History was made in Kigali, Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) won his third consecutive time trial world title, dominating the 40.6km race against the clock with a time of 49:46, the only rider to break the 50-minute mark.
Australia’s Jay Vine delivered a remarkable ride to finish in silver, finishing 1:14 from Evenepoel while Ilan Van Wilder (Belgium) took bronze, 2:36 back on the difficult course on day one of the UCI Road World Championships.
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In the final 2.2 kilometres on the cobbled climb, Evenepoel, adorned in the golden helmet as Olympic champion, caught and overtook Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia), his 2.5-minute man, to claim the rainbow jersey. Pogačar briefly stayed on his wheel, with commissaires blowing their whistles, as he fought to the line.
“I think on a day like today, it doesn’t matter who it is,” Evenpoel said about catching Pogačar, “but I just wanted to push as hard as possible from the first climb on, and then I just tried to recover as much as possible in the descents. And of course, on the cobbles, when I saw that I was coming closer quite quickly, I knew I had to push through, but I have to say that it was really tough on the false flat part in the end, so I didn’t want to go over the limit. Because I knew that the last 400 was also still quite hard. “
The writing was on the wall, as Pogačar trailed Evenepoel by 45 seconds by the first time check, and lost more time, ultimately crossing the line with a time of 2:37 to take fourth. Isaac del Toro (Mexico) finished fifth, a further three minutes back.
UCI Road World Championships elite men’s time trial podium: Silver medallist Jay Vine (Australia), gold medallist Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and bronze medallist Ilan van Wilder (Belgium) (Image credit: Getty Images)How it unfolded
The historic opening day of the 2025 UCI Road World Championships began with the elite women’s time trial, won by Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser. It was followed by the elite men for a full day of racing the clock in Kigali, Rwanda.
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Beginning at the BK Arena and finishing at the Kigali Convention Centre, the 55 riders representing 38 nations faced 680 metres of altitude compressed over the 40.6km race. The difficult course tested the racers with the ascents of the Côte de Nyanza, which will be climbed twice but from two different slopes (2.5 km at 5.8% first, then 6.6 km at 3.5%), then the Côte de Peage (2 km at 6%) just before the final cobbled hill of Kimihurura (1.3 km at 6.3%) before the uphill finish.
Rwanda’s Shemu Nsengiyumva was the first to set off, in warm and sunny conditions, and set the early fast time of 56:41, cheered on by huge crowds at the finish.
Canada’s Laurent Gervais, 14th rider to start, was pushing Nsengiyumva’s early fast time, ten seconds slower at the first intermediate check atop the first ascent of Nyanza, 10.6km into the stage, but faded by the second check to ultimately finish with a time 42 seconds slower than the Rwanda rider.
The 18th rider to leave the start ramp, Florian Vermeersch (Belgium), was the first rider to beat Nsengiyumva’s time, at the three intermediate time checks, faster by 1:30 at the 31.6km time check before taking over the hot seat with a time of 54:49, trimming the early fast time by 1:51.
Ilan van Wilder (Belgium) (Image credit: Getty Images)
The action intensified as rider after rider set the fast time at the first time check, first by Paul Seixas (France) and then Ilan van Wilder (Belgium). Meanwhile, Michael Leonard (Canada), who had started slowly, was faster by 46 seconds on the second time check, 24km into the course. Leonard briefly took the hot seat, the first rider to crack the 54-minute mark with a time of 53:39.
Seixas faded in the return leg while Van Wilder beat Leonard’s time by over one minute with a time of 52:22.
The top three riders expected to deliver spectacular results took to the course, separated by two and half minutes: Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) and defending champion Remco Evenepoel (Belgium).
Ahead on the road, Isaac del Toro (Mexico) also started fast, going deep to be the fastest at the first time check, but lost 16 seconds by the second check.
Evenepoel set the fastest time at the first time check, 45 seconds faster than Pogačar, while Küng was down by 1:13. The Belgian defending champion pushed to the limit, shimmying on a corner but kept it upright.
Jay Vine (Australia) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Australia’s Jay Vine was the first rider to crack the 32-minute on the second time check, with four more riders to cross the same point. His time was beaten by Evenepoel while Pogačar slotted in third.
Vine finished with the fastest time so far but didn’t really have time to enjoy the hot seat as a flying Evenepoel was on his way to not only crack the 50-minute mark but also catch his 2.5-minute man, Pogačar.
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