Benjamín Noval, 17, crowned junior world time-trial champion in Montreal

Benjamín Noval has won the junior world time-trial title in Montreal. At 17, the Asturian produced a remarkable performance to earn Spain its second medal at the event.

After covering the 20.3 km Montreal course at full speed, with a final climb tackled at the limit, Noval stopped the clock at 25min 17sec. He then looked at the times and waited: Vic de Smet was still to arrive. The Belgian crossed the line six seconds later, unleashing Noval’s joy as he became junior world champion in the discipline.

The gold ends a wait that had begun a year earlier in Kigali. A crash at a decisive moment had removed him from contention for the rainbow jersey. That memory was still with him when he arrived in Canada. “Even though it is still there, I try to erase that image,” he said before the event.

However, he did not need to forget in order to try again: what mattered was that the crash would not decide this race as well. Noval therefore approached the most technical sector cautiously. On bends requiring constant attention, the rider from Pola de Laviana chose to make his passage safe before accelerating.

Third at the first intermediate point, three seconds off the best time, he saw the race remain open, while De Smet posed a serious threat. Then came the terrain on which Noval could impose his power. In the second sector, he turned the race around: setting the best intermediate time, he opened a ten-second gap over the Belgian.

From then on, he was no longer racing only against his rivals, but also against the possibility that the effort would feel endless before the finish. He held his position on the bike, gritted his teeth on the final climb and posted a time that none of the eight riders still to finish could beat. After the race, the champion admitted: “I still can’t believe it, I’m still taking it in.” He explained that he had approached the opening cautiously to avoid a crash, before going “flat out to the finish” when he found favourable terrain.

De Smet was the last rider to come close. He took back four seconds in the finale but could not erase the deficit, taking silver. Denmark’s Malthe Risbjerg completed the podium, 16 seconds behind Noval. The new champion was then embraced by the Spanish team and by his father, also named Benjamín, a former professional cyclist.

This was the approach of a rider who knew all too well the cost of a mistake at this level. His title is Spain’s second medal in Montreal, following Héctor Álvarez’s bronze in the under-23 time trial, and the delegation’s first gold. For Noval, it comes before he joins Netcompany Ineos’ first team in 2027.

On Thursday, he will have another opportunity in the road race. For now, he can savour this image: the rainbow on his shoulders, replacing the one that Kigali had occupied until now.