Road World Championships: Record-breaking Remco Evenepoel makes it four in a row with blistering time trial performance in Montreal

The opening day of the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal saw history made, as Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel became the first man ever to win four consecutive elite time trial victories. Evenepoel didn’t put a foot wrong along the 39.2-kilometre effort, executing a flawless race from start to finish.

The rider nicknamed the ‘aerobullet’ proved why he was the pre-race favourite with an imperious performance, setting a breathtaking fastest time of 44:53, 57 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna (Italy) in second place.

Ganna put in a characteristic negative split to overcome an early deficit and surge into silver medal position, with French phenom Paul Seixas claiming his first elite worlds medal following an all-out effort, finishing in third, 1:13 back, at just 19 years of age.

Evenepoel draws up alongside two-time trialling greats in Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin with four each wins in the event, and will now set his sights on becoming the most decorated time triallist of all time.

"It's amazing. It was obviously the goal to come and win here for the fourth time in a row. It was a big motivation," Evenepoel said to organisers, when asked to reflect on his historical achievement.

"I just have to thank the whole team around me again for the preparation. Also, have to thank Specialized for all the new material that they made with me. And yeah, obviously it was a pretty fast one today. Very happy with the feeling, with the cornering. Was a very demanding course with the technical start and finish, and a really powerful part in the middle. But I'm super happy. It was a wonderful experience again."

Speaking about whether he went all-out from the start, Evenepoel said: "Honestly, yeah. After 6k, we had a personal time check, and I knew that I was already in front of the rest. And I thought that the first intermediate that I kind of over-paced, but I just could keep pushing.

"I must say that I've just had a wonderful feeling all day. So yeah, it's a pretty good start of the Worlds."

Elite men excel against the clock on opening day of Worlds

Gil Gomes of Guinea Bissau was the rider with the honour of kicking off proceedings, rolling out onto the 39.2-kilometre course as the first of 60 men in the elite category for the rainbow jersey in Montréal, Canada.

It was another African rider though, South Africa’s Byron Munton, who was the best of the early competitors, setting the fastest time at each of the time checks, while at the end of the course Liu Chenglu of China became the first rider to stop the clock, setting the first time to beat at 52:25. He wasn’t on top for long, however, as Mongolia’s Maral-Erdene Batmunkh became the second Asian rider to lead the race.

Unsurprisingly, following his consistent effort across the course, Munton was the man to oust Batmunkh from his short stint in the hot seat, taking a whopping 3:32 off of the previous best time, and putting Africa on the map for the first time at the championships.

Germany’s Jasha Sutterlin and Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen both made an impact after that, each taking a turn at the top of the standings, Asgreen clocking with the first time under 47 minutes. He held on for a while as a number of riders followed through without being able to best the Dane.

With all of the riders out on course, Evenepoel surprised no one by being quickest through the first time check. There may have been initial concern for fans of Ganna as he could only stop the clock in 10^th position at the first check, his habit of delivering negative splits offered cause for hope.

One of the first of the major names to cross the line, Paul Seixas (France) impressed, taking 35 seconds from Asgreen, but with Sweden’s Jakob Soderqvist marginally faster through each time check it looked as though the Frenchman may be unseated.

There was a setback for the Swede though, as he slid out on a corner and hit the deck, impeding his progress; he was quickly back up and on his way, but he rued the missed opportunity given his stellar form.

Isaac Del Toro (Mexico) put in an admirable ride but was unable to better Seixas. With below par efforts from Vuelta a España participants Stefan Küng (Switzerland) and Ethan Hayter (Great Britain), it was down to Italian champion Ganna to remove Seixas from the hot seat, though he could only put 15 seconds into the young Frenchman.

Ganna had barely crossed the line when a flying Evenepoel came into view, and it became clear that once again, the Belgian was on another level. The reigning Olympic Champion and defending World Champion secured his fourth consecutive victory in his specialty. He now sets his sights now on Sunday’s road race, looking to repeat his 2022 win in Australia on a 266km contest.

"Yeah, obviously, I think there's quite some time to rest now and enjoy this this special one, and then full focus on Sunday from Tuesday on," Evenepoel stated.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.

Results