A historic edition of the UCI Road World Championships got going on Sunday 21 September with the opening races in Rwanda, the first African country to host the event. Local talents and global stars illuminated the first day of competition with the Elite individual time trials (ITT) on the hills around Kigali.
Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser was the first rider crowned as she claimed victory in the women’s event ahead of two Dutch icons, Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering. The afternoon saw Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel take his third consecutive title, a feat previously achieved by Michael Rogers (2003-2005) and Tony Martin (2011-2013). Australia’s Jay Vine claimed silver ahead of another Belgian, Ilan Van Wilder.
“I can almost not believe it,” Marlen Reusser said as she gave Switzerland a third victory in the Women Elite ITT, two decades after Karin Thürig ruled the 2004 and 2005 editions. On the day after her 34th birthday, the versatile and powerful rider eventually took the rainbow jersey that caps off a spectacular career that has long established her as one of the greatest time trial specialists ever.
“I know it’s real, it happened, but I tried so many times and it didn’t work out… And now I made it and it’s really special,” Reusser celebrated. She had already claimed silver (2020, 2021) and bronze (2022) in the Women Elite ITT, as well as victory in the team time trial – mixed relay with Switzerland (2022, 2023). She’s also won National and Continental titles, and many time trial stages at UCI Women’s WorldTour level. An individual rainbow jersey was the missing piece.
Starting from the BK Arena and storming to the Kigali Convention Centre at an average speed of 43.378km/h (43’09’’34 to cover 31.2km), Reusser rode in dominant fashion, setting the best time at every intermediate point and eventually claiming victory with a 51-second margin on Anna van der Breggen. The Dutch star, crowned in 2020, takes her sixth medal in the event, the fifth silver. Also considering previous success in the road race, she’s racked up ten individual medals at the UCI Road Worlds – along with another three in team time trials!
Her Oranje teammate Demi Vollering rounded out the top three with a time of 44’14’’07 (+1’05’’) to step on the podium for the second consecutive year (2nd last year in Zurich, Switzerland). In total, 44 riders from 33 nations took on the 31.2km course which packs in 460 metres of elevation, with two ascents – in different directions – on the Côte de Nyanza (2.5km at 5.8% and then 4.1km at 3.1%) before a finale on the cobbled slopes of Kimihurura (1.3km at 6.3%).
read more on www.uci.org – photo Luca Bettini/SprintCyclingAgency©2025
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