This Friday at 5h (13h local time), Dries De Pooter and Madis Mihkels started the race for the world title in the U23 category on a course of 169.8 kilometer, divided in ten laps with the Mount Pleasant (1.1 km at 8.8%).
One year after achieving the bronze medal for Estonia in the junior race, Mihkels was close to repeating the stunt. At the end of a very mature race, at the age of only nineteen, Mihkels was one of the rare sprinters to survive on the selective circuit in Wollongong.
Mihkels finished second of the peloton behind Fedorov (Kazakhstan) and Vacek (Czech Republic) who managed to anticipate the sprint. For third place he was defeated by Wærenskjold (Norvège) with the length of one wheel.
His teammate from Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Dries De Pooter, who represented Belgium for the first time at a World Championship, did his part of the work for his leaders, controlling the breakaway attempts in the final race hour. Hij finished the race in 46th place.
« For the moment, I feel rather disappointed because I wasn't far from a medal. But later I'll be happy about my performance. It was my first participation in the U23 World Championships. The race was very nervous from the start, luckily I managed to avoid the crashes. The most difficult moment for me was in the penultimate lap. Mount Pleasant was climbed at a very intense rhythm and I struggled to follow. But I wasn't far and quickly managed to come back in the descent. I managed to follow in the last lap and to sprint for the bronze medal. I'm happy with my condition, I'm looking forward to my next races with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, the Coppa Bernocchi and Gran Piemonte. »
