Marlen Reusser lived up to expectations as the overwhelming favorite, successfully defending her individual time trial title at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal.
The Swiss rider, celebrating her 35th birthday, blazed through the 39.3 km course in 50’24.44”, allowing her to wear the rainbow jersey for another year. Britain’s Zoe Backstedt, 21, looked dangerous to upset is the reigning U23 world champion time trialist, posted the fastest time at the first two intermediate checkpoints. Backstedt crossed the finish line in 51:04:55, 40 seconds behind Reusser.
German Franziska Koch, 26, completed the podium in 51:09:98. Her time held the record for the race for a long time before being beaten by Backstedt.
Nadia Gontova
The day held special significance for the two Canadian athletes competing. Nadia Gontova and Olivia Baril had the rare opportunity to participate in the World Championships on home soil. Gontova was the best Canadian of the day, finishing 19th, 3:13:67 behind Reusser. Quebec’s Olivia Baril finished 23rd, 4:46:57 behind the winner.
“Here in Quebec, it was truly incredible to hear everyone cheering me on. It was moving for me, because we’ve used to racing in Europe.
It’s great to see that I have an impact on people here and that I have fans. It’s the first time I’ve experienced this.”
-Olivia Baril
Remco Evenpoel was by far the strongest in the men’s time-trial at the World Championships in Montreal, almost a minute faster than his nearest rival. He becomes the first man to win the world time-trial title in four consecutive years - after wins in Glasgow, Zurich and Kigali. The Belgian led through every time-check in his most dominant time-trial performances. Filippo Ganna was runner-up at 57 seconds down, while 19-year-old Paul Seixas claimed third, 1:13 down.
“It’s a pretty good start of the Worlds. I think there’s quite some time to rest out now and enjoy this special one. Full focus on Sunday from Tuesday on.”
-Remco Evenpoel
“Finishing third at the World TT Championships definitely puts me among the specialists, especially on a course today that was very, very flat. I’m happy with my performance and to validate what I’ve built this season.”
-Paul Seixas
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