Agitated Evenepoel wins once again! Flemish boss redirects Italians to silver and bronze at World Time Trial Championships

On Sunday, Sept. 22, the elite women's category began. In that category, a solid Grace Brown crowned herself world champion. Could the Olympic champion also win in the men's category? Evenepoel had good credentials and was at the top of almost every list of favorites.

Well, what did the riders have to do in Switzerland? 46.1 time trial kilometers, with about 400 altimeters! These were mainly hidden in the middle of the course, as the rest of the race mostly chased a flat course in the Swiss city of Zurich. Who could put anything in the way of the Aerobullet from Schepdaal?

In the opening phase, it was mainly - with all due respect - the "lesser gods" who stepped off the starting podium. After all, the real favorites were really in the second half. From that second half, Edoardo Affini was especially good! The European champion did 53.56 over the 46-kilometer course in Switzerland, which allowed him to sit in the hot seat for quite a long time.

So, how did the other outsiders do? Jay Vine, for example, was doing very well but, in typical fashion, went down on a descent and lost a lot of time. His finishing time? 54.26. Kasper Asgreen clocked 54.32, Tobias Foss 54.46. The other Belgian competitor, Victor Campenaerts, crossed the finish line in 54.57.

And what about the only Dutch participant, Daan Hoole? He did not rank in the top ten, as he took 55.45 minutes to complete the time trial.

Looking at the real top favorites, Evenepoel was simply the most consistent and strongest on the road. Was he perhaps agitated even more because of a mechanical problem on the starting podium? The camera caught the incident, and Fleming seemed quite furious (at the cameraman). Joshua Tarling (54.19) also failed to meet Affini's time (53.56), so he was only waiting to see what Ganna (53.08) was going to do. He competed a decent time trial but could not match what Evenepoel had performed (53.01).