Peerless Evenepoel cruises to fourth straight Worlds time trial

Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) was a dominant winner of the elite men’s time trial at the World Championships in Montreal, producing a peerless display on the flat 39.2km course in Montreal.

Filippo Ganna (Italy) recovered from a subdued start to take the silver medal, 57 seconds behind Evenepoel, while Paul Seixas (France) underlined his burgeoning credentials with third at 1:13.

Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden) had looked a likely medallist through the time checks, but the Swede suffered a crash in the finale, and he had to settle for fifth place. Brandon McNulty (USA) was consistent across the course, and he took fourth, 12 seconds off a medal but well down on the champion Evenepoel.

The Belgian equals Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin as a four-time world champion in the discipline, but he has surpassed their achievements by racking up four rainbow skinsuits in succession.

For good measure, Evenepoel won the time trial at the Paris 2024 Olympics, when he also swept the road race, and he will take aim at a similar feat in Canada. The harder part of that double is still to come, of course, but he made the first leg look astonishingly easy here.

At the first check, Evenepoel had a lead of nine seconds on Söderqvist, which he extended to 34 seconds by the second check. Filipp Ganna (Italy) began to fire in the second half of the course, but he was still some 48 seconds down on Evenpoel by the third check. 

The final section was a procession for Evenepoel. He briefly looked to have suffered a mechanical issue in the final section, but it proved to be a false alarm. In any case, he had ample time to spare as he cruised towards an inevitable world title. 

There was always a nagging sense that the last man down the start ramp would win the day by an emphatic margin, but there were still two more places on the podium up for grabs and the Worlds time trial has a history of throwing up surprise medallists.

Byron Munton (South Africa) was the early pacesetter before Jash Sütterlin (Germany) took over in the hot seat. Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) was the first rider to finish inside the 47-minute mark, but it was always clear that the issue would be decided by the later starters.

Paul Seixas (France) might have preferred a hillier course, but he was an assured performer in the early phases, and he would have his spell in the hot seat when he reached the finish 35 seconds up on Asgreen. 

Last year’s under-23 champion Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden) looked like he might edge Seixas out of the hot seat, holding a five-second buffer before the last check, but a late crash interrupted his effort. Söderqvist quickly remounted but the spill would cost him a medal.

But once Evenepoel rolled down the start ramp, the day’s direction of travel was clear. The Belgian was quickest to the first time check, nine seconds clear of Söderqvist, 17 up on Michael Leonard (Canada) and 18 ahead of Seixas.

Filippo Ganna (Italy) and Stefan Küng (Switzerland), the men expected to be Evenepoel’s closest challengers, were already 22 seconds down on the three-time champion at the first check, leaving them with a mountain to climb.

By the second check after 21.9km, Evenpoel was already 34 seconds clear of Söderqvist, 39 up on Seixas and 40 clear of Ganna. Game over.