CK BB reaches prime National Champion title in Team Time Trial

Team  Time  Trial (TTT) has been on the agenda of the World Championships in 2012 after 18 long years. The last one, a team time trial of four riders to be more precise, was held back in 1994.

Slovak  Federation  of Cycling organized Team Time Trial for all youth categories in 2012 and following UCI model, this discipline was also opened for all Elite categories  only  a  year later. The last Slovak National Championships in TTT were held in 1994 in Šurany. In the following years, a TTT of pairs was organized every  now and then, but the only TTT consisting of four riders was organized only once, in Šurany again, in 2001. This tradition did not last though. Last year UCI  revived  the  tradition  of TTT of teams, not nations. This was about the brief history how the TTT appeared on programme of the day in Žilina after such a long time.

Women  are  allowed  to take start in the Cadets category. Our two women, Hanesová and Vojtášová, complemented by Ľubica Czafiková took start as well. They were strongly  disadvantaged  by  the  fact they were only three in the team whereas all the other teams consisted of four riders. They finished ninth in the general classification with a gap of 2:38 min. to the winning team of MŠK CK Žiar nad Hronom.

Two CK BB squads were on the start in Elite Mens category. CK BB 1 with Longauer, Rusina, Vančo and Debnár, CK BB 2 with Palčák, Zrelica, Fraňo and Bátora. Both teams intended to fight for a podium. Men were to cover a distance of over 50 kilometres, passing a 7km long circuit seven times. It was a close fight between CK BB 2 and Epic Dohňany from the very beginning of the race. CK BB riders showed better performance from the first lap, gaining some 10 seconds on average in each lap on their rivals. Their earned and deserved the victory by their consistent performance and gained 1:15min. on the runner-up Epic Dohňany and 3:26 on Inter Bratislava in third. CK BB thus gained the historically renewed National Championships title in Team Time Trial.

“I’m very happy. Our goal was to get the gold. I never was a national champion in any of the road disciplines. Having earned many medals in track in my junior years and a bronze medal also lately in the MTB marathon, reaching on the top step of the road podium at last is a great satisfaction for me. We gave it all, from the beginning until crossing the finish line. The National Champion jersey means a lot to me. I am extremely happy these days – my wife just gave a birth to our beautiful daughter Alžbeta and I became a National Champion in TTT,“ Lukáš Bátora shared his joy after the ceremony.

“It was a great challenge for me to be on the team. Also getting brand new TT Merida Warp bikes only few days prior to the race was something special I appreciate a lot. Those bikes really are great, we owe big part of our victory to them, even though we were slightly disadvantaged by not having disk wheels. We struggled all throughout the race, really no energy left after the race, we wanted the victory so badly. I also appreciate work of our support team and supporters along the road giving us information along the road. I think I might even sleep in the jersey for a few days, it means so much to me as I never was a National Champion in any discipline,” resumed Roman Zrelica from Martin.

“I’m  very  grateful for having the chance of being part of the winning team. I’m still trying to come back to racing and get the level I used to have before my bad car accident. I managed to get 2 silver medals back in the U23 category, so I’m glad this season is going well so far. I particularly appreciate having at a disposition  my  own  TT  Merida  Warp,  as  I  am  very fond of time trials and it probably is my strongest discipline. Really a great day with a very pleasant atmosphere all throughout the race and the ceremony, I’m glad we also made our support team happy,” were Jozef Palčák’s impressions.

“We  were  far  from  the  right  preparation  for this race due to lack of time of all our riders, who all work full time. We are not professionals and live in different  cities, it was not possible for us to meet prior to the race to practice as a team. Our first familiarization ride was only couple hours prior to the race  itself.  It  was the last one as well obviously. I’m sad we didn’t have Čanecký in the team, since he left for a different team in the mid-season. He is a good  time  trialist,  so  having  him  on  the  team,  we would have been much more confident. Maybe this fact actually helped us as we tried to substitute his non-presence  on  the  team and rode at our fullest potential. Also Haring, a very strong rider from our team couldn’t help neither of our two squads in the NCh since he was taking part in a world cup in MTB in the meantime. As I am the oldest one in the team, I already have 2 medals from this discipline. I remember the last  TTT  organized  in  Slovakia  in  Šurany  where  I managed to get bronze medal 19 years ago. I was in the youth category back then. I am very fond of this discipline,  and  so  when  I  learned there is a National Championships in TTT organized this year, I tried to prepare the best I could. I appreciate a lot the support  of our biggest partner, Merida, for providing us with great TT bikes for all our team. I am well aware it was part of our success in fight for gold. It might sound strange, but we truly made everything possible to win, irrelevant of the competition level and rivals. Great result means a lot to us. We do realize none  of  us  can  compete  Velits in the individual TT, we knew the TTT was the only chance on road for us, it was the peak of our season for our team. It is a first  NCh  title  for  me  in  the  discipline that I love most from my youth. I never hoped it would be back on the agenda and I would win the title. I’m also satisfied  we  won  by  a  big time gap and proved our qualities. We already have two National Champions titles from cyclocross and MTB marathon this year, both thanks  to  Haring,  so this is already a third title for us this season. We appreciate the great support we got from our supporters from Bánovce along the road and  by our supporters, themselves ex-racers, in Banská Bystrica that prepared a nice celebration for us. When coming back to B.Bystrica, we were warmly greeted in the Index Café, owned by Ľubomír Kundrata, a son of the late Ľ.Kundrata on whose behalf Tour de Volcano is organized, as if we brought a Stanley cup to town. We  now  will focus on the individual National Championships on road in Elite Men and Women categories and on organizing and also performing well as cyclists in Tour  de  Volcano.  After this demanding weeks we will head for the first time for a Tour de Martinique race in the Caribbean,” reviewed Martin Fraňo, member of the winning squad and a team manager in one person.

results in calendar 2013