The exciting head-to-head between Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna barely lasted half of the long time trial that the cyclists had to face in the 2024 Zurich Time Trial World Championship. The Belgian cyclist left no option for his rivals and continues his successful journey that began with the Olympic double in Paris, adding a new rainbow jersey to his collection after the road race in Wollongong 2022 and the time trial he won last year in Glasgow.
Remco Evenepoel leaves no option in the Time Trial World Championship and warns ahead of next Sunday
Second time trial world championship for Remco Evenepoel, who, despite the high level of competitors at the Zurich 2024 World Championships, had his chain come off at the starting ramp with less than a minute to go before starting or his power meter not working during the race, in what Remco himself described as "the most difficult time trial of my life."
The Zurich race was held on a 46.1-kilometer course, a long distance compared to current standards, with a predominantly flat route but with a middle section where the hills surrounding the city were faced through a challenging area and a tough climb.
The cyclists were passing by, some of them, not usual in high-level events, who had their moments of glory as usual in world championships although with quite discreet times compared to the average speed set. It wasn't until the participation of Edoardo Affini, the recent winner of the European Championship last week, that we could have consistent references for the race, marking the best intermediate times in a tough battle with Jay Vine.
However, soon the favorites for the victory would come out, starting with Joshua Tarling who started with a lot of intensity, also Primoz Roglic and a Filippo Ganna who pushed to the maximum from the first corner. The last to start was, obviously, the reigning World Champion, who started his participation with the uncertainty of how the mechanical problems suffered before starting and, more importantly, the power meter issue, an essential tool in a time trial.
We soon dispelled doubts when in the first split, where men like Jay Vine or Stefan Kung successively beat Affini's times, Tarling managed to take a significant lead but his joy was short-lived as Filippo Ganna cut his time by 5 seconds and, shortly after, Remco began to impose his authority by surpassing the Italian's time by a remarkable 7 seconds. On the other hand, Primoz Roglic did not have his day and sank to eleventh place, 37 seconds behind Evenepoel.
More relevant would be the second intermediate point, located at the end of the main climb of the circuit. There, the times from the first split would be consolidated with some important events. The first one, the collapse of Joshua Tarling who even did worse than Affini, being out of the fight after conceding 52 seconds to Remco Evenepoel, who extended his lead over Ganna to 9 seconds.
A time that, although it left the race in a mano a mano between the Italian and the Belgian, was initially expected to be more favorable to Filippo Ganna, as it was a descent and completely flat, on the shores of Lake Zurich. But Remco Evenepoel ended the remaining excitement of the race by improving Ganna's time by a whopping 19 seconds at the third intermediate point, so, unless a disaster or a new breakdown, the time trial was practically decided.
In the final part, we only had to see how Ganna doubled his efforts in the last kilometer to overtake Primoz Roglic almost at the finish line, which surely helped him tighten the classification. In the end, Remco barely had 7 seconds to spare at the finish line, although it is also true that he knew he was the winner in the last kilometer and even allowed himself to cross the finish line raising his arms to celebrate his victory.
An unexpected third step on the podium as Jay Vine had the time trial quite under control until the third split but suffered a spectacular fall in the final part that left him without that coveted medal in favor of Edoardo Affini, who rounds off a fantastic week stepping on the podium in both the European and World Championships.
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