Squadra for Sunday’s road race.

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