The 2022 Road World Championships kick off this weekend in Wollongong, Australia with the women’s and men’s individual time trial on Sunday. The women’s race will be completed first, before the men take to the 34.2km course in the afternoon.
The course in downtown Wollongong should provide a fast race, with just one significant climb on the 16.8km circuit which is take on twice, so will appeal to a wide variety of time triallists. It’s a technical route however with a number of tight turns, so as well as a test of all out speed it’ll be a test of bike handling as well for the riders. Full information on the courses is available here.
The favourites for the time trial have become more discernible as they’ve raced in the build-up to the Worlds, and there’s an elite selection of the very best riders against the clock set to line-up Down Under.
Read more: Road World Championships women’s individual time trial preview – who are the favourites?
Road World Championships elite men’s time trial favourites
Filippo Ganna – Italy
Defending world champion Filippo Ganna may not have been at his uncompromising best this year in the time trials, but he’s still been prolific enough to be considered a strong favourite to make it three rainbow jerseys in a row.
The Italian has perhaps missed out on the biggest stages this year, falling short in both time trials at the Tour de France and taking third at the European Championships. Nevertheless, he’s still won six of the 10 time trials he’s raced this year, and hasn’t finished below fifth in the rest. The 26-year-old’s wins include prestigious stages in Tirreno-Adriatico and the Critérium du Dauphiné, while he also became Italian national champion for the fifth time.
Ganna is the favourite to defend his world title (Photo: James Startt)
This year’s course may not be quite as favourable as the past two courses in Imola 2020 and Flanders 2021 for Ganna with Wollongong’s circa 1km climb featuring on each lap, but it shouldn’t be hard enough to pose much trouble for him.
Remco Evenepoel – Belgium
Evenepoel made his World Championships time trial debut just three years ago at the Yorkshire Worlds and immediately staked a claim as a race favourite for the following year. While he missed the 2020 Worlds due to his horror crash at Il Lombardia, he backed up his debut result with a third place in 2021. Since then the Belgian has been potentially the most consistent time triallist in the world and has not…