Fraile fails to shine in Worlds TT

Much was expected of Spain's two representatives in Monday's sub-23 World Championships time trial in Limburg, the Netherlands, but neither came away happy as Orbea's Omar Fraile finished 34th and Seguros Bilbao's Marcos Jurado came in 43rd.

Antony Vorobyev of Russia was the slightly surprising victor of the event, besting highly-fancied Antipodean duo Rohan Dennis and Damian Howson over the taxing 36,6km course. None of the Spaniards got even remotely close to the places of honour though, and 22-year-old Fraile went as far as calling the race "pure hell".

"The wind made it very hard. It was so hard to find my rhythm, it was pure hell", he told the Spanish Cycling Federation's website. "I wasn't comfortable, but I improved markably on the ascents. I still finished way below what I expected to though."

Team coach José Luis De Santos, always softly spoken, wasn't as negative though, saying simply "they did well, but they weren't lucky with the wind".

Results (full results here):

• (1, Anton Vorobyev (Russia), 44:09:02)
• 34, Omar Fraile, 3:29
• 43, Marcos Jurado, 4:25

In the juniors' crono, Spain's sole representative, 18-year-old Óscar González del Campo García - Villarrubia of Daimiel, Castilla - La Mancha, came in a discreet 27th, 1:28 down on Norwegian Oskar Svendsen. 

Photo: www.omarfraile.com