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.
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.”
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