Lee Rodgers (UK/Team Fuji-CyclingTime.com), editor of cyclingtime.com, claimed a dominant victory in the men’s open time trial at the Singapore National Cycling Championships on June 25. The defending national road race champion, Rodgers was making his first attempt at the time trial title on day one of the two-day series of events.

Battling to stay upright on the rain-slicked pavement, Rodgers powered his road bike over the eight-lap, 28-kilometer course to win in 37:56.5, for a comfortable a 54-second margin over the second place rider, Darren Low (FS7/Cycleworx).

Aided by the superb ventilation and clear vision of his 720armour Speeder RX glasses, the British expat shot straight out of the gate through the wind and rain to establish his margin before conditions deteriorated. After a day’s best first lap of 4:36, during which he topped 50 km./hr. over the back straight to record a blazing 45.65km./hr. average, Rodgers settled into a solid time trial pace. As he picked off riders that started before him, he concentrated on keeping the rubber on the road in the rain that had soaked the pavement by his third lap, and on maintaining his leading margin through the finish.

Feeling the sting of his blistering start, Rodgers backed off the throttle on lap five for a bit of a respite and to gather his strength for a strong finish. The tactic worked beautifully, allowing him to put an exclamation mark on his already convincing victory with a 4:43.815 final lap. Despite the rain, 180-degree turns, and opting not to ride a time trial bike due to two U-turns on each lap, his final time of 37:56.544 gave him an average of 43.1506 KPH.

Briefly enjoying the distinction as defending road race champion and newly-crowned national time trial champion, Rodgers had less than a day to savor the victory before suiting up on Sunday to defend his 2010 road race title in the 120-km. road race, held on the same tight 3.5-km. loop as Saturday's time trial. As defending champion, riding on a flat course in close quarters, Rodgers was a marked man whose every move was closely scrutinized. Nevertheless, not content to continue in a straight procession to the finish, he attacked with just over a lap to go in an attempt to reel in a small group of riders that took off with two laps remaining. Topping 53 km. in a mad chase to close the gap, he ran out of real estate to place fourth, just out of reach of the podium.

Summing up the weekend’s events, Rodgers was pleased with his effort. "I left it all on the road out there, so I couldn't ask for anything more."