Reusser takes long-awaited first world title with perfect time trial in Kigali

For the first time in her career, Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) has been crowned the elite women’s individual time trial world champion after a faultless performance in Kigali, Rwanda, kicking off the 2025 championships in style.

After coming close on multiple occasions in the past, Reusser earned the reputation as the pre-race favourite and delivered on the expectations, despite the lack of racing since abandoning the Tour de France Femmes in July on the opening stage. 

Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) marked her return to the World Championships with a silver medal, 51 seconds behind Reusser, whilst her compatriot Demi Vollering (Netherlands) fought her way to a bronze medal at 1:04.

Awaiting the riders was one of the toughest individual time trial courses in recent World Championship history, a 31.2km route featuring 460m of elevation gain.

Home rider Xaveline Nirere (Rwanda) kicked off the 2025 edition of the UCI Road World Championships, with the Rwandan being the first rider to roll off the start ramp at the BK Arena.

Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) was one of the first big-name contenders to begin her effort, with the Dutch rider setting the provisionally fastest time through the first, second and third checkpoints before posting the fastest time at the finish line in a time of 44:01 with a strong and assured performance.

Though there was initially little coverage of one of the pre-race favourites in Marlen Reusser (Switzerland), the Swiss star went through the first intermediate checkpoint in a time of 16:34, which was the fastest for the time being. Katrine Aalerud (Norway) was 9 seconds behind in 2nd, with Anna Henderson (Great Britain) 12 seconds behind the Swiss rider, with only the final two riders, Chloé Dygert (United States) and Demi Vollering (Netherlands) to come through the first check.

Somewhat surprisingly, Dygert came through the checkpoint 28 seconds behind Reusser, leaving the American with plenty of work to do in order to secure a medal. However, Vollering posed a significantly bigger threat to her former teammate, less than a second behind at the first intermediate point.

Through the second intermediate checkpoint, Reusser shattered the time set by Van der Breggen, with a time of 28:06. Van der Breggen's time, 28 seconds behind, remained the 2nd fastest, with Henderson in 3rd at 33 seconds, fractions ahead of Aalerud in 4th. Things didn’t look to be improving for Dygert, who came through 1:23 behind Reusser, with the American all but out of medal contention.

For Vollering, the dream of the rainbow jersey looked to be fading, slipping to 3rd at the second intermediate, at 28 seconds behind Reusser, falling behind her compatriot Van der Breggen by fractions of a second.

Onto the final checkpoint, Reusser’s gap over Van der Breggen was reduced to 23 seconds, with Aalerud and Henderson still locked on the same time as one another at 38 seconds. Meanwhile, Vollering’s podium chances were now at threat with the Dutch rider in 3rd at 36 seconds, with Aalerud and Henderson within touching distance.

Reusser clearly had kept something in reserve for the final ascent up the Côte de Kimihurura, powering to the line 51 seconds faster than Van der Breggen, the rainbows now almost in sight.

At the finish, Brodie Chapman (Australia) was also a rider who kept something in reserve for the finish, with the Australian finishing 1:20 behind Reusser, jumping past Aalerud and Henderson, who ended at 1:24 and 1:37.

Vollering fought valiantly to the line to end the time trial in 3rd at 1:04, joining Reusser and Van der Breggen on the podium.

Chapman’s late rise saw the Australian end fourth ahead of Aalerud in 5th; meanwhile, Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) and Juliette Labous (France) ended 6th and 7th, with Henderson in 8th.