Tobias Foss surprises everyone to win world time trial title, as Ellen van Dijk takes her third rainbow jersey

Norway’s Tobias Foss pulled off one of the surprise results of the season in Wollongong today, beating Stefan Küng and Remco Evenepoel to become world time trial champion, despite starting the race as a 127/1 outsider.

While double European time trial champion Küng looked set to finally end his run of near misses and disappointments at the worlds after posting the fastest time at the second checkpoint, it was 25-year-old Foss who finished strongest on the twisty, testing and hard-to-judge course to pip the Swiss rider by three seconds.

Foss covered the 34.2km course, based on two circuits around Wollongong, in 40 minutes and two seconds, averaging 51.257kph.  

Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, fresh from winning his maiden grand tour at the Vuelta a España, took the bronze medal, nine seconds behind the Norwegian, while Filippo Ganna ceded his two-year grip on the rainbow skinsuit by finishing in a relatively lowly seventh, evidently below-par as he gears up for a tilt at the Hour Record next month.

Ethan Hayter reflects on a costly mechanical which scuppered his medal hopes (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Great Britain’s Ethan Hayter continued his impressive 2022 season with a strong fourth place showing, even after a mechanical forced him into a costly bike change. The 24-year-old Londoner – who celebrates his birthday today – kept his head to finish only 40 seconds behind Foss, despite dropping his chain halfway through what promised to be a ferociously fast ride.

Hayter’s Ineos Grenadiers teammate Magnus Sheffield, who also looked potentially on course for a medal, suffered even worse luck, crashing into the barriers towards the finish. The promising 20-year-old American got back on his bike after the nasty spill but ended up bitterly disappointed in 17th.

USA rider down but not out - straight back up #UCI pic.twitter.com/E9CHc4OSND

— Kerry Carrington 💉💉💉 (@CarringtonKL) September 18, 2022

For Foss, meanwhile, shocking the field to take the rainbow bands was “some kind of dream”. The former Tour de l’Avenir winner, viewed by many as a strong if not spectacular time triallist, has established himself as a consistent stage racer since joining Jumbo-Visma in 2020, and finished ninth overall at the 2021 Giro d’Italia.

However, his best result against the clock over a similar distance – outside of the Norwegian nationals, which he has dominated the last two years – was a fourth place behind Evenepoel, Küng and Hayter at the Volta ao Algarve in February.

“It feels like I’m in some kind of dream, I don’t believe it, it’s so unreal,” the new time trial world champion said at the finish, admitting that not even he expected to don the rainbow bands in Wollongong.

“I got the signals, my legs were really good and I was confident my shape is good, but this is more than I could ever dream of. I will try to enjoy it but first I have to realise it.

“If I had been top-10 today I’d have been really satisfied. And even top-five I was hoping for, so to wear that rainbow jersey will be really special. I will try to honour it as best as I can, but I will for sure enjoy it as best as possible.”

Zac Williams/SWpix.com

Earlier in the day, Ellen van Dijk kicked off this year’s world championships in New South Wales with another flawless piece of time trialling to take her third world title in the discipline and her second in a row.

The 35-year-old Dutch rider pipped early starter and home favourite Grace Brown by just 12.73 seconds following another see-saw, unpredictable race. Australia’s Brown spent almost three hours in the hot seat, only to see her gold medal position finally fall to defending champion Van Dijk, the last rider to cross the line.

Marlen Reusser of Switzerland took the bronze medal, while Italy’s Vittoria Guazzini finished fourth, giving her the U23 title.

This year’s Tour, Giro and Vuelta winner Annemiek van Vleuten was – like Ganna in the men’s event – surprisingly off the pace, and could only muster seventh place, one minute and 43 seconds behind her compatriot.

“I’m a bit surprised to win. For me I never thought it would be the perfect course,” Van Dijk, who has now become the second-most successful woman of all time in world championship time trialling behind only France’s Jeannie Longo, said at the finish.

“I kind of said goodbye to my jersey yesterday – I put it at the bottom of my bag, and thought, it was a great year, I really enjoyed it.

“I felt happy, and I felt that anything to come today would be a bonus. That was a great bonus.”