Women's World Championship ITT preview: Is it Reusser's time?

Date: Sunday, September 21
Length: 31.2km
Elevation gain: 460m
Intermediate check points: 10.6km / 19km /  26.6km
First and last start time: 10:10-12:10 CET
Start times and order: can be found here.

Looking for the men's preview? You can find it here.

The elite women's individual time trial will kick off the 98th edition of the UCI Road World Championships, in a historic edition, the first to ever be hosted in Africa, courtesy of Kigali, Rwanda.

Though defending champion Grace Brown isn't on the startlist, the riders who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th twelve months ago are all set to battle it out in the race of truth amongst some other world-class time trial specialists.

Domestique takes a look at one of the most demanding courses ever seen in a time trial at the World Championships, as well as the most likely contenders to take the rainbow jersey on Sunday.

The time trial begins outside the BK Arena in Kigali, the biggest indoor arena in East Africa. The arena is located next to the Amahoro National Stadium, Rwanda’s national and biggest stadium, with a capacity of 45,508, in the heartland of the capital city, which will host the finish of this elite women’s time trial.

Those who have seen the men’s Tour du Rwanda may recognise the arenas as they kicked off the 2025 edition, as host locations for the short 3.4km prologue won by Aldo Taillieu of the Lotto Development Team.

The route can be broken down into three different sections. From the start, the riders should be able to find their rhythm on rolling terrain for the opening 8.3km before the start of the first significant climb, the Côte de Nyanza. Standing at 2.5km with an average gradient of 5.8%, the riders will have time to work into their effort, knowing it's a strong opportunity to take advantage, but also need to keep watts in reserve for later on.

The toughest section of the climb is right at the top, where the gradients reach 9% as the riders will be able to see the first of three intermediate checkpoints, which is just shy of the summit. From the crest, the riders will descend the climb and continue the route for another couple of kilometres south before completing a U-turn. 

After the U-turn, the riders will naturally ride the way they came from in reverse and once more head up the Côte de Nyanza but from the different side they ascended from previously. 

The official categorisation of the second ascent of the Côte de Nyanza is a longer 4.1km, but with a more gradual gradient of 3.1%. Like the first ascent, an intermediate time check awaits just before the summit, giving the riders another opportunity to see where they are at.

From the summit the riders will embark on a descent of 7.3 kilometres towards the third and final intermediate check point. However, with what is remaining, the standings at the check point and the finish line could still be very different. 

The Côte de Kimihurura may be the shortest of the three categorised climbs, but it's also likely to be the most significant. Standing at 1.3km with an average of 5.9%, the characteristics of the climb don't sound severe. 

However, the climb surface is paved with cobblestones, and the opening 500m rise to 9%, with a maximum gradient of 10.4%. Follow this very difficult section, the climb eases off in gradient, but continues to rise for another 800 metres with gradients between 3-4%.

At the summit of the Kimihurura, the riders will have 1.1km to the finish line, with a short plateau section to try and recover, before an uncategorised drag which reaches up to 8% towards the finish line at the Convention Centre, where the destination of the rainbow jersey will be decided.

Naturally, there will be question marks over the shape of Reusser, who hasn’t pinned a number on since the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes in July after abandoning with illness. 

The Swiss star has come close to the rainbow jersey multiple times in this discipline with two silver medals and a bronze, and stands a major opportunity to land a maiden world title.

If Reusser arrives in the form that she has held for the majority of the 2025 season, which has seen GC wins at the Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de Suisse, and 2nd at the Vuelta España Femenina and Giro d’Italia Women, the Swiss star could well be a world champion come Sunday evening.

Another positive for Reusser is the fact that the 33-year-old has won three from three individual time trials in 2025, and her last defeat in the discipline came in 2023 in the World Championships in Glasgow.

It’s fair to say that Demi Vollering won’t get many better chances to become a time trial world champion than in Rwanda, with the demanding climbing course, which should suit the Dutch star down to the ground. Vollering put in a fine performance twelve months ago to secure a silver medal behind the now-retired Grace Brown. 

The three major climbs on the route will present an opportunity for Vollering to capitalise on her opponents as a world-class climber in an attempt to win the rainbow jersey for the first time in her career.

Chloé Dygert knows what it takes to win the rainbow jersey in the time trial discipline, having done so twice in 2019 in Harrogate and in 2023 in Glasgow. Last year saw the American win another medal, though it was bronze rather than gold, and it would take a brave person to count Dygert out. 

It is difficult to gauge what to expect, considering that Dygert’s last individual time trial was a 10th-place finish at the Simac Ladies Tour a few weeks after that Bronze medal in Zurich. Additionally, that course was a completely different profile, only 10.1km in length, and pan-flat.

Anna van der Breggen spent many years coming close to the rainbow jersey in the elite women's time trial, finishing 2nd on four occasions before finally taking the title in Imola, Italy, in 2020. That was Van der Breggen's last appearance in the event at the Worlds, and in her comeback year to racing, the 35-year-old has had some moments of brilliance and will be hoping for another in Kigali.

Antonia Niedermaier narrowly missed out on a podium in Zurich, ending 4th, nine seconds behind Dygert in Bronze, and the 22-year-old German has had another strong campaign in 2025, including becoming the German champion in the discipline. Niedermaier could go one better this time around and reach the podium in Kigali.

There will be no British representative in the elite women’s road race, but Anna Henderson will take to the start line for the time trial. Henderson won Olympic silver in the discipline last summer in Paris and has finished 4th and 7th in the Worlds in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Perhaps a more traditional time trial route would suit Henderson, but the British rider can't be ruled out of a strong result given her pedigree in the event.

France has some podium contenders who will welcome the difficult parcours in Juliette Labous and Cedrine Kerbaol, the latter being the current national champion. Both are strong climbers who finished 7th and 8th at the Tour de France Femmes and will hope that the climbing metres can swing the odds of a podium in their favour compared to the pure time trial specialists.

Urška Žigart's last outing was at the Tour de Romandie Féminin, where the Slovenian put in an excellent display to finish 2nd overall. Importantly, Žigart ended 2nd on the opening individual time trial, which, though a lot shorter than the Worlds route, was very climbing-heavy, and throughout Romandie, Žigart's climbing legs were clearly strong, a positive sign ahead of the Worlds, which could perhaps lead to a career-best result in the event.

Other riders to watch out for a strong performance include Kasia Niewiadoma with the climbing metres, Australian champion Brodie Chapman, and Monica Trinca Colonel.

The World Championships in Rwanda run from 21-28 September:

👉 Explore the full race schedule
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