Marlen Reusser dominates time trial at Cycling Road World Championships

"Switzerland's Marlen Reusser overcame illness this year to win the women's individual time trial at the Cycling Road World Championships in Kigali on Sunday, finishing 51.89sec quicker than the rest of the field for a dominant victory. Reusser took the rainbow jersey in a time of 43min 09.34sec around the 31.2km course in Rwanda's capital on the opening day of the week-long championships, being hosted in Africa for the first time."

"Reusser, one day after her 34th birthday, upgraded to the gold that had previously eluded her after finishing second in the time trial at the 2020 and 2021 world championships, and taking bronze in 2022. More recently she had suffered misfortune, abandoning mid-race in 2023, citing burnout at the end of the season, while last year a crash and Covid-19 infection forced her to miss the championships in her home country."

"Reusser had been the pre-race favourite and quickly set out her stall after Van der Breggen had taken the early initiative in hot conditions and at 1,567m altitude. The Swiss had faster splits after the first checkpoint (10km) and the second (19km) than Van der Breggen. Vollering, the last rider out, was initially not far behind the Swiss rider's time but when she passed the second intermediate point, she had lost half a minute to Reusser."

Marlen Reusser claimed the women's individual time trial world title in Kigali with a time of 43:09.34, finishing 51.89 seconds clear on the 31.2km course. Anna van der Breggen took silver in 44:01.23 and Demi Vollering earned bronze in 44:14.07. Reusser faced illness and race abandonments earlier in the season and had missed previous championships due to crash and Covid-19, yet delivered dominant splits at 10km and 19km. The course included a cobbled section near the finish and was contested in hot conditions at 1,567m altitude. Reusser described the effort as brutal and credited aggressive pacing on the climbs.

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