Australia benefits from Reusser's mechanical problem and extends its world title in an exciting Mixed Relay

All individual time trial medals have now been awarded, and the Netherlands has had an excellent result so far. After the silver and bronze medals won by Anna van der Breggen and Demi Vollering in the elite women's category, it was a truly Dutch Tuesday, with first the world title won by Megan Arens in the junior category and then that of Michiel Mouris. Two fantastic performances, but TeamNL was unable to follow up on Wednesday.

The Netherlands did not compete in the Mixed Relay. We were not the only country to be absent, which meant it was a small group that fought for the title. But with countries such as Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, and Australia, there was still plenty to enjoy! Of the earliest countries, it was China that made the best impression: after five starters, they were in the hot seat.

In the next block, Belgium did reasonably well with Victor Campenaerts, Florian Vermeersch, and Jonathan Vervenne. Marieke Meert, Tess Moerman, and Julie Van de Velde also performed reasonably well, but Spain was significantly faster. With Iván Romeo, Raúl García Pierna, and 18-year-old Hector Alvárez, the difference was 20 seconds at the halfway point, and the women only managed to extend that lead.

Mireia Benito, Paula Blasi, and Usoa Ostolaza took a total lead of no less than 2.24 minutes at the finish. It seemed like a great time, but in the meantime, the countries in the last block were also accelerating at an increasingly faster pace. At the first intermediate point, Switzerland, France, and Italy were fast, but defending champion Australia took the fastest time with Michael Matthews, Luke Plapp, and Jay Vine.

At the relay point, it was already 33 seconds. With Brodie Chapman (fourth in the women's time trial), Amanda Spratt, and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (fourth in the U23 time trial), there were also three strong women there. Only France and Switzerland still seemed to have a chance, if they rode very hard. But with Marlen Reusser for the Swiss and Juliette Labous for the French, there were some powerful engines present.

Switzerland in particular went flat out. The brand-new world champion took her teammates along for the ride, but a bike change disrupted the plans. Yasmin Liechti and Noemi Rüegg did what they could, and Reusser was even able to return. She pulled Rüegg along to the final climb, but they were 13 seconds behind the French.

Labous, Maeva Squiban, and Cédrine Kerbaol had stayed together for a long time and had no bad luck. They were faster than the Australians, but was it enough to make up the 33 seconds? At the last intermediate point, 20 seconds had already disappeared. Spratt and Chapman broke down on the final climb but still had 5 seconds left. What a final!