News Round-up: Medals in time trials and mountain biking as super Worlds continue

The racing up in Glasgow and Scotland is hotting up again on the final weekend, with men’s time trial and the under-23 XCO mountain biking taking place today ahead of tomorrow’s women’s road race and Sunday’s elite XCO. We’ve got news and results from all of those events, plus the latest transfers around the WorldTour and an update from Marlen Reusser following yesterday’s time trial.

| Evenepoel back in rainbows with time trial victory

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Remco Evenepoel stormed to victory in the men’s time trial at the World Championships on Friday afternoon

Remco Evenepoel became the youngest-ever men’s elite world time trial champion at 23 with a stellar display in Stirling, Scotland. The Belgian, who achieved rainbow bands in the road race last year, edged out time trial specialist Filippo Ganna (Italy) by a matter of seconds. Josh Tarling (Great Britain), who put in a performance well beyond his 19 years, only a first-year elite rider, finished third over the 47.8km course, 48 seconds down on Evenepoel’s time of 55:19.

Clearly still feeling the effects of last weekend’s gruelling road race, Wout van Aert (Belgium) had to settle for fifth place on the day, with Brandon McNulty (United States) putting in an admirable performance to seal fourth place. Ahead of his defence of his Vuelta a España title, however, it was Evenepoel who arose as the king of the (Stirling) castle.

| Oscar Chamberlain takes junior TT title for Australia

Friday wasn’t just about the elite men’s time trial, with the juniors battling it out on the same day. Oscar Chamberlain (Australia) produced an impressive ride to add his name to an exclusive list of discipline winners that includes Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock and Josh Tarling.

The Australian rider posted the winning time of 28:29, with Ben Wiggins (Great Britain) and Louis Leidert (Germany) taking the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Germany’s Leidert flew out of the blocks and managed to maintain his effort to the line to take his place at the top of the standings midway through the event, but was later overtaken by times from pre-race favourites Wiggins and Chamberlain.

| Four more cross-country MTB titles decided

Cross-country mountain biking is well underway down in Glentress, with the short track (XCC) titles decided last night, before the under-23 riders took on the cross-country Olympic (XCO) course today.

In the short track, both the champions from 2022 were able to defend their titles, with Sam Gaze (New Zealand) edging out Victor Koretzky (France) to win the men’s race, whilst a big final lap attack earnt Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France) another rainbow jersey to add to her collection.

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Pauline Ferrand-Prévot adds another rainbow jersey to her long list of career achievements

Friday’s under-23 cross-country racing kicked off with the men’s race, where four riders got away early in the race, never to be seen again. Charlie Aldridge (Great Britain), Adrien Boichis (France), Dario Lillo (Switzerland) and Riley Amos (United States) were in the lead for most of the race, with Amos dropping midway through before the racing exploded in the final lap.

Having measured his efforts all the way around, home rider Aldridge launched a stinging attack on a climb in the final lap, dropping first Lillo and then Boichis soon after, and soloing the rest of the way to the line to take a big win in front of a British crowd. Boichis held on for second, whilst Lillo picked up bronze.

In the women’s event, the big pre-race favourite Sofie Pedersen (Denmark) - who has won every World Cup so far this year - had a small crash early in the race, but never really recovered from the setback, opening up proceedings for a surprise winner.

Rather than Pedersen, it was New Zealand’s Samara Maxwell who attacked early on the race, going solo in what was a bold move but turned out to be the winning one. Despite their best efforts, none of her competitors could get back onto Maxwell, and the young Kiwi stayed away for the entire race to win by a minute ahead of second placed Ginia Caluori (Switzerland), whose compatriot Ronja Blöchlinger took third.

The main event in the cross-country takes place tomorrow, as the elite riders line up to fight it out for their XCO world title.

| Jakobsen move to dsm-firmenich confirmed, Clara Copponi signs for Lidl-Trek

As earlier reported by GCN, dsm-firmenich confirmed this morning that Fabio Jakobsen will ride for them next season, moving over from Soudal Quick-Step. The current European champion has signed an initial three-contract, riding for the German squad until the end of 2026.

The Dutchman has won stages at the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España during his career, as well as one-day victories in Scheldeprijs, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Nokere Koerse, but has struggled for big wins in 2023, most recently abandoning the Tour after a crash.

“I have had some beautiful moments and nice memories but I’m only turning 27 at the end of the month so I still think I have more good years in the legs, and I’m really motivated to be fast and to win together,” he said.

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Fabio Jakobsen will be hoping for more moments to celebrate in his future with dsm-firmenich

In the women’s peloton, Lidl-Trek have today announced the signing of French sprinter and track star Clara Copponi from FDJ-SUEZ. As well as wins at the Women’s Tour and in French one-day races, Copponi has several silver and bronze medals at World and European level on the track. At Trek, she will likely form part of the sprint support for Elisa Balsamo.

“I’m super excited. It will be a big change for me to transition from a French team to a foreign one,” Copponi said. “With the language, new teammates, staff, and all the new habits, I’ll be out of my comfort zone, and that’s also what I’m looking for.

“I really want to grow as a sprinter and classics rider. I think I can also contribute in many races and become the best version of myself in this new environment.”

| Marlen Reusser cites mental exhaustion after time trial abandon

After abandoning the women’s World Championships time trial halfway through her effort on Thursday, Marlen Reusser has cited mental exhaustion, rather than any injury or mechanical, as her reason for stopping.

Lauded as one of the favourites, Reusser climbed off her bike midway through her TT effort in Stirling, appearing clearly upset as she sat by the side of the road with her team car.

“I had to give up,” she said in comments reported by DirectVelo. “It wasn't a mechanical problem, it was just me. It's a particular situation. I have been cycling for a long time. This is my seventh participation in the World Championships. Since I started cycling, I have always raced with passion. My life revolves around the bike. I like what I do, I like this lifestyle and I find a lot of positive points in it. But it also costs me a lot of energy.

“On this time trial, as soon as I wanted to start pushing, I felt that it was not possible. I was unable to accelerate. So I decided to quit. I was not ready to compete. I had no desire to do so.”

Reusser has had a busy racing programme this season, with back-to-back targets including the Tour de Suisse and the time trial at the Tour de France Femmes - both of which she won - and the World Championships. She took rainbow with her Swiss team in the mixed relay TTT, but the ITT, eventually won by Chloé Dygert, was a step too far.

Reusser is still on the start list for the women’s road race on Sunday.

And that’s all for today! Come back tomorrow for the latest from Glasgow and around the peloton.