Australian six beat France by just 5 seconds to defend mixed relay TTT title, USA opts not to start.
Updated September 24, 2025 09:11AM
The Australian Six came good on their status as favorites to edge a nailbiter finale in the mixed relay time trial at the Rwanda road world championships.
Jay Vine, Michael Matthews, Luke Plapp, Brodie Chapman, Amanda Spratt, and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden went out fast and never slowed down to successfully defend the team title Wednesday afternoon.
But it wasn’t easy for Team Aus.
France was only 5 seconds back in second, with Switzerland third at 10 seconds.
15 nations chose to start Wednesday’s race as the mixed TTT format continues to prove divisive.
Many teams see it as a fatiguing distraction ahead of the weekend road races, while some are making it a speciality. USA, Great Britain, Slovenia, and Denmark are among the many that opted to pass.
Introduced in 2019, the format calls for the three men to relay around a lap of the course before the women set off for their circuit. The female three can start on the arrival of the second male.
The team’s clock stops at the arrival of the second woman.
The Aussie men set the fastest time by more than 30 seconds in their 21km round Wednesday before Spratt and Chapman squeezed it home around 30 minutes later.
It made for a tense final as Chapman was briefly gapped in the grinding climb to the line.
The Swiss Six saw their effort derailed and then salvaged when Marlen Reuser fell off the back of her teammates with a mechanical.
The newly crowned ITT world champion had to gut out a painstaking chase back to partners Noemi Rüegg and Jasmin Liechti before she promptly reinforced her wild power by dropping the latter in the final kilometer.
Full results: Mixed relay team time trial