Kazakhstan stole the show on the second day of road racing in the Hero Cycles Asian cycling championship here on Thursday.
On a bright and cool day at the Buddh International Circuit, the Kazakh riders took advantage of the quick Formula One track to post a consistently high average speed.
In the men’s under-23 individual time trial, Danniil Fominykh of Kazakhstan finished the race distance of 28.4 kilometres, run over two laps, in less than 34 minutes and 28 seconds.
Fominykh’s timing was more than nine seconds better than the second-placed Duc Tam Trinh of Vietnam.
Moreover, the Kazakh cyclist posted the day’s highest average speed by riding at 49.44 kilometres per hour.
The third place in the event went to South Korea’s Jae Yeon Im, who finished almost a minute behind Fominykh.
In the elite individual time trial event, Kazakhstan was again on the podium but could only manage a silver medal as Uzbek Muradian Halmuratov won the triple lap race, lasting 42.6 kilometres, in 51:51.111.
Again, like the under-23 competition, the average speed for the top two cyclists went beyond 49 kilometres per hour.
However, the Kazakh Andrey Mizurov trailed Muradian by more than nine seconds.
India’s Gurmeet Singh was a further seven minutes and 22 seconds behind in the 17th spot. A total of 22 cyclists finished the race.
Bishnoi 15th
In the under-23 event, Suresh Bishnoi too had a poor outing as he was placed 15th out of 23 competing riders.
After the time trial competitions, the road races will begin on Friday with the men’s and women’s junior events lasting 99.4 and 71 kilometres, respectively.
Both races will witness the involvement of four Indian cyclists each.
The results:
Men: Individual time trial: 1. Muradian Halmuratov (Uzb) 51:51.111s; 2. Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) 52:00.161; 3. Eugen Wacker (Kaz) 52:22.073.
Under-23:
Men: Individual time trial: 1. Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) 34:27.855; 2. Duc Tam Trinh (Vie) 34:37.079; 3. Jae Yeon Im (Kor) 35:27.195.
