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Who are the favourites for the men’s and women’s World Championships Time-Trials?
With Grand Tours and Classics out of the way, which means it’s time to fight for the rainbow jersey. Now back to its usual September slot, the World Championships return to Switzerland this year. To open up the ‘Worlds’, the men’s and women’s time-trials will take place on Sunday 22nd September in Zürich.
The premise for these events is simple. Each rider sets off around the course individually. The fastest rider to cover the course wins and, therefore, gets to wear the coveted rainbow jersey for a year’s worth of time-trials. In the past we’ve seen Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara dominate the men’s discipline and a collective of Dutchwomen dominate the women’s races. Last year, Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel took the men’s title and Chloe Dygert of the USA took home the gold in the women’s race.
Is the reign of Evenepoel and Dygert over? Let’s see who could stop them from spending another year in the rainbow bands.
Women’s individual time-trial
The elite women will go first on Sunday, starting from 12:00 CEST. They will tackle a 29.9km long course from Gossau to Zürich. Interestingly, this is the shortest World Championships time-trial for the women since 2018. It is also a 10km decrease on the route of last year’s time-trial in Scotland. Along the way, the women will have to negotiate the Uetikon am See climb (2.4km at 4.9%) within the first half of the race. After this cruel test in the TT bike, the riders will plunge to Lake Zürich for 10km of flatland to the finish line.
Chloe Dygert, USA
27-year-old American Chloe Dygert is one of the strongest time-trialists in the women’s peloton. She has two rainbow jerseys to her name already despite her fair share of bad luck over the past couple of years. That includes the Olympic time-trial where she struggled in the slippery conditions around the French capital.
At the Tour de France Femmes last month, Dygert finished in second during Stage 3’s short time-trial around Rotterdam. Later on into the race, she rode a strong Tour in support of her Canyon-Sram teammate Kasia Niewiadoma, particularly on the chaotic flat stages. This turn in form seems to have been stretched out into the post-Tour period with a runners-up spot at the Classic Lorient Agglomération.
Dygert should be able to eat into her losses from the climb during the flat second part of the race. She’s the best flat time-trialist in the world on paper, but this climb may throw the whole race on its head. Equally, Dygert’s looming cloud of bad luck may also look to change the race’s course of action.
Rating: 4/5
Demi Vollering, Netherlands
This might be the best chance that Demi Vollering will ever get to claim a time-trial rainbow jersey. As the new titan of women’s cycling, Vollering would be a worthy candidate for the rainbow jersey.
Vollering hasn’t competed in many time-trials this year, but she has won two of the three tests she has competed in. The Tour de France Femmes runner-up claimed a shock time-trial win on Stage 3 of that race, edging out all of the rivals on this list. She also claimed a win at the Tour de Suisse earlier this year.
Vollering seems to be in strong form at the moment. After her turbulent Tour, she bounced back with a stage win and a second place overall at the Tour de Romandie earlier this month. These GC results will most likely spillover into strong time-trial legs. With roughly 350m of elevation gain on the women’s profile, the Dutchwoman will have a major edge over her competitors.
Rating: 4/5
Grace Brown, Australia
Australia’s Grace Brown has been enjoying one of her best seasons to date. She claimed Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, an Australian time-trial title in January and an overall victory at the Bretagne Ladies Tour in May. However, all of these were eclipsed by her Olympic gold in Paris last month. She took the title in emphatic fashion, with a winning margin of one and a half minutes over a mightily strong time-trial field.
It goes without saying that Brown’s time-trial legs have been in fine form this year. Along with her Olympic and national titles, she won a time-trial at the Bretagne Ladies Tour and finished runner-up in the Giro’s opening stage.
This will be Brown’s last World Championships having announced her retirement earlier this year. If she becomes World Champion, she might only have one chance to wear the jersey at the Simac Ladies Tour before bowing out of the peloton.
Rating: 3/5
Ellen van Dijk, Netherlands
At the age of 37, Ellen van Dijk is easily the most experienced rider on this list. The Dutch rider has won seven international time-trial gold medals with three rainbow jerseys and a whopping four European titles against the clock. Needless to say, you can’t write Van Dijk off.
The three-time winner of this race has been slowing down a little in the past season. A disappointing performance at the Olympics and during the Tour de France’s only time-trial were bitter results for the Dutchwoman. However, she does have three time-trial wins to her name this year.
