Evenepoel and Chamberlain crowned individual time trial UCI World Champions

Another Elite rainbow for Remco Evenepoel

A year after his Elite title in the road race, in Wollongong, Australia, Remco Evenepoel (BEL) conquered the individual time trial at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Stirling, Scotland. Oscar Chamberlain (AUS) won the Men Junior race.

Evenepoel powers to another UCI World title

Silver, bronze (twice) and now gold: Remco Evenepoel today completed his set of medals in the Elite individual time trial (ITT) of the UCI Road World Championships. The Belgian claimed another rainbow jersey a year after he won the Elite road race and five years after he dominated both the ITT and the road race as a Junior. Italy’s Filippo Ganna and Great Britain’s Joshua Tarling joined the Belgian wonderkid on the podium.

No less than 78 riders lined up in Stirling, from the Syrian refugee Ahmad Badreddin Wais, first starter of the day, to Norway’s defending UCI World Champion Tobias Foss, the last to set off on this afternoon. They tackled 47.8km, with three checkpoints (at 12.6, 34.7 and 43.5 kilmetres) to try and read the outcome before the last riders crossed the finish atop the ascent leading to Stirling Castle.

An outstanding talent on his national roads, Tarling (last year’s Junior ITT UCI World Champion, and already stepping up against the Elite) immediately impressed with a time of 14:03.81 at the first checkpoint. Only two superstars went faster than him: Ganna (13:57.08) and Evenepoel (4’’ behind Ganna and 2’’ ahead of Tarling).

Checkpoints two and three confirmed Tarling’s strength. The 19 year-old eventually crossed the line after 56:07.43, edging Portugal’s Nelson Oliveira (15 years older than Tarling) off the hot seat by more than a minute. The USA’s Brandon McNulty (+38’’) couldn’t threaten the young Brit’s time and neither could Wout van Aert (+49’’).

Meanwhile, Ganna and Evenepoel showed they belonged to a different class in this individual time trial. After 34.7km, the Belgian went ahead of the Italian, with a difference of 12’’ (with Tarling trailing by 25’’). The gap was down to 10’’ after the third split. The uphill cobbles of Stirling were set to decide the 2023 UCI World Champion!

Ganna went faster than Tarling on the ascent, crossing the line 35’’ ahead of the young Brit. But the Italian star, who had already taken two medals (gold in the individual pursuit and silver in the team pursuit) in the track events in Glasgow earlier in the UCI Cycling World Championships, eventually witnessed Evenepoel’s triumph. The Belgian finished in 55:19.23 (an average of 51,843 km/h) compared to the Italian’s 55:31.51 (51,652 km/h).

Men Junior: Chamberlain edges Wiggins

In sport, the influence of a young athlete’s parents can play a major role in guiding that athlete to the top, on the condition their child is talented and trains hard. This was very clear on the

Men Junior podium of the individual time trial, dominated by Australia’s Oscar Chamberlain who claimed gold in front of Great Britain’s Ben Wiggins and Germany’s Louis Leidert.

“My mother travelled a lot and she kept a very fond memory of France,” Chamberlain told Vélo Magazine last year. “She wanted us to live this experience, me and my three sisters.” The young Oscar thus spent a few months in the South of France and started racing with a local club, VC Montfavet… Eight years later, he’s Junior individual time trial UCI World Champion, with an impressive performance over 22.8km around Stirling (28:29.62, for an average of 48.011km/h).

Chamberlain’s runner-up holds a name famous to sports fans: Ben Wiggins’ father, Bradley, is one of the most decorated British athletes ever. He was born in Belgium from a cycling father, and he led many conquests on the road and on the track, including 16 medals (as a Junior and Elite) at the UCI World Championships and an overall victory at the Tour de France. “People are always going to compare me to my dad, but if you look at my Junior results, compared to when he was a Junior, I’m a lot better than he was,” Ben told The Guardian a few days ago. Ten seconds faster than Chamberlain at the first checkpoint (km 9.7), the young Brit eventually took silver 24’’ further back.

Germany’s cyclo-cross National Champion Louis Leidert, delivered his best ITT performance (+34’’) to take the bronze medal and edge off the podium Norway’s rising star Jørgen Nordhagen (+37’’).

Full results