Germany dominate the mixed relay at the World Championships in Tony Martin's last ever race before retiring

Germany took the World Championships mixed relay title in Tony Martin's last ever race as a professional rider, taking his fifth rainbow jersey in his career.

The Germans were the most consistent across the board taking second at the first half with the men 19 seconds behind the powerful Italian men that included Filippo Ganna.

The Dutch came storming back to take silver with a superbly fast second leg with the likes of new world champion of Ellen van Dijk and former champion Annemiek van Vleuten.

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The Germans won by 13 seconds over the Dutch team with Italy coming in 38 seconds down to take bronze.

How it happened

The day started once again in the coastal town of Knokke-Heist with the first riders off being the men’s side of the event.

In the relatively new discipline, separate units of three men and three women take turns to ride part of the 44km-long course,  the men riding the first leg to Bruges, before handing over to the women’s team of three with them riding from the finish area, riding a loop around Bruges to the finish again.

The UCI Cycling Academy were the first off with a team of riders from all over the globe, they set the first time but were immediately knocked off the top by the next squad through. 

But, the first major teams coming through were the Americans who sent a strong line-up, but the team that included the likes of Brandon McNulty and Coryn Rivera were soon beaten.

The team immediately after the US team were Great Britain with Dan Bigham, John Archibald and Alex Dowsett working hard for the men’s team setting a time that was almost a minute faster than the American team. 

For the second half Anna Henderseon, Joss Lowden and Alice Barnes then put even more time into the American team at over a minute.

But once again, the next team stole the lead away as Switzerland’s super-powerhouses of Stefan Küng, Stefan Bissegger and Marlen Reusser were all involved. They still managed to take the lead at the end despite the women’s trio losing Elise Chabbey with 11km to go. They led by 17 seconds over the British at the finish.

The final wave went off with Belgium kicking it off and the men set the fastest times at the split and the finish by just under a second. Denmark did then took the lead from the Belgians by a second. 

After them the Germans, who had Tony Martin riding in his last race of his glittering career, put 13 seconds into the Danish men as they handed over to the women’s team.

The strongest trio on the men’s side of Italy, with world champion Filippo Ganna joined by Italian champion Matteo Sobrero and Edoardo Affini, put in a monster ride to lead the Germans by 19 second at the finish in Bruges before handing over the the women’s squad.

The defending champions of the Netherlands did not have a good men's leg as they finished 42 seconds down before handing over to the strongest looking of the women’s trios, but they had a lot to do.

At the finish line, Belgium and Denmark both failed to beat the solid time from the Swiss team. But, the Germans came flying in and smashed the time of the Swiss riders by 37.79 seconds.

Italy did manage to reclaim seconds as they came in 37.74 seconds down to the Germans, 0.05 seconds quicker than the Swiss team. 

Finally the Dutch trio came in with Annemiek van Vleuten, Riejanne Markus and the newly crowned world champion Ellen van Dijk coming to the line, but they could only manage to finish 13 seconds down on the Germans, good enough for a comfortable second place, knocking Italy into third. 

This rainbow jersey won by Germany was Tony Martin's fifth world title five years after his last.

UCI Road World Championships Mixed Relay, Knokke-Heist to Bruges/Bruges to Bruges (44.5km)

1. Germany, in 50-49
2. Netherlands, at 13s
3. Italy, at 38s
4. Switzerland, at same time
5. Great Britain, at 55s
6. Denmark, at 1-16
7. Belgium, at 1-21
8. United States of America, at 2-10
9. France, at 2-52
10. Poland, at 3-23