Australia’s Grace Brown Takes Gold In UCI Worlds 2024 Time Trial – FloBikes

Australian Grace Brown added the world time trial title to her Olympic gold Sunday at the UCI Road World Championships 2024 in Zurich, becoming the first woman to complete the double in the same year.

Dutch rider Demi Vollering had to settle for silver again after her heartbreak second spot in the Women’s Tour de France, finishing 16 seconds off the pace over the rolling 29.9-kilometer course that ended along Lake Zurich.

Defending champion Chloe Dygert of the United States took bronze, 56 seconds behind the winner.

The 32-year-old Brown insisted she still will retire at the end of this season after becoming the first Australian woman to win the world title trial gold.

“I’m still finishing after the end of this season,” she insisted, thereby declining to race 2025 wearing the rainbow world title jersey and Olympic gold helmet. “The experience of the Olympics gave me confidence, and I said to myself ‘I can be world champion.’ I was relaxed and confident.”

Brown had been trailing Vollering at the final time check, after the 27-year-old Swiss-based rider shot up the final climb and flew down at breakneck speed.

“Demi is a very good climber and took more risks in the descent than I would, but on the flat, I knew I was likely stronger,” Brown said.

Brown won the Olympic gold on the opening day of the Paris Games over a rain-lashed course slightly longer than in Zurich.

“I feel lucky just to be finishing like this,” she said, having also won the national time trial championships and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege this year.

Vollering also was beaten at the Tour de France by just four seconds, but she managed a sheepish smile on the podium.

Dygert, 27, was world time trial champion in 2019 and 2023, but a fall deprived her of the gold in Paris in July, where she came third.

Seventy riders went down the ramp at Gossau for Sunday’s race, nine kilometers of which were hilly, with much of it through open fields.

The race concluded with a 12-kilometer flat section along the lake shore, where Dygert moved into third place, ahead of up-and-coming German Antonia Niedermaier, 21.

“They had a better day than me, it’s as simple as that,” Dygert said. “We all did the same preparation on the same course, so you can’t complain. It’s just how it goes.”

Afghanistan’s cycling sisters Yulduz and Fariba Hashimi put in a solid performance, coming home around six minutes behind the winner.

How To Live Stream 2024 UCI Road World Championships

STREAMING: Watch the 2024 UCI Road World Championships on FloBikes. SIGN UP HERE

On Your TV: Now Available on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast & Apple TV.

Cast: Cast to your smart TV including Vizio, Samsung and LG TVs.

On The Go: Download the FloSports app on iOS or Android.

FloBikes Archived Footage

Video footage from the event will be archived and stored in a video library for FloBikes subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscription.

Join The UCI Conversation On Social