She’s also picked up some form again in recent weeks. Last week, Van Dijk finished as runner-up in the European Championships behind the surprise winner Lotte Kopecky. Van Dijk has it in her to hang on over the hills, but she might be pipped by her more versatile teammate Vollering.
Rating: 2/5
Juliette Labous, France
Juliette Labous has the chance to become the first French rider to win the time-trial crown in 23 years. More achievably, she could become just the third French rider to win a medal against the clock in the women’s discipline. The hilly route will suit Labous over the more thoroughbred time-trialists like Dygert. Labous is a Grand Tour podium finisher with strong climbing capabilities. She recently showed this with a top ten overall at both the Tour de France Femmes and the Tour de Romandie Féminin.
Earlier in the season, the 25-year-old Team DSM rider landed herself in the top ten of time-trials at the Giro and Tour de Suisse. This was topped, however, by a fourth place in the Paris Olympics last month, just a hair’s width from the final podium. History is stacked against the Frenchwoman, though. Labous hasn’t won a time-trial since 2020. Will this be her Tobias Foss moment?
Rating: 2/5
Anna Henderson, Great Britain
A lot of things fell into place for Anna Henderson to take the silver medal last month in the Olympic time-trial. After many close calls in time-trials, Hertfordshire-born Henderson moved up a notch with this podium finish.
She finished in fourth place at the World Championships last year before a silver medal at the European Championships last autumn. She has a real knack for international time-trials, and she is likely to be flying the British flag in the top ten on Sunday.
Henderson is another rider who can weather the hilly storm. She’s no GC rider, but she has it in her to stay near the top of the standings after the halfway marker. Could she bring a time-trial rainbow jersey to her new home, Lidl-Trek?
Brodie Chapman, Australia
Australia come into the women’s time-trial with two cards to play. Lidl-Trek‘s Brodie Chapman has upped her game in 2024. She is the top-ranked time-trialist in the pack according to the website Procyclingstats. Despite taking more to gravel in 2024 than the time-trials, the Australian road champion has some solid results against the clock this year. She made the podium in the Giro prologue in early July and she came close to a win in June at the Thüringen Ladies Tour.
Chapman will be making her time-trialling debut at the World Championships this year. This is surprising given her strong results in this discipline. She also missed the Olympics last month, so it will be a surprise to see how she goes in Zürich.
Rating: 1/5
Men’s individual time-trial
The men’s course is slightly longer than the women’s at 46.1km in length with one major difficulty halfway through the route in the form of the Uetikon am See climb. This ramp lasts 2.4km at 4.9% average gradient. The toughest slopes in this test will be 8.5% during the middle sector of the climb. From there, the race follows the banks fo Lake Zürich all the way back to the finish line. It’s similar in length to the parcours of last year’s race in Stirling, but the climb will be the toughest seen in a World Championships time-trial since 2018. Take note, the race starts at 14:45 CEST.
Remco Evenepoel, Belgium
The reigning champion Remco Evenepoel enjoyed 13 months in the rainbow jersey, a month more than usual. He is, however, in very good stead to extend that rainbow stint for another year if he wins again on Sunday.
Evenepoel has a stellar record in time-trials this year with four wins out of six against the clock. This includes his A-list victory in Gevrey-Chambertin earlier this year at the Tour de France. Of course, he claimed the Olympic title last month in rainy Paris. In doing so, he defeated an all-star field that included his compatriot Wout van Aert – who is not competing at the World Championships this year – Pippo Ganna, Josh Tarling among other rouleur stars. He continued this gold streak with a win the following week in the road race which was essentially a glorified time-trial effort.
Remco disappointed many with his lacklustre Tour of Britain. However, Remco is Remco and he is likely to be back to his best by the time he rolls out of the start house in Zürich on Sunday. Victor Campanaerts completes the Belgian lineup, a rider who himself has finished on the podium at the World Championships in the past.
Rating: 5/5
Stefan Küng, Switzerland
The Swiss can never be counted out of a time-trial. On home roads, Küng will be the frontman for a potential Swiss gold in the men’s race.
Already a two-time podium finisher in the World Championship time-trial events in the past, Küng will be looking to move onto the top step of the podium like he has done several times in the European Championships.
