It was heartbreak for Australian Hamish McKenzie who was pipped at the post by British sensation Joshua Tarling in the junior men's time trial world championships in Wollongong on Tuesday.
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The 18-year-old McKenzie from Launceston was the fourth rider to take to the course and set a challenging time of 35.18.45 minutes to beat.
He sat on the race-lead hot seat for more than two hours as rider after rider tried in vain to beat his time.
Traditionally, the strongest riders feature in the final group of riders to race - that was the case on Tuesday - as the young talents of tomorrow such as Jan Christen (SUI), Jrgen Nordhagen (NOR), Emil Herzog (GER) and the Belgian Jens Verbrugghe - son of Rik hit the course.
It was only when race favourite Tarling took to the course that McKenzie's time looked a little brittle.
The British rider shaved almost 10 seconds off McKenzie's first split at Dumfries Avenue and kept on powering ahead.
With a nervous McKenzie watching on, Tarling pulled out all stops to win by less than 20 seconds, finishing the course in 34.59.26.
German Emil Herzog rounded out the podium winner, finishing third.
Having finished second in last year's world championships, Tarling was relieved to come away with the win.
"It just feels like relief. So much hard work. I was a bit annoyed after last year and it was just like I really wanted it and this is now relief," he said post-race.
Tarling said he pushed himself hard, especially during the first part of the course.
"The first part is important, it feels like it is all up hill, especially with the head wind," he said.
"I was just trying to do as hard as I could over the first climb and then using the speed going down.
"But I think I eased up a bit because I thought I was doing okay but I think I eased up too much ..I had to kick for the last few sections with the tail wind.....luckily it was enough."
The victory capped a great day for Great Britain, with Zoe Backstedt winning the junior women's time trial world championships earlier in the day.
The wins came a day after The Queen was laid to rest in London.
McKenzie came into the world championships in good form, with two national titles at the 2022 Federation University National Road Championship under his belt.
These wins came during his first season riding with ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast.
McKenzie said he was stoked to win another silver medal for Australia, following Grace Stewart's showing second-place finish in the women's elite time trial worlds in Wollongong last Sunday.
"I'm stoked. It was a long day, I went fourth and then had to wait until the last rider Joshua to ride," he said.
"At the start of the day if someone said you would win a silver medal I would have taken it. I'm stoked. My goal coming into this was a top 10 finish. This is a great result."
Fellow Aussie Cameron Rogers also performed well, completing the course in 36.57.57.
It was a good first world championships' showing for the 17-year-old nephew of well-known Australian cyclist Michael Rogers.Read more:
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
