Switzerland's Marlen Reusser and Remco Evenepoel from Belgium won the first titles at the 2025 world road race championships in Kigali with victories respecitvely in the elite womne's and men's individual time trials (ITT).
Reusser completed the 31.2 kilometre course between the BK Arena in Kigali and the Kigali Convention Centre in 43 minutes and nine seconds.
Anna van der Breggen from the Netherlands was second – 52 seconds behind – and her Dutch compatriot Demi Vollering was third.
Although she has won golds in team events, Reusser, who turned 34 on Saturday, had never brandished an ITT.
"I can almost not believe it," she said. "I know it's real and it happened but I tried so many times and it didn't work out. And now I made it and it's really special, but it was such an effort."
The world title caps an impressive season for Reusser who joined the Movistar team last winter. She won the Tour of Burgos in May and in June claimed the Tour of Switzerland for the second time.
"I went really hard on the climbs," she said. "Then the final climb, maybe even 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 and I think also I have an advantage, I'm quite a heavy rider, so without a lot of effort, I still go down pretty fast, and then I can put all my effort in the climb. So I did this, and it was super hard. It was so hard. But yeah, I made it."
Kigali hosts historic first road world cycling championships in Africa
First championships in Africa
In a salute to the first staging of the road world championships in Africa, Rwanda's Xaverine Nirere was the first of 44 competitors to start the course from inside the BK Arena.
She finished 27th, almost seven minutes behind Reusser.
For the third consecutive year, Evenepoel won the men's event.
The 25-year-old dominated at 40.6-kilometre stretch between the same venues as the women's race in 49 minutes, 46.03 seconds.
Jay Vine from Australia was second, 74 seconds off the pace and Ilan van Wilder from Belgium was third.
At last year's Olympics in Paris, Evenepoel became the first rider to win the time trial and the road race at the same Games.
He will be seeking to reproduce such pyrotechnics when he competes in next Sunday's 267km road race, where defending champion Tadej Pogacar is the hot favourite.
"I was on great form today," beamed Evenepoel. "I hope I feel like this again next Sunday."
The victory in Kigali, following last year's triumph in Zurich and glory in Glasgow in 2023, allows him to emulate Tony Martin, Fabian Cancellara and Michael Rogers as the only riders to have brandished the world championships ITT crown at least three times.
