Marlen Reusser holds off Zoe Backstedt to retain world time-trial crown in Montreal
Marlen Reusser retained her world time-trial title in Montreal on Sunday, holding off British challenger Zoe Backstedt to win the 39.2km race by 40 seconds; Germany’s Franziska Koch took bronze. Dutch favourite Demi Vollering, the European road race champion, finished eighth.
The course measured 39.2km (24.4 mile) and Backstedt was fastest at the first two intermediate time-checks before Reusser pulled away in the second half of the event to establish the winning margin. Reusser secured her second world time-trial title after triumphing last year in Kigali, while Koch finished six seconds behind Backstedt to claim third.
Reusser, who was competing on her 35th birthday, reflected on the result: "It’s a good present," and added, "I also thought, win or not, I have something to celebrate." She also spoke about the race’s pacing and unfamiliar length, saying: "From the side of pacing and understanding how fast you should go and how you should also cope with these challenges on the way, I was really nervous," Reusser added. "I was not really sure, because we don’t have time trials like this often … I’m used to doing 20km."
The Swiss rider’s recent form in individual time trials has been dominant, and her palmarès in the discipline includes four European titles and time-trial stage wins at the Tour de France Femmes and Giro d’Italia Women. Backstedt, 21, arrived with junior and twice under-23 world titles in the discipline but faced a course roughly 12km longer than any previous time trial she had raced.
Koch’s bronze continued a successful season for the German, who won Paris-Roubaix in April, while Vollering was never in contention for a podium place and crossed the line eighth. The standings left Reusser clear at the top, Backstedt second and Koch third.
The men’s time-trial is scheduled to take place later on Sunday in Montreal. Mathieu van der Poel warmed up for his bid for a second world title with a long-range solo break to win the final stage of the Tour of Luxembourg, breaking clear just over a couple of kilometres into the 177km stage and holding on to win by more than a minute.
Van der Poel described the solo move as unplanned: "That was not the plan before the start, but I found myself alone from the start of the race in fact, and I just rode my tempo the whole day," Van der Poel said. Italy’s Davide Piganzoli finished fourth on the stage to secure overall victory in the Tour of Luxembourg.
Van der Poel, the 2023 world road race champion, will be among the favourites in Montreal next weekend, where the reigning champion, Tadej Pogacar, will be missing due to injury.