King Küng finally won a Grand Tour stage last month with a victory against the clock in Madrid. The field lacked a real depth in time-trialling, but this turn of form must be noted. His climbing legs at the Vuelta were also impressive, to say the least. In this hilly course, Küng might surprise some.
Rating: 3/5
Primož Roglič, Slovenia
Fresh from a Vuelta victory, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič enters the ring as a contender for gold in Zürich.
Based on his previous World Championships performances, there’s not much evidence of Roglič finishing on the podium. However, he is a former Olympic gold medalist in the discipline. This year already, Roglič has finished in the top three of two Grand Tour time-trials. One of these came at the aforementioned stage won by Remco Evenepoel at the Tour. Better than that, Roglič won a time-trial at the Itzulia Basque Country earlier this year.
It’s also important to point out here that Tadej Pogačar will not ride the time-trial this weekend. He is instead focussing on winning the gold medal in the road race the following weekend.
Rating: 2/5
Mattia Cattaneo, Italy
I’ll be honest. If anyone is going to pull off a shock win, it’s Mattia Cattaneo. He recently podiumed the European Championships, but on a hilly route, Cattaneo will gain an advantage over his more pure-bred rouleur competitors.
The Italian has been in good form of late and he has a strong record in one-day time-trial races. Along with his podium finish last weekend, Cattaneo has a strong record in the competitive Italian national championships and he managed to sneak onto the podium on Stage 21’s time-trial at the Vuelta. With no Pippo Ganna on the startlist, keep your eyes peeled for Cattaneo in the maglia azzura of Italy.
Rating: 2/5
Brandon McNulty, USA
Brandon McNulty has been knocking at the door of a major time-trial medal for a while. Last year, McNulty just missed out on the podium in fourth place. Since then, though, he has stepped up his game. He has claimed three UCI WorldTour level time-trials at the UAE Tour, Tour de Romandie and the Vuelta a España. He’s also added the star-spangled jersey of American champion to his collection.
The American, however, suffered a heavy crash towards the end of the Vuelta. This affected his fitness at the race greatly, falling down to a 113th place finish during Stage 21’s time-trial.
Rating: 2/5
Stefan Bissegger, Switzerland
Another rider on home roads, Stefan Bissegger is a man to watch out for. Unpredictable in his nature, Bissegger can sometimes scoop up a big result in top-flight time-trials.
A former European champion, Bissegger has been rather quiet in 2024. That said, he finished sixth in the Olympics time-trial and third at a recent time-trial at the Renewi Tour. He’s a decent climber capable of hanging on over the Uetikon am See test. He’s also got a good record on home roads having taken a mountain stage of the Tour de Suisse and the national time-trial title in the past.
Rating: 2/5
Josh Tarling, Great Britain
The British team will be headed by youngster Josh Tarling. After a bronze medal last year and a near miss at the Olympic Games in Paris, Tarling will be hoping to edge ever closer to that rainbow jersey.
The route doesn’t suit Tarling very well, on the other hand. With a hefty climb, he’ll have a lot of time to make up on the flat to rival the likes of Remco Evenepoel. I don’t quite think he’s there yet to beat Evenepoel on a flat time-trial, let alone one with a ramp halfway through the course.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider pulled out of the Vuelta after a disappointing first week of racing. He also recently missed the European Championships due to British Cycling’s hiatus from the event in Limburg last week. Therefore, we don’t really have an idea of where the Welshman’s form is at. We’re not convinced 2024 will be his time, but there are plenty of chances to come for British cycling’s new golden boy.
Rating: 1/5
Cyclist prediction
Sorry for being boring, but it’s my belief that we are going to see Remco Evenepoel in the rainbow bands for another year. He’s Remco after all, he’ll bounce back after getting dropped over the Yorkshire Moors. That was all smoke and mirrors so people talk about Stefan Küng instead. That said, we may well see a Swiss rider on the podium – don’t ask me who – while the bronze medal will (likely) go to Mattia Cattaneo.
In the women’s time-trial, I’m going to back Chloe Dygert. She’s a machine against the clock and the lack of Marlen Reusser should be relished by the American. She’ll be closely fought to the line by Demi Vollering who I’ll predict for silver and there will be a surprise cameo from Lotte Kopecky in third.
In short, there’s no change at the top.
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