British rider Zoe Backstedt stormed to victory in the inaugural women’s under-23 time trial world title at the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda.
The 20-year-old romped home one minute and 51 seconds clear of second-placed Viktoria Chladonova on the hilly 22.6km course, with Federica Venturelli of Italy third.
Backstedt stretched out an already-significant advantage in the second half of the race and maintained her energy over the leg-sapping final climb, the cobbled Cote de Kimihurura, before dousing herself in cold water at the finish line after a half-hour ride at full tilt in 26C heat.
It is a fourth world title for Backstedt, who rides for World Tour team Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto, after winning the junior road race in 2021 and the junior road race-time trial double in 2022.
Victory in Kigali also marks her fifth victory against the clock this year, including both the prologue and time trial at Baloise Ladies Tour in July and the elite British national title in June.
“It was such a brutal race, almost peak temperature of the day when I started so that didn’t help, but I really gave it everything I had and kept pushing until the end,” Backstedt said afterwards.
“I knew it was going to be super hard and basically be down to those two climbs. I’m really happy to pull this off. Everything was going perfectly and hopefully it can give some motivation to the next races,” she added, referring to her GB teammates’ chances later in the week.
Compatriot Callum Thornley was fifth in the men’s under-23 time trial, won by Swedish rider Jakob Soderqvist.
The elite time trials were contested on Sunday, with Belgian Remco Evenepoel securing a third straight time trial world title to underline his status as the best in the world against the clock.
He finished one minute and 15 seconds clear of Australia’s Jay Vine, who himself finished a minute and twelve seconds ahead of bronze medallist and Evenepoel’s countryman - and trade teammate - Ilan van Wilder.
Evenepoel was the last to set off on the 40.6km course but produced a blistering ride to provide viewers with the rare sight of Tadej Pogacar being overhauled on the road.
Pogacar, the defending road race champion and dominant force on the road over the last couple of years, had been expected to challenge purer time-triallists like Evenepoel on the climbing-heavy course. But despite setting off two and a half minutes ahead of the Belgian he was no match for his pace, finishing fourth - an agonising one second off the podium.
Pogacar, who turned 27 on Sunday, said afterwards: “When he caught me, I just said ‘wow’. Gaining two and a half minutes like that is really phenomenal. So hats off to Remco.
“Of course, it's not the best feeling when a cyclist catches you, but he is the best in this discipline. He dedicates a lot of time to it and I can only hope to get closer to him in the coming years.”
Evenepoel’s triumph made him just the third man in history to win three straight time trial world titles, after Australian Michael Rogers and Germany’s Tony Martin.
Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser won the elite women’s race ahead of the Dutch duo of Anna van der Breggen - who came out of retirement this season - and former Tour de France champion Demi Vollering.
Reusser has endured a difficult couple of seasons with illness and injury and appeared to be back to her best earlier this year, winning the Tour de Suisse, before her season was derailed further by illness and she abandoned the opening stage of this year’s Tour de France.
But those trials appear firmly behind her as - after two silvers and a bronze at previous World Championships - she finally claimed a rainbow jersey, finishing 52 seconds ahead of van der Breggen.
Britain’s Anna Henderson, the Paris Olympics silver medallist, was eighth.
