Grace Brown (Australia) turned the primary lady in historical past to win each the Olympic and UCI World Championships time trial titles in the identical yr, incomes the latter in a tense battle on Sunday.
The 32-year-old, who’s planning to retire on the finish of the season, gained her first rainbow jersey in Zurich, Switzerland, beating Demi Vollering (Netherlands) by 16 seconds after a mammoth push to the road.
The backwards and forwards between the pair noticed Brown lead on the first time test, earlier than dropping eight seconds behind on the second. The Olympic champion then pulled it again on the end alongside Lake Zurich, overhauling Vollering to win her second gold medal of the summer season.
“It actually appears like I am in a little bit of a dream these final couple of months,” Brown stated afterwards. “These huge objectives appear bold, however I have been in a position to get out on the highway and do it and realise these desires. It is actually cool.
“The expertise of the Olympics and that success on my shoulders already gave me a variety of confidence. I used to be using within the final couple of kilometres and I simply saved telling myself I may be world champion. That gave me the power to push all the best way to the tip.”
All through her effort, Brown was spurred on by timing updates in her ear from her crew. The Australian stated it “took me a few kilometres on the flat to get into the rhythm” after falling behind Vollering, however then “gained power” in the direction of the end line.
Requested if she has any doubts about retiring, Brown stated: “I am nonetheless ending after the tip of this season. I simply really feel actually, actually fortunate to finish my profession like this. It’s particular.”
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Final yr’s winner Chloé Dygert (USA) completed third at 56 seconds, incomes herself the bronze medal. Twenty-one-year-old Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) efficiently defended her under-23 world title, ending in fourth place.
The way it occurred
(Picture credit score: Alex Whitehead/SWpix)
The ladies’s time trial course in Zurich introduced the shortest in six years on the UCI Highway World Championships, stretching out 29.9km. Nonetheless, with 327m of elevation acquire, it supplied suitably difficult terrain. Virtually the entire climbing got here within the first half of the course, which minimize by way of the Swiss countryside, and completed with a protracted drag alongside Lake Zurich.
The early starters swapped rapidly by way of turns within the sizzling seat. Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) was the primary huge contender of the day to start her assault, aiming for a record-equalling fourth world time trial title. A former Hour Document holder, the Dutchwoman instantly notched up the extent, going quickest by way of the 2 intermediate time checks, and setting a benchmark of 41:03, nearly 40 seconds higher than the earlier finest.
Van Dijk’s normal was then bettered and bettered once more. First the reigning under-23 world champion, Niedermaier, was quickest to the primary time test, at 10.4km, earlier than Vollering and Brown went quicker nonetheless. Dygert got here by way of 36 seconds adrift of Brown, whereas Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Anna Henderson (Nice Britain) began slower among the many favourites, each round a minute down.
The category of Vollering and Brown turned clearer as their efforts went on. The 2023 Tour de France Femmes winner hit over 80km/h on her descent all the way down to the lakeside, the place she overtook Juliette Labous (France), who began 90 seconds forward of her. On the second time test, at 20.5km, the Dutchwoman topped the desk, however solely with an eight-second benefit over the Olympic gold medallist.
The rainbow jersey regarded destined for Vollering’s shoulders when she rose out of the saddle throughout the road. The primary rider to clock beneath 40 minutes, she collapsed to the ground and lifted her palms to her head. She then crossed her fingers on each palms. The second lasted just a few minutes.
Brown, “haunted” by the six seconds that separated her silver from gold final time spherical, chipped away on the deficit within the last third of the course. She completed alongside the shores of Lake Zurich in supreme management, carrying a grand smile after the road, the victor ultimately, after two years as runner-up. Vollering was among the many first to congratulate her.
Outcomes
UCI Highway World Championships elite girls’s time trial: Gossau > Zurich (29.9km)
1. Grace Brown (Australia) in 39:16
2. Demi Vollering (Netherlands) +16s
3. Chloé Dygert (USA) +56s
4. Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) +1:05
5. Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) +1:39
6. Christina Schweinberger (Austria) +1:44
7. Anna Henderson (Nice Britain) at identical time
8. Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) +1:47
9. Juliette Labous (France) + 1:51
10. Amber Neben (USA) + 2:20
