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Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) made history on Sunday as the first elite man to add the world time trial victory to the Olympic time trial gold medal, dominating the 46.1km race against the clock in Zürich with a time of 53:01.
Just a few hours earlier, Australia’s Grace Brown scored the same rare double victory for elite women on a 29.9km course.
Double world time trial champion Filippo Ganna (Italy) smashed the 53:56 time of Edoardo Affini to bump his compatriot out of the hot seat, stopping the clock himself at 53:08. However, reigning Olympic champion Evenepoel went 7 seconds faster to seal the victory, despite Ganna gaining back time in the last leg of the race.
Ganna and Affini secured silver and bronze for Italy, with Affini’s medal counting as his best at a Road World Championships, less than two weeks after taking the European title in the discipline.
“It took quite some time to feel good again and get good shape, but right on time,” Evenepoel said at the post-race interview.
“It was a pretty tough day for me. My chain dropped with one minute before the start. And then I took the start and had no power metre at all so it was a pure time trial on the feeling.
“I pushed quite hard on that second little kick, and I went all-out on the downhill as well. Without having the power metre it was quite crazy to keep the pace in the last five kilometres.
“It was difficult because I had to push, but I could not go over the limit because I did not know what I was doing exactly. So, it must have been the most difficult time trial of my life.”
At the start house, the defending champion had to dismount his machine to allow mechanics to adjust his chain, which had been dropped when the Belgian backpedalled one minute before being released down the ramp. A replacement bike was brought to the platform, but he was able to remount his main bike, chain in place, and take off on time, the adrenaline no doubt very high.
Evenepoel never fell behind at any of the three checkpoints on the course, going six seconds faster than Ganna after the first 12.5km, and he padded his margin by another three seconds at the middle checkpoint at the top of the day’s main climb and then carved out a 19-second gap at the third checkpoint. While the Italian took back 13 seconds on the flat stretch back into Zürich, it was yet another runner-up position in the battle with the fast Belgian.
After Ganna stopped the clock at 32:18, Evenepoel made a statement by passing Roglič just before the finish and went six seconds better than the Italian, leaving the Vuelta champion outside the top 10.
“In a TT, especially in a Championship, it doesn’t matter what the time gap is. I saw my time in green and I felt like celebrating. A pretty good day again,” he said with a big smile.
Josh Tarling (Great Britain) finished fourth, 1:17 back, and Jay Vine (Australia), who crashed in the closing kilometres, finished fifth, 1:24 back.
How it unfolded
The opening day of the 2024 UCI Road World Championships began with the elite women’s time trial, won by Grace Brown (Australia), and was followed by the elite men for a full day of racing the clock across the Swiss countryside.
The start ramp for the elite men was located on the infield of the outdoor Oerlikon velodrome just north of central Zürich and led the 59 starters on a 46.1km route back to Zürich. A total of 324 metres of climbing coming in the mid-section of the race provided a change of tempo over the foothills of the Pfannenstiel, the second intermediate time check located at the crest of the first of two climbs at Oetwil am See, 2.6km in length with a gradient averaging 4.5%.
A technical, steep 1km descent, with pitches of 10-12%, followed a few kilometres later after the second smaller climb, marking the transition back to flat roads on the eastern shore of Lake Zurich for the final 12km to the finish line, which included the third and final intermediate checkpoint at Seestrasse.
From the early starters battling for the hot seat and some time in the spotlight, Charles Kagimu (Uganda) set the time to beat at 59:28 as the first rider across the course. The lead would fade with a succession of riders behind, and when Canadian Pier-André Côté sped across the line the new best time plummeted to 56:00.
The top 20 riders began to make impressions once Magnus Sheffield (United States) rolled down the ramp. He was flying through the first time check at the 12.5km mark, going 9 seconds faster than Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) and 11 seconds better than Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland). Then Edoardo Affini (Italy), one rider behind Sheffield, went 5 seconds better.
A roar of cheers and applause echoed across the velodrome area when Stefan Küng took the course, with just five riders remaining to start. Ahead his Swiss teammate was a magnet for loud cheers on the Oetwil am See climb, while at the finish, Côté held the best overall time.
At the start house, defending champion Evenepoel dropped the chain on his bike just one minute before he took the course behind Ganna. He was able to remount his main bike and take off on time, the adrenaline no doubt very high.
Ahead at the finish, Søren Waerenskjold (Norway) bumped Côté out of a long stint in the hot seat, going 1:10 better, then Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) eclipsed his time by a full minute, going 55:37. The times kept dropping with a parade of the riders, Asgreen setting a new best time of 54:32.
Magnus Sheffield was next, but he could not go better than the Dane and was in second place.
European time trial champion Affini then stamped his authority on the field going 35 seconds faster than the Dane, setting the new mark under 54 minutes at 53:56. Once Foss stopped the clock at 54:46, he was in third place, forming a trio with Affini and Asgreen for potential medals with the favourites still on the course.
Jay Vine (Australia) rode the first half of the course with the fastest time, 19 seconds better than Affini’s time of 32:56, but there were still six riders behind him, including Evenepoel, who now clocked the best time at the first intermediate point, 13:39, and was building momentum towards the climbing section.
Ganna made his statement on the climb, going 6 seconds faster than Vine. But that small triumph was short-lived, as Evenepoel notched 32:09 at the same point, now taking a 9-second advantage over the Italian champion. The Olympic champion continued with smooth motions through the swooping turns on the descent.
Ahead, Küng and Tarling began to increase speeds on the flat road along Lake Zürich. Both began to accelerate again, but neither could match the best time there so far – a 44:16, held by Vine. However, the Australian champion arrived at the finish line with road rash, having taken a spill, and could not overtake Affini, finishing in 54:26.
Then Vine’s best time at the third time check vanished, both Ganna and Evenepoel sailing across that line much faster and the Belgian 19 seconds faster than his main rival Ganna. The final 12.5km came down to a head-to-head battle between the two favourites, with Evenepoel sustaining his momentum to keep his rainbow jersey for another year.
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