A bitter pill for Pogačar
“That was a bitter one to swallow,” the clearly chagrined Slovenian said after the race. The 25-year-old Belgian then left the defending world road race champion behind on the last of four climbs, the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura (1.3km @ 6.3%), and went on to win his third ITT world championship in succession, the third man to accomplish the feat after Australia’s Michael Rogers (2003-5) and Tony Martin of Germany (2011-13). Australian Jay Vine rode a superb race to finish ‘only’ 1:14 behind, while another Belgian, Ilan van Wilder, completed the podium, at 2:36.
That’s right, Pogačar didn’t even finish on the podium, crossing the line 1 second behind Van Wilder, and that on his 27th birthday. He clearly had a bad day, but it was such a bad day that you have to wonder how he will fare in the Road Race World Championship in a week’s time. But Pogačar being Pogačar, you have to believe that he will come out punching.
“It’s really bittersweet,” he said, visibly chagrined. “Maybe if I’d known I was only one second from the podium in the last kilometer, I could have found a little extra. Today I’ll probably regret that, but tomorrow is a new day. It wasn’t my best performance, but given the circumstances I can be satisfied with how I suffered.” Then he looked forward. “I hope [Evenepoel] prepared 100 percent for the time trial and 99 percent for next Sunday.
Remco goes all in
As for Evenepoel, he said, “I felt pretty good straight away. On the first flat part, I felt that the legs were turning. I was holding my pace without going over the limit. And then, the first climb of the day was actually quite hard, together with the last two ones, so I really pushed it there.
“And then after, I saw I had quite a big gap, so I just wanted to keep a pace that I could hold until the bottom of [the Côte de Péage], and then I just went flat out on every climb. But I must say, the cobbles, I hated them at some point. It was so, so hard to really push through them. But in the end, I won is the most important. And Ilan, my teammate, and same age generation guy came third. So a phenomenal day for us, I guess.”
Asked on TNT about passing Pogačar, he said, “On a day like today it doesn’t matter who it is [in front]. I just wanted to push as hard as possible from the first climb on and try and recover on the descents. Of course, on the cobbles, when I saw I was coming close [to Pogačar] quite quickly, I knew I had to push through. But I have to say I knew it was really tough on the false flat part at the end, so I didn’t want to go over the limit because I knew that last 400 meters were hard.”
He went on to say that he was looking forward to next year’s race and becoming the only man to win four ITT world championships in a row. Don’t bet against him doing that.
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Sweet redemption for Reusser
In the Elite Women’s race, Marlen Reusser of Switzerland finally redeemed her hard-luck record in the competition with a powerful and well-measured ride on the brutal course, beating Dutch riders Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering by 52 seconds and 1:05 respectively.
The 31.2km course featured three climbs with the difficult cobblestone ascent of the Côte de Kimihurura near the finish. That climb always looked to be decisive, but the 34-year-old Reusser decided the race well before, leading at every timing point. She had only 23 seconds over van der Breggen at the third timing point, just before the final climb. But she had saved her best for last and powered up the Kimihurura to leave no doubt as to who was the best rider in the race.
The first-ever cycling world championships held on the African continent was the scene of sweet redemption for Reusser, who had finished second in the race in 2021 and 2022 and had been forced to abandon the race in 2023 due to burnout after a hard season. In 2024 a crash and then Covid forced her to miss the competition. This year it seemed that she would again miss out due to misfortune as she fell ill during the Giro d’Italia Women and was forced to abandon the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in July, again because of illness. No wonder she could hardly believe that she had won the race this year.
“I almost can’t believe it. I know it’s real and it happened, but I’ve tried so many times and it didn’t work out and now I’ve made it. It’s really special,” she said on TNT. She went on to say, “I went really hard on the climbs and on the final climb I think I went too hard in the beginning, so I was full of lactic acid, but I think it was the right way to pace it. I have an advantage as I’m quite a heavy rider so without a lot of effort I can go downhill pretty fast and then I can put in all my efforts in on the climbs.”
It was a disappointing race for 2019 and 2023 ITT world champion, Chloé Dygert, who had finished third in last year’s race. But the 28-year-old American seemed out of sorts right from the start and never looked like challenging for the title. She finished ninth, 2:25 behind the winner. The result was also disappointing for Vollering. She trailed Reusser by less than a second at the first timing point, but gradually fell back as the race progressed, as she seemed to struggle with her gearing. She will now go into next Saturday’s road race hoping to win the first rainbow jersey of her career.
The final words of this eventful first day of the eight-day world championships belong to Reusser, who said, beaming, “I made it. I’m so glad, I’m so happy.”
Results of the Elite Men’s World Championship Time Trial
- Remco Evenepoel, Belgium 49.46
2. Jay Vine, Australia +1:14
3. Ilan Van Wilder, Belgium +2:36
4. Tadej Pogačar, Slovenia +2:37
5. Isaac del Toro, Mexico +2:40
6. Andreas Leknessund, Norway +2:57
7. Luke Plapp, Australia +3:03
8. Bruno Armirail, France +3:06
9. Thymen Arensman, Netherlands +3:39
10. Stefan Küng, Switzerland +3:48
Results of the Elite Women’s World Championship Time Trial
- Marlen Reusser, Switzerland 43:09
2. Anna van der Breggen, Netherlands +0:52
3. Demi Vollering, Netherlands +1:05
4. Brodie Chapman, Australia +1:21
5. Katrine Aalerud, Norway +1:24
6. Antonia Niedermaier, Germany +1:29
7. Juliette Labous, France +1:33
8. Anna Henderson, Great Britain +1:38
9. Chloé Dygert, US +2:25
10. Mireia Benito, Spain +2:32
