{"id":196801,"date":"2024-09-23T10:59:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T10:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=196801"},"modified":"2024-09-23T11:02:01","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T11:02:01","slug":"evenepoel-brown-follow-olympics-itt-golds-with-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/09\/23\/evenepoel-brown-follow-olympics-itt-golds-with-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Evenepoel, Brown Follow Olympics ITT Golds with World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remco Evenepoel and Grace Brown won their respective time trial world championships on Sunday, completing a rare \u201cGolden Worlds\u201d double after they had both won the Olympic gold medal in the discipline.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In unusually thrilling races for a time trial, both winners were locked in tight races with their nearest rivals \u2013 Evenepoel with Italy\u2019s Filippo Ganna and Brown with arguably the best female rider on the road, Demi Vollering of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

The 46.1course in and around Z\u00fcrich seemed tailor-made for Evenepoel, as it was mostly flat but had a series of short climbs at the midway point, the most testing of which was 2.4km long at an average gradient of 4.9%, with a short 0.6km ramp at 8.5%.<\/p>\n

But the ride began inauspiciously for the defending ITT world champion. As he waited on the start ramp, nervously working the pedals, the chain came off about one minute before he was due to start. A technician worked feverishly to get the chain back on the derailleur as the seconds ticked away, succeeding just in time. Then, as Evenepoel said after the race, his power meter malfunctioned.<\/p>\n

The Belgian led Ganna at every checkpoint, slowly building a lead that stretched to 19 seconds at the third, and final, split. But the final 12km of the race suited the fast Italian and he pounded the pedals, reaching a speed of 84km\/h, to try to make up the gap. He failed by just 7 seconds. The newly crowned European champion, Edoardo Affini of Italy, finished third, 54 seconds behind the winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a pretty tough day for me,\u201d Evenepoel said afterwards. \u201cMy chain dropped one minute before the start. I took the start and I had no power meter at all, so it was a pure TT on feeling. I was struggling the last 2 to 3km. I’d pushed quite hard on the second kicker then went all-out in the downhill as well. And without having the power meter it was pretty difficult to keep the pace, but in a TT – especially a championship – it doesn\u2019t matter what the gap is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Men Elite Individual Time Trial \ud83c\udfc6:<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd47 Remco Evenepoel \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea
\ud83e\udd48 Filippo Ganna \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9
\ud83e\udd49 Edoardo Affini \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9#Zurich2024<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/KGABjSxjcg<\/a><\/p>\n

— UCI (@UCI_cycling) September 22, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n