Movistar announces Worlds team time trial line-up - News shorts

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The Movistar team is looking to once again "astonish the biggest specialists" in the team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen on Sunday. The Spanish time won the bronze medal in 2015 and were sixth last year.

Imanol Erviti, Jasha Sütterlin, Andrey Amador, Alex Dowsett, Jonathan Castroviejo and Gorka Izagirre will take on the 42.5km long course around the Norwegian city.

Castroviejo is the current Spanish time trial champion and won the individual time trial at the Volta ao Algarve. Dowsett, a former World hour record holder, won the individual time trial at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Norwegian Royalty to attend World Championships

Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will attend the finish and awards ceremony of the Elite Men’s World Championship road race on Sunday, Sept. 24, organizers have announced.

They will "accompany the medalist to Torgalmenningen where the medal ceremony will be held." The Prince will participate in the ceremony.

In addition, Crown Prince Haakon will tour the circuit and meet with former World Champion Thor Hushovd.

Golas extends with Team Sky

Michal Golas has re-signed with Team Sky, the team announced Thursday. He has been with the British team since 2015.

The Polish rider is "one of the most proven and loyal domestiques in the peloton," the team said on its website. While with Sky he has ridden the Vuelta a Espana (2016) and the Giro d’Italia (2017), and "has played a key role in team victories at Paris-Nice, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Hamburg Cyclassics and the Volta ao Algarve."

"I feel really good here and I get on well with everyone," Golas said. “It’s also a winning team so it’s obviously nice to ride with these guys and try to win big races."

Crashes and injuries for Wanty

Wanty-Groupe Gobert endured a testing Grand Prix de Wallonie after Tom Devriendt spent the first half of the day in the breakaway. When the race winning split was made, with Tim Wellens taking the win, Wanty found themselves riding for the minor places. Guillaume Martin was the best on the day for the team in seventh place.

However, two crashes were the tale of the day for the team. 35km into the race, Jérôme Baugnies crashed into a pole, fracturing his eighth thoracic vertebra, and was airlifted to the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire of Liège for surgery. Thursday morning the team announced that surgery was successful and he can return home soon. 

"Jerome will have to wear a corset a few weeks, but there is no danger for his mobility nor for his career. It will take several months before he can resume  competition, but starting again from the opening of the 2018 season is quite conceivable," the team said on its website.

There was also a crash featuring Thomas Degand 110km into the race when he was hit by the car of the president of the jury. According to the team, Degand "slowed down for a sanitary stop" and was hit on the calf and right elbow but did not suffer any fractures.

"Suddenly I heard there was a crash in a descent. Baugnies went straight in a turn and there was a pole. He hit that and it looked quite bad. He was touching his head and I immediately saw he had pain in his back. But they took good care of him and the helicopter came to take him to the hospital in Liège. If that happens you know it isn't a 'normal' crash. I was a bit shaken, because you think about past events," sports director Hilaire Van der Schueren said, referencing the fatal accident last year involving his rider Antoine Demoitié.

"A little further ahead, Degand was hit by a car of the federation. Fortunately we had Devriendt in the break, but in the final only five of our riders remained. That was a bit tedious. In the end we did what we could. Martin wasn't placed well when the first echelon was formed. Otherwise he would have been in front."