Yana Decruyenaere brings home silver for Belgium and Aalia Clay takes bronze for Great Britain
Maria Okrucinska and Team Poland competes during the 99th UCI Road World Championships Montreal 2026, Women Junior Individual Time Trial(Image credit: Getty Images)
Maria Okrucińska took an emphatic victory in the junior women's time trial at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships in Montreal, besting Belgium’s Yana Decruyenaere’s time by 12 seconds.
The 18-year-old Polish rider, the fourth-to-last starter, had built a five-second lead by the 6km time check and powered up the final climb to cross the line in 15:17, averaging 42 km/h over the 10.7km technical course. Her effort took its toll, with the rider briefly collapsing after crossing the finish line.
Decruyenaere sat on the hot seat, watching 13 riders finish before her time was beaten, while British junior time trial champion Aalia Clay finished strong, shaving off one second from her deficit to take the bronze medal, with a time of 15:42.
The 23rd rider to start, Swiss national champion Anja Grossman, was the first to break the 16-minute mark with a time of 15:42, and finished fourth, while Belgian time trial champion Laura Fivé faded in the final part and took fifth place.
“I still can't believe. I still don't know what is going on, but I think I had really good legs today, and everything went really well with preparation, and also actually in the race, all of the corners and yeah, I'm world champion," Okrucińska said.
“To be honest, it was my main goal since the start of the season, so I was preparing for it for the whole season. I came to Canada, I did a really good recon, and on the start line I could feel that it's my day, and if everything will go well, then I can do it.”
Okrucińska named Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney and Michal Kwiatkowski were always her “big idols.”
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“I think, especially Michal Kwiatkowski from in whose academy I'm in Poland, in CCC Copernicus. So he was always close to me in my city, and I was always a really big fan of him. And in the last days, I could train with him and talk with him, talk with him, and yeah, as well with Kasia. We are in contact for the whole year, and I feel a really big support from them."
Silver medalist Yana Decruyenaere and Team Belgium, gold medalist Maria Okrucinska and Team Poland and bronze medalist Aalia Clay and Team Great Britain (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
The junior women’s individual time trial covered 10.7km, the shortest distance for the category in the history of the Road World Championships.
The route is a shortened version of the elite and U23 individual time trials held on Sunday and Monday, featuring a flat, technical out-and-back course that also started with a short downhill run before finishing with the same 400-metre, 6.1% uphill drag to the line.
There were 58 starters for Tuesday’s final race, with riders setting off at 1:30-minute intervals. Donatha Akimana, the Rwanda national road race champion, was the first one to leave the start house.
The early benchmark was set and reset, first by Luxembourg junior champion June Nothum, then Mexico’s Nabyenka Garcia and then by Lithuanian junior time trial and road race champion Augustė Mikutytė, who clocked a time of 16:08.
Swiss national champion Anja Grossman held a strong pace, increasing her lead on Mikutytė’s time from five seconds at the time split to 25 seconds by the finish. Grossman, the 23rd rider to start, was the first to break the 16-minute mark with a time of 15:42.
US junior time trial champion Lily Edwards blasted off the start ramp, immediately going into her aero position before the first of 21 corners, and went from 10 seconds down at the first time check to 17 seconds down to slot into second place.
Aalia Clay (Image credit: Getty Images)
It took 13 riders before a new fast time was set when Belgium’s Yana Decruyenaere eclipsed Grossman’s time by 12 seconds, clocking 15:29.
British junior time trial champion Aalia Clay shaved off one second from the time check by the time she crossed the finish line, to slot into second place, 10 seconds from Decruyenaere, and less than one second ahead of Grossman.
Battle raged for the podium for the final five riders, as the split at the 6km mark showing who was threatening Decruyenaere’s time.
Poland’s Maria Okrucińska set the fastest time, while Belgian time trial champion Laura Fivé was 15 seconds off the pace after 6km, and Gabriella McHugh (Great Britain) and Oceania time trial champion Megan Moore (Australia) were both off the pace, 23 seconds and 31 seconds down, respectively.
Okrucińska increased her pace, setting a new fast time of 15:17, besting Decruyenaere’s time by 12 seconds, while Fivé faded in the second half and finished off the podium with a time of 15:53.
Neither McHugh, Moore, nor the final rider to start, Karlijn Wijma (Netherlands), were able to threaten the fastest time by the finish.
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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