European Championships Women's ITT: Marlen Reusser wins for the third successive year

Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) made it a hat trick of victories in the European Time Trial Championships, decimating her competition in the Netherlands to seal the gold medal and retain her title. The Swiss specialist rebounded from a disappointing World Championships to cross the line in Emmen in just 35:53, with an average speed of over 49km/h.

Behind Reusser, Anna Henderson (Great Britain) produced another impressive ride to seal the silver medal, with Austria's Christina Schweinberger less than a second behind the young Brit in third place.

Schweinberger could be content with the bronze medal, as the day's early hot seat occupier, Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France), was bumped down to fourth place. For the day's winner, there could not be a much sweeter birthday present.

"It's really really special and nice to win it for a third time," beamed Reusser. "It makes me really happy and especially today, as it's my birthday! So it is a really special day."

"I think for my physics, it is a good [course], although I think at the moment I can also climb pretty well, so it doesn't really matter."

The high winds of Drenthe cause some concern

Before the start of the Women's Individual Time Trial event at the European Championships, the weather forecast had been on everybody's lips, more so than the route. Whilst the course was a rather straightforward affair, with no technical sections to deal with, the forecasted winds had caused concern and been flagged in GCN's race preview.

Read more: 22.7km/h winds forecast as Marlen Reusser looks to defend her European time trial title

As Germany's Katharina Fox rolled down the start ramp in Emmen, high winds had already been experienced by the riders in their pre-race recons, with many voicing their concerns after riding the course on Wednesday morning.

The optimal position for riders in time trials is with their head down, in order to maintain a clean aerodynamic profile. However, due to the strong winds, reports had emerged of riders having to lift their heads regularly throughout the route, for fear of having been blown off course. Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma took to Instagram to take humour in the situation.

Nevertheless, all 30 riders were able to get out on the road and begin their assaults on the gold, silver and bronze medals that were on offer. Fox was the first to cross the line after 29.5km, posting an initial time to beat of 37:20, but it was Audrey Cordon-Ragot (France) who had been setting the individual time checks alight.

Through the first intermediate time check with an average speed of almost 52km/h, Cordon-Ragot was on a flyer and would maintain her momentum through the second check, clocking in a time of 28:04 with a little over 5km to ride.

As eyes began to turn to the Frenchwoman's final time, Slovenia's Eugenia Bujak set a new best time at the finish of 37:02 and the trio of Christina Schweinberger (Austria), Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) and Anna Henderson (Great Britain) went faster than Cordon-Ragot at the first time check.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Anna Henderson produced a very good ride on the day, just as she did at the World Championships

Working into a headwind at the line, Cordon-Ragot's average speed dipped through the final kilometres but she was still able to set the new fastest time of 36:41 in Essen. This was to be the time to beat as the 15 riders still out on course looked to finish strong.

Coming across the line with a time of 37:30, Denmark's Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig spoke to GCN/Eurosport of her difficulties against the wind.

"The wind made it really hard, god," the Dane exasperated. "And such a little mosquito as me, I'm just flying left and right, but it was good, it was hard."

Marlen Reusser defends her title in the Netherlands

Although Cordon-Ragot could be content with her ride at the finish, the jury was very much out on whether or not her time would be good enough to seal a medal at the end of the event.

© GCN

Knowing she was simply keeping the hot spot warm for someone else, Audrey Cordon-Ragot looked resigned to defeat

At the second intermediate time check, Henderson, Schweinberger and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) went quicker than Cordon-Ragot had done, but their efforts were to be blown out of the water by reigning champion, Reusser. Clearly on a very good day, the two-time European time trial champion set a new fastest time of 27:21 through the second time check, a whopping 27 seconds ahead of second-placed Schweinberger.

As Henderson went four seconds faster than Cordon-Ragot at the finish in Emmen, an expectation had set in that Reusser was unstoppable on the day.

All the same, Henderson could be very happy with her efforts, which were enough to see her take the silver medal and hold off the stiff competition from Austria's Schweinberger. There was less than a second between the two riders in second and third at the end of the day.

Their pacing strategies were rather opposite, with Schweinberger starting hot and slowing as the ride went on, whilst Henderson posted negative splits and only improved as she came to the line.

"It was four straight lines really," reflected Henderson at the finish, going as far to say it had been the hardest time trial of her career. "Mentally and physically, it was really hard, it was really a [pure] time trialist's course, if you know what I mean."

"But yeh, I'm really happy with my ride, I really tried to pace it well. The wind was hard today but I think I dealt with it quite well."

Such was the Schweinberger's speed through the first time check, that the day's eventual winner, Reusser, had been forced to settle for second at that point.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Christina Schweinberger flew out of the blocks but could not sustain her efforts throughout, leaving her with the bronze medal

However, at the second time check, it became apparent that Reusser was a class above, whilst Schweinberger would do well to hold onto the silver medal. Alas, it was not to be for the Austrian, whose efforts in the first half of the race left her without the extra kick in the finale to overhaul Henderson's time.

As for Reusser, the reigning champion remained consistent throughout, maintaining an average speed of around 52km/h through the first time checks and only going slower by the finish due to the headwind that faced the riders into Emmen. Coming across the line with a time of 35:53, she had beaten Henderson by 43 seconds and Schweinberger by 44 seconds, with Cordon-Ragot forced to settle for fourth.