Picture 1 of 10
Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) made historical past on Sunday as the primary elite man so as to add the world time trial victory to the Olympic time trial gold medal, dominating the 46.1km race in opposition to the clock in Zürich with a time of 53:01.
Only a few hours earlier, Australia’s Grace Brown scored the identical uncommon double victory for elite ladies 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 recent seat, stopping the clock himself at 53:08. Nonetheless, reigning Olympic champion Evenepoel went 6 seconds quicker to seal the victory, regardless of Ganna gaining again time within the final leg of the race.
Ganna and Affini secured silver and bronze, respectively, for Italy, with Affini’s medal counting as his finest at a Highway World Championships, lower than two weeks after taking the European title within the self-discipline.
“It took fairly a while to really feel good once more and get good condition, however proper on time,” Evenepoel mentioned on the post-race interview.
“It was a fairly robust day for me. My chain dropped with one minute earlier than the beginning. After which I took the beginning and had no energy metre in any respect so it was a pure time trial on the sensation.
“I pushed fairly arduous on that second little kick, and I went all-out on the downhill as properly. With out having the ability metre it was fairly loopy to maintain the tempo within the final 5 kilometres.
“It was troublesome as a result of I needed to push, however I couldn’t go over the restrict as a result of I didn’t know what I used to be doing precisely. So, it will need to have been probably the most troublesome time trial of my life.”
In the beginning home, the defending champion needed to dismount his machine to permit mechanics to regulate his chain, which had been dropped when the Belgian backpedalled one minute earlier than being launched down the ramp. A alternative bike was delivered to the platform, however he was in a position to remount his most important bike, chain in place, and take off on time, the adrenaline little doubt very excessive.
Evenepoel by no means fell behind at any of the three checkpoints on the course, going six seconds quicker than Ganna after the primary 12.5km, and he padded his margin by one other three seconds on the center checkpoint on the prime of the day’s most important climb after which carved out a 19-second hole on the third checkpoint. Whereas the Italian took again 13 seconds on the flat stretch again into Zürich, it was yet one more runner-up place within the battle with the quick Belgian.
After Ganna stopped the clock at 32:18, Evenepoel made an announcement by passing Roglič simply earlier than the end and went six seconds higher than the Italian, leaving the Vuelta champion exterior the highest 10.
“In a TT, particularly in a Championship, it does not matter what the time hole is. I noticed my time in inexperienced and I felt like celebrating. A fairly good day once more,” he mentioned with a giant smile.
Josh Tarling (Nice Britain) completed fourth, 1:17 again, and Jay Vine (Australia), who crashed within the closing kilometres, completed fifth, 1:24 again.
The way it unfolded
The opening day of the 2024 UCI Highway World Championships started with the elite ladies’s time trial, received by Grace Brown (Australia), and was adopted by the elite males for a full day of racing the clock throughout the Swiss countryside.
The beginning ramp for the elite males was positioned on the infield of the out of doors Oerlikon velodrome simply north of central Zürich and led the 59 starters on a 46.1km route again to Zürich. A complete of 324 metres of climbing coming within the mid-section of the race offered a change of tempo over the foothills of the Pfannenstiel, the second intermediate time examine positioned on the crest of the primary of two climbs at Oetwil am See, 2.6km in size with a gradient averaging 4.5%.
A technical, steep 1km descent, with pitches of 10-12%, adopted a couple of kilometres later after the second smaller climb, marking the transition again to flat roads on the japanese shore of Lake Zurich for the ultimate 12km to the end line, which included the third and remaining intermediate checkpoint at Seestrasse.
From the early starters battling for the recent seat and a while within the highlight, Charles Kagimu (Uganda) set the time to beat at 59:28 as the primary rider throughout the course. The lead would fade with a succession of riders behind, and when Canadian Pier-André Côté sped throughout the road the brand new finest time plummeted to 56:00.
The highest 20 riders started to make impressions as soon as Magnus Sheffield (United States) rolled down the ramp. He was flying by way of the primary time examine on the 12.5km mark, going 9 seconds quicker than Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) and 11 seconds higher than Stefan Bissegger (Switzerland). Then Edoardo Affini (Italy), one rider behind Sheffield, went 5 seconds higher.
A roar of cheers and applause echoed throughout the velodrome space when Stefan Küng took the course, with simply 5 riders remaining to start out. Forward his Swiss teammate was a magnet for loud cheers on the Oetwil am See climb, whereas on the end, Côté held one of the best total time.
In the beginning home, defending champion Evenepoel dropped the chain on his bike only one minute earlier than he took the course behind Ganna. He was in a position to remount his most important bike and take off on time, the adrenaline little doubt very excessive.
Forward on the end, Søren Waerenskjold (Norway) bumped Côté out of an extended stint within the sizzling seat, going 1:10 higher, then Nelson Oliveira (Portugal) eclipsed his time by a full minute, going 55:37. The occasions stored dropping with a parade of the riders, Asgreen setting a brand new finest time of 54:32.
Magnus Sheffield was subsequent, however he couldn’t go higher than the Dane and was in second place.
European time trial champion Affini then stamped his authority on the sector going 35 seconds quicker than the Dane, setting the brand new mark underneath 54 minutes at 53:56. As soon as 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 nonetheless on the course.
Jay Vine (Australia) rode the primary half of the course with the quickest time, 19 seconds higher than Affini’s time of 32:56, however there have been nonetheless six riders behind him, together with Evenepoel, who now clocked one of the best time on the first intermediate level, 13:39, and was constructing momentum in direction of the climbing part.
Ganna made his assertion on the climb, going 6 seconds quicker than Vine. However that small triumph was short-lived, as Evenepoel notched 32:09 on the similar level, now taking a 9-second benefit over the Italian champion. The Olympic champion continued with clean motions by way of the swooping activates the descent.
Forward, Küng and Tarling started to extend speeds on the flat street alongside Lake Zürich. Each started to speed up once more, however neither may match one of the best time there thus far – a 44:16, held by Vine. Nonetheless, the Australian champion arrived on the end line with street rash, having taken a spill, and couldn’t overtake Affini, ending in 54:26.
Then Vine’s finest time on the third time examine vanished, each Ganna and Evenepoel crusing throughout that line a lot quicker and the Belgian 19 seconds quicker than his most important rival Ganna. The ultimate 12.5km got here right down to a head-to-head battle between the 2 favourites, with Evenepoel sustaining his momentum to maintain his rainbow jersey for one more 12 months.
Outcomes
Outcomes powered by FirstCycling
