Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) won the World Championships time trial (Canada) on 20 September, in 44’53”. Filippo Ganna (Italy) was second at 57″, Paul Seixas (France) third at 1’13”.
The race
The world time trial in Montréal was run on a flat course, with no climbs to hide on. The winner was the rider who held the highest power for the whole effort. Remco Evenepoel started fast and kept extending his lead from the first time check to the last.
At the first check the Belgian already had a margin over all his rivals. The closest was Sweden’s Jakob Söderqvist, followed by Canada’s Michael Leonard and France’s Paul Seixas. On the flat, the story remains that of Byron Munton, who had set the first pace, and of Jasha Sütterlin, who had then led the provisional standings. Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen was the first to go under 47 minutes.
Filippo Ganna started steadily and climbed the order kilometre after kilometre, especially in the second half. In the end he was the only rider to keep his gap to Evenepoel under a minute. For Ganna it is the sixth podium in a world time trial.
Söderqvist came close to being the surprise of the day. He was ahead of everyone at the time checks and, before the last one, had a five-second advantage. In the finale he crashed, got back on his bike straight away, but lost the podium and finished fifth.
Evenepoel also had a scare in the finale, over a possible mechanical problem. It was a false alarm and the Belgian finished in 44’53”. Seixas took bronze, ahead of McNulty. Stefan Küng, seventh, finished at 1’44”.
For Evenepoel it is a fourth consecutive title in the discipline: he is the first man to win four in a row. He is now level with Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin as a multiple winner. His goal now is Sunday’s road race, to repeat the double of Paris 2024, when he won both the time trial and the road race.
The leading Italian is Filippo Ganna, 2nd at 57″. 60 riders finished out of 60 starters.
The top ten
| # | Rider | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Remco Evenepoel | Belgium | 44’53” |
| 2 | Filippo Ganna | Italy | +57″ |
| 3 | Paul Seixas | France | +1’13” |
| 4 | Brandon McNulty | United States | +1’25” |
| 5 | Jakob Söderqvist | Sweden | +1’26” |
| 6 | Isaac Del Toro | Mexico | +1’39” |
| 7 | Stefan Küng | Switzerland | +1’44” |
| 8 | Kasper Asgreen | Denmark | +1’49” |
| 9 | Daan Hoole | Netherlands | +2’02” |
| 10 | Callum Thornley | Great Britain | +2’03” |
News written with the help of Mnemosyne.
Sources
- Results and times: UCI, official results.
- Photo: Hoebele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
