Mikkel Bjarg, who won his third consecutive U23 time trial world championship, has revealed that his attempt at the UCI Hour Record has been postponed. The Danish rider, who achieved an unprecedented triple time in torrential rain and puddles in Yorkshire on Tuesday, had originally planned to attempt the record after the world championships. But his plans were revised later in the summer, and instead of attempting the Danish record on October 6, he will attempt the official UCI-recognized record with the help of UAE Team Emirates, who will turn pro next year. I want to see what I can do in my top shape," he said. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in, so I want to see how close I can get to Victor's record," Bjerg said at the World Championships victory press conference in Harrogate on Tuesday. The Danish time record once held by Bjerg is 53.975 km, set this year by Martin Toft Madsen. We're playing a little game where if he breaks the Danish record, I take it back," he said. As for Campenaerts' official UCI world record, which he took from Bradley Wiggins in April with a distance of 55.089 km, Bjarg simply wants to measure his potential, even if it doesn't count if he goes farther than the Belgian. "Maybe I'm not going to break it," he said. But if I break Viktor's record at sea level, that would be crazy." As for when he will attempt the world record, he said he has discussed it with UAE Team Emirates and plans to work on a longer-term project to make sure he is well-prepared for the challenge. He said, "But we want to go after the world record within the next three years with the UAE."

Bjarg's overwhelming time trial prowess cannot be ignored, and he will turn pro in 2020 at the age of 21. His world titles and his winning percentage - today's 27-second margin over Ian Garrison was the closest of the three - meant that there was no shortage of options to join the World Tour. He eventually moved to UAE Team Emirates. Since Joxen Fernandez Mazin took over as team manager, he has invested heavily in young players. Bjarg will join Brandon McNulty, who has been knocked off the bottom step of the podium in two of the last three World Tours, U23 Giro d'Italia champion Andres Camilo Ardila, and U23 Giro fourth-placer Alessandro Covi next year. Tadej Pogacar turned pro in the UAE this year, finishing third overall and winning three stages at the Vuelta a España. He said, "I'm really good friends with Jasper Philipsen. We sometimes have the same mentality when it comes to racing. He encouraged me to join him, saying, "This is a really good team." I think they give me the perfect setup to grow as much as possible." Don't expect to make an immediate impact like Pogacar, Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), and Remco Evenpole (Deceuninck-Quickstep). "Time trials and road racing in the World Tour: ...... There is a big difference. When I'm doing time trials, I'm really confident, and when I'm doing road racing, I'm ...... I did the Tour of California twice and it was a really hard race. The fitness of everyone in the group is really high, so we really need to train and prepare this winter. 'It seems like the younger riders tend to do better, but I'm not sure why. At 20, it seems like you have to win some crazy big race. I'm just going to take it year by year and watch myself grow."