VARESE, Italy — A flat tire couldn’t prevent Svein Tuft from racing to the podium at the road cycling world championships Thursday.
The Canadian flatted with six kilometres to go but rather than waste time putting on a new wheel, he quickly switched his aerodynamic time trial bike for a less efficient road bike and rode to a silver medal in the men’s time trial.
It was Canada’s first medal at the world championship in nearly two decades.
The 31-year-old Tuft finished 42.79 seconds behind Bert Grabsch of Germany in sunny conditions on the 43.7-kilometre course near Lake Varese. American David Zabriskie took the bronze.
Satsified with the silver, Tuft wasn’t interested in thinking about what might have been had he not had the flat.
“You can never know about that sort of thing,” said Tuft, a native of Langley, B.C. “I think I went through one of the corners a little hot, and then in the next corner I could feel the bike squirming around. We had a quick change, so didn’t lose much time, and that (speculation) is the sort of thing you can’t guess about.
“At that point I think it was the quickest way - to change bikes rather than fiddle around with a wheel change. I’m definitely happy with where I finished.”
Tuft, who finished seventh in the time trial at the Summer Olympics last month, is the first Canadian to make the podium at the event since Steve Bauer won bronze in 1984 in Barcelona.
“This is pretty unbelievable and right now I’m just in a state of shock,” Tuft said. “I knew I could have a good ride after Beijing, but this is beyond expectations.”
Grabsch finished in 52 minutes 1.60 seconds. Tuft was second in 52:44.39 and Zabriskie was third in 52:53.87.
Tuft led the first half of the race but was behind Grabsch when he suffered the flat. Luckily for Tuft, team mechanic Chad Grochowina of Dundas, Ont., was on the ball. He quickly grabbed his second bike off the roof of the team car ran it up to Tuft and pushed him off back into the race.
“Thankfully Chad was there switching the bike out right away and ready to go,” said Tuft. “I just put my head down and pushed as hard as I could to the finish.”
Canadian national team coach Vincent Jourdain was elated with Tuft’s performance.
“This is absolutely wonderful for Svein and for Canadian cycling,” he said. “Everybody here on the team is on cloud nine right now. We couldn’t be happier for him. He gained a lot of confidence at the Olympics and realized he could ride with the best in the world.”
Grabsch is the first German to win the time trial gold since Jan Ullrich in 2001.
“It was a perfect day for me, the course was perfect, the weather was perfect,” said Grabsch. “What can I say? I’m world champion.”
Tuft was feeling strong after winning his second career national pursuit title last month.
“I knew this morning that I was (going to have) a good day,” he aid. “Finishing seventh in Beijing sure gave me a huge confidence builder, and then I came back to North America to do some races and had a good preparation for worlds.”
Earlier this year, Tuft won the Tour de Beauce stage race and picked up three gold medals at the Pan Am track championships.
“This is the first year that I’ve had the opportunity to focus on the Olympics and the worlds,” Tuft said. “Normally our team starts racing real early, so I’m pretty flat by the time the worlds come around.
“To be able to start to build up later in the year has been a great experience, and I was able to come to the worlds fresh and motivated.”
Germany’s best-known time trial specialist Stefan Schumacher, who won both races against the clock during the Tour de France, skipped Thursday’s event. He decided to focus his efforts on Sunday’s road race.
Pre-race favourite Levi Leipheimer was never in the mix for the medals and finished a disappointing fourth. Double world champion Fabian Cancellara did not compete after winning Olympic gold in Beijing.
“Without Cancellara it was a wide open race that could have been won by six to 10 riders,” said Grabsch.
The 33-year-old Grabsch finished fourth in the time trial last year and had a disappointing Olympics, where he took only 14th place.
Zabriskie, who crashed in the second stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia and had to abandon the race with a fractured vertebrae, said he was happy with the bronze.
“It’s always nice to do better, but with me having a tough season it’s nice to have something,” he said. “It has been a difficult year so I’m happy.”
The world championships continue Friday with the under-23 road race. The women’s road race is on Saturday with the men’s event rounding out the championships on Sunday.
Amber Neben of the U.S. won the women’s time trial on Wednesday while Italian Adriano Malori won the under-23 race.
