Megan Arens (Netherlands) powered to an emphatic victory in the junior women's time trial at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda, beating Spain's Paula Ostiz by 35 seconds.
The Dutch rider, already one of the top junior prospects in the world, showed her time trial prowess throughout the 18.3km course, taking a narrow three-second lead into the foot of the climb to the line, and extending her gap by more than 30 seconds in the final 4.6km.
Ostiz, who will step up to Movistar's senior women's team from next season, timed her effort well, overtaking Norwegian rider Oda Aune Gissinger's solid time by two seconds to claim the silver. Gissinger had done enough to hold onto bronze, though, with Arens' teammate Roos Müller falling 10 seconds short.
Pre-race favourite Erin Boothman (Great Britain) missing out on the podium by 11 seconds after unclipping on the final cobbled climb and coming to a momentary standstill.
"I cannot believe it, actually. It's really humbling, I don't know what to say," said an emotional Arens, who beamed with pride at the finish after her victory was confirmed.
"It was a really tough parcours, and we made a pacing plan obviously, but it was hard to achieve the watts, so I just focused on my feelings and gave everything I could – and it worked out.
"Just wow," is how she summed up the feeling.
How it unfolded
Day three of the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, kicked off with the women's junior time trial, with home rider Masengesho Yvonne the first to roll down the start ramp in the BK Arena.
There were 47 starters for Tuesday's race, with the top nations and favourites set to start in the final 45 minutes of action.
A strong early benchmark was set by Chile's Marlen Rojas, who set a time of 27:28 around the 18.3km course in the capital city, and she narrowly held off a charge from Milana Ushakova (Ukraine), who was only 13 hundredths of a second slower at the line.
As the top nations began to start, it was clear that a new leader was imminent, with Norway's Oda Aune Gissinger setting the fastest time at the intermediate checkpoint and then at the finish, beating Rojas by 1:03.
Roos Müller (Netherlands) came close to overtaking Gissinger's time, but fell 10 seconds short. It was her compatriot and teammate Megan Aruns, though, who went through the time check quicker, but it was only by 2 seconds, with the final climb still to tackle.
Spain's Paula Ostiz and final starter Erin Boothman (Great Britain) were also within striking distance as they reached the foot of the cobbles and the climb to the line in Kigalia, at only 2 and 3 seconds respectively behind Arens.
As Arens crested the final few hundred metres and got back into her time trial, it was clear that she'd ripped her way up the final climb, beating Gissinger's time by 37 seconds to set a new best of 25:47.
Ostiz was no match for Arens, but did enough to also beat the Norwegian into provisional second by 2 seconds, with only Boothman to come – who had lost time after unclipping lower down on the climb – and the Brit ultimately ran out of time and could only manage fifth on the day.
Results
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