Cole Kessler was the top US finisher in the men's under-23 time trial at the UCI Road World Championships on Monday in 11th place. After finishing the 31.2km course that he thought played to some of his strengths, he revised that assessment at the finish line at the Kigali Convention Centre, admitting he suffered with the climbing.
There was no medal for under-23 national time trial champion, but he found a silver lining with his Lidl-Trek Future Racing pro teammate, Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden), crushing the course and taking the hardware as the world's best.
"He's a really nice guy, a great rider. Jakob is a big talent," Kessler said as his teammate blasted through a second intermediate time check with a solid lead, and added, "Wow, he's going fast."
Both riders started their road careers in 2020 without a lot of fanfare with years of racing as juniors. Söderqvist earned his first medal, bronze, in the Swedish men's junior time trial race that year, while Kessler won his first medal, gold, in his junior TT in 2021.
The two joined Lidl-Trek's development team in 2024, the Swede giving the team a powerful engine as a GC rider while Kessler, an all-rounder as well, mixes his climbing abilities with tactical awareness for breakaway opportunities. They both love time trialling, but Kessler discovered the time trial didn't love him back in Kigali.
"I find myself right in the middle of being a climber and being like a pure power time trialist. So I thought that it [U23 ITT] wasn't gonna be too bad for me. It was really hard. I was pretty much suffering the whole day," Kessler told the media, including Cyclingnews, at the finish before Söderqvist stopped the clock as the best of the day.
Kessler said it was beneficial to get feedback on the U23 time trial course from US elite riders Chloé Dygert and Ruth Edwards from their ride on Sunday, as they competed on the same 31.2km route with the out-and-back double ascent of Côte de Nyanza (4.1km at 3.1%).
"They said pretty much what I felt out there on the course, how you have the pace to climbs. It's really all about how you can recover in between efforts," Kessler told Cyclingnews.
"Yeah, I struggled a little bit today, recovering in between efforts. I'm proud of my race."
The 22-year-old Californian has raced in Rwanda before, competing twice at Tour du Rwanda when he turned pro with Israel Cycling Academy from 2022-2023 and was part of the top-level roster for Israel-Premier Tech.
He saw improved results when he signed with Lidl-Trek Future Racing, taking a most combative rider award one day and finishing fifth in KOM standings at Tour de Wallonie last year and completing Tour of Denmark and Tour of Britain against WorldTour riders.
"I think the talent under-23 is the highest it's ever been. The level is insane. Honestly, I've raced quite a bit at the pro level, with some of the best riders in the world, and I'd say pro racing is a lot more controlled and less stressful than under-23. You're always fighting in under-23 races, so it makes it a bit more difficult."
He will next line up in the men's under-23 road race with Evan Boyle on Friday, that 164.6km event bringing 3,350 metres of elevation gain. The elite women will compete on the same course, a circuit completed 11 times, on Saturday, and this time it will be Kessler who can reciprocate, giving advice to Dygert and Edwards for their race.
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