Malta’s Etienne Bonello obtained a creditable ninth placing in the time trial which concluded the road events.

It was a satisfying result for Malta’s top cyclist after the disappointment in the road race last Tuesday when the Malta team finished last.

Two other Maltese cyclists took part in yesterday morning’s event – Maurice Formosa and David Galea.

Bonello finished yesterday’s time trial in 33 minutes 26.73 seconds, 3 minutes 09.45 seconds more than the winner, Bob Jungels of Luxembourg.

Formosa finished 21st in a time of 35:10.63, while Galea was one place further behind in 35:17.76.

The silver medal went to Stefan Kueng of Liechtenstein and the bronze to Tom Thill of Luxembourg.

It is well to note that Bonello finished ahead of cyclists from such countries as Monaco (two) San Marino (four) and Iceland (four) not to mention another from Luxembourg and one from Liechtenstein.

After the event, Bonello told journalists that he was obviously happy. “I said before coming here that I would be more than satisfied if I were to finish among the top 10. Ninth place is great but what makes me really happier is the fact that I have gone well below the normal 46km an hour and that means that I have achieve d a new personal best. I must consider this as my best result ever in my career so far,” he said.