The elite women’s individual time trial will open the UCI Road World Championships on Sunday, September 21, in Kigali, Rwanda, marking the first time the event is held in Africa.
There will be 49 riders from 36 nations taking to the starting ramp located at the BK Arena in central Kigali. They will embark on a 31.2km race against the clock that finishes at the Kigali Convention Centre.
The elite women will tackle 460 metres of elevation along the course that includes three climbs; twice over the Côte de Nyanza with 2.5km at 5.8% on the way out and 4.1km at 3.1% on the way back toward the finish. They will then climb the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura, which is 1.3km at 6.3% and also used on the city circuits during the road races later in the week.
Marlen Reusser (Switzerland)
Marlen Reusser is the reigning Swiss time trial champion and has had a long history with this discipline at the World Championships. Although she earned three medals, two silver and one bronze, she has never won the world title.
She was forced to drop out of the event mid-race in 2023, as one of the top favourites, citing burnout at the end of the season, and she did not start the event in 2024 after a season marred by a crash at the Tour of Flanders and then COVID-19.
Reusseur’s track record in the individual time trial, on the whole, is remarkable, having finished in the top three of every single event she has finished in the last five years.
This will mark her first race since she was forced to abandon the Tour de France Femmes in July due to illness. However, prior to that race, she had a strong season, finishing second overall at Setmana Ciclista Valenciana and the La Vuelta Feminine, before winning overall titles at Vuelta a Burgos, Tour de Suisse, and finishing second at the Giro d’Italia.
Chloé Dygert (United States)
Another individual time trial powerhouse, Chloé Dygert, is a former two-time world champion in the discipline, securing the rainbow jerseys in 2019 in Yorkshire and 2023 in Glasgow.
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