Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden) scorched his way to victory and a first rainbow jersey in the men’s under-23 time trial at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, extending his lead throughout the 31.2km course to win by 1:04.
The Swedish rider lived up the his billing as the heavy favourite for Monday’s race, and he stamped his authority up the final uphill section, almost doubling his 33-second lead from the third time check to the finish, and on the part of the course which should suit his large frame worst on paper.
Söderqvist was racing the U23 ITT at Worlds for the third year in a row, and his victory improved upon his previous results of second in Zurich last year and seventh in Stirling a year prior. Knowing he had victory sewn up, the Swede roared across the line in celebration.
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Nate Pringle of New Zealand rides to silver medal (Image credit: Getty Images)
Racing at his first World Championships, New Zealand’s Nate Pringle narrowly held onto second, only beating Maxime Decomble (France) by 17 hundredths of a second at the line, after the Frenchman battled hard up the final climb but ultimately came up short, taking home the bronze.
Having already raced a largely WorldTour programme this season, Söderqvist confirmed just why Lidl-Trek have signed him to a two-year contract on their elite team, starting from January 1 2026.
“I emptied myself to an equal amount, but the preparations for this one were extra in everything. As soon as I finished second last year, the goal was ready for the last year,” said Söderqvist.
“It was one thing to tick off that I surely wanted to have in my career, and this was the one thing in the U23 category that I care about most, so the preparations were solely around making this one as good as possible.
“I had a good feeling coming into it, and I’m really happy with how I handled the situation. For sure, it’s a challenge that I really like to have, because handling pressure is a key success factor, and I want to win some of the biggest bike races at one point – at that point, you just have to be the best at handling pressure.”
Gold medalist Jakob Söderqvist of Sweden (centre) celebrates on podium after men’s U23 ITT with silver medalist Nate Pringle of New Zealand (left) and bronze medalist Maxime Decomble of France (right) at UCI Cycling World Championships Kigali 2025 (Image credit: Getty Images)
While others struggled with the cobbled sectors or faded into their efforts as the tough climb arrived to meet them at the end of their effort, Söderqvist had 100% faith in his pacing strategy and ability to execute in Kigali.
“It was not the easiest one to pace, but I knew what I was going to do,” he said. “I know I can depend on my feeling – I know that I am a TT specialist, and it’s the pacing that makes it. I just trusted myself, trusted my feeling, and knew what to make out of it.”
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How it unfolded
Etienne Tuyizere of Rwanda was first rider on 331.2km ITT course for men’s U23 race Monday (Image credit: Getty Images)
Action in the men’s under-23 time trial was kicked off by home rider Etienne Tuyizere (Rwanda) at 13:50 in Kigali, with one of the scheduled 61 starters and stars of the future, Jarno Widar (Belgium), pulling out due to a minor injury.
Tuyizere set the early benchmark of 43:37 across the 31.2km course in Rwanda’s capital city, but the most notable time set at the finish with the big names all still to race came from Slovenia’s Jaka Marolt, who stopped the clock at 42:13 after averaging 44 kph during his effort.
Marolt’s time, however, was blown out of the water – at all three time checks and the finish, by Poland’s Mateusz Gajdulewicz, competing in his fourth under-23 World Championships time trial, who set a new time to beat and was the first rider to come in under 40 minutes at 39:52.
Jonas Walton of Canada on the course (Image credit: Getty Images)
Gajdulewicz’s time was solid, but soon, the likes of Nate Pringle (New Zealand) and Jonas Walton (Canada) began to threaten his lead as they rode through the checkpoints. After equalling the Polish rider’s time at the third check, Walton stayed strong up the brutal final climb to better Gajdulewicz’s time, but only by 1.47 seconds.
Pringle was on a flyer not too far down the road, though, and the big favourites such as Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden), Lorenzo Finn (Italy) and Maxime Decomble (France) were just getting stuck into their efforts, so Walton’s time was certainly vulnerable. Decomble had taken the lead at the first checkpoint, but Söderqvist showed his brutal power, having scorched through the first 11km of the race 23 seconds faster than everyone.
Walton’s time at the finish was well beaten by Pringle, who set a new best time of 39:28 after showing all of his suffering on the way up the final climb.
As Great Britain’s Callum Thornley and Italy’s Lorenzo Finn failed to beat the Kiwi rider’s time, and Decomble started to fade as the time checks came and went, Söderqvist was only accelerating, taking a 30-second lead into the second half of the 31-kilometre course after scorching through timing point 2.
Maxime Decomble of France narrowly missed second place and secured the final spot on the men’s U23 ITT podium (Image credit: Getty Images)
Decomble dug deep on the climb and gave himself a chance at taking over the lead, with the clock staying green right until he reached the finish line, with only 17 hundredths of a second keeping Pringle in the lead of the time trial.
But there was only going to be one man riding into the rainbow jersey as the final stages of the time trial developed. Söderqvist continued to storm his way through the checkpoints, extending what had first been a 24-second lead out to 33 seconds at the final intermediate check, before blowing everyone away up the climb to the line to win by over a minute and claim the rainbow jersey.
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