The World Championships week in Montréal has finally gotten underway! The program kicked off in the Canadian morning with the Elite Women's time trial. Held over a course of nearly 40 km, the longest in history, it was mostly flat, though rather technical in a few sections, expecially in the final part, which also featured a 500m ramp at around 6.5%.
One of the first early reference times was set by Triathlon 70.3 World Champion Taylor Knibb at 52'43", which was soon lowered by Claes and Włodarczyk as the rest of the favorites headed out on course. At the first intermediate split, Zoe Bäckstedt led the charge, just 1" ahead of Cédrine Kerbaol and 3" ahead of Franziska Koch. Marlen Reusser sat in fifth, 10" down, while Demi Vollering was already 35" back.
By the second split, positioned on the F1 Circuit, Reusser began clawing back time, trailing Bäckstedt by just 3", with Koch and Kerbaol following 6" and 7" off the lead. The script flipped at the final intermediate split as Reusser stormed into the lead, building a 13" margin over Bäckstedt and 22" over Koch.
Over the final 10 km, the Swiss star truly stepped on the gas, passing Vollering on the road and crossing the line 40" faster than Bäckstedt, with the final time of 50'24" (46.7 km/h) to secure her second consecutive ITT World Title, giving herself the ultimate 35th birthday present! Bronze went to a impressive Koch, who finished just 5" behind the young British talent. Behind the podium Elisa Longo Borghini took 4th at 50" off the pace after a stellar final sector (second-fastest split, just 10" off Reusser and 13" faster than Koch), while Kerbaol completed the top five, 1'10" down on the winner.