Off day for Kenny Belaey in Worlds final
UCI Urban Cycling World Championships trialbike, Chengdu-China
Nine consecutive times trialbike legend Kenny Belaey made the podium at the world championship. This impressive streak came to an end today in China. Belaey never rode to the best of his abilities and had to settle for sixth in the final. Great-Britain's Jack Carthy extended his rainbow jersey.
If it were not for his flat tire on the opening lap yesterday Belaey would have qualified third. Even when he'd got off to a slow start it had seemed to be business as usual for the powerful Belgian.
However in the 26" final today nothing went Kenny's way. He'd started off on the wrong foot again being the only finalist not to score in the opening section. Although the second section had been rough too, Belaey nearly cleaned the tough 3rd section restoring hope for one of his trademark late charges. Unfortunately the last two sections confirmed that 'the Magician' was not quite his usual self suffering from a nagging old injury.
In the end the overall podium was the same as it had been at the UCI World Cup race in Antwerp, bar the absence of Belaey. Spaniard Sergi Llongueras surprisingly claimed silver, Nicolas Vallée was third.
2018 UCI Trials World Championship Elite 26”
1. Jack Carthy (GBR) 240
2. Sergi Llongueras (SPA) 220
3. Nicolas Vallée (FRA) 220
4. Vincent Hermance (FRA) 190
5. Gilles Coustellier (FRA) 180
6. Kenny Belaey (BEL) 150
Kenny Belaey: “After yesterday's race an old elbow injury reared its ugly head. We did all we could to deal with the discomfort but even during warmup this morning I know what I was up against. I felt empty and lacked power. My shoulders, arms and hands were nowhere near what hey should've been. I think the results speak for themselves as far as not being in it. Clearly this has been a tough blow because again I had worked really hard to be in the best shape for the Worlds. It's been a very long time since I didn't make the podium so that sucks! Why this injury came back just now? Hard to say, at least there's a little bit of comfort knowing that I can put one bad race in the right context."
