World Champion Chloe Dygert (US) and Olympic Champion Grace Brown (AU) will battle it out this Sunday in the 29.9km Individual Time Trial at the World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland. Dygert is the favorite, but Brown is expected to put up a fierce challenge, especially on the hilly first half of the course. Other contenders not to be dismissed are Lotte Kopecky (BE), Anna Henderson (GB), Christina Schweinberger (AT), and Demi Vollering (NL).
When: Sunday, September 22 (Zurich, Switzerland)
Start: First rider off at 12:00 CET
TV: Live TV Coverage runs from 11:50-14:35 CET
TIME TRIAL COURSE
The women’s time trial course (29.9km) starts in Gossau at a little less than 500 meters elevation and travels southwest over hilly terrain for around 16km before it reaches the flat shores of Lake Zurich and heads in a northerly direction for the final 14 km and the finish in Zurich.
Essentially, it is a course divided into two parts: a hilly first half that features five short climbs, 3.9km total/6.5% avg., and a second flat half along the shoreline where the riders may, according to the weather forecast, encounter a light 10kph headwind. Time trial specialists might struggle a bit with some of the hilly parts in the first half, but should excel on the flat second half. Likewise, non-specialists like Demi Vollering could benefit from the hilly first half and gain time on the specialists before the flat section hits.
The first checkpoint time will be taken at 10.5km (Uetikon am See) on the top of the climb (2.4km at 4.9%), the second time check will be at 20.5km (Seestrasse).
COURSE MAP AND PROFILE
Length: 29.9km
Elevation gain: 327m
Climbs: @5.5km (.7km/5.3%), @10.5km (2.4km/4.9%), @13km (.4km/6.7%), @13.5km (.2km/7.1%), @15.5km (.2km/8.4%).
(image: Zurich2024/UCI)
RIDERS TO WATCH
Current World Time Trial Champion Chloe Dygert (US) is the favorite going into Sunday’s time trial, but there’s always been uncertainty about how well she can perform ever since her injury in 2020. This year, setbacks from other injuries affected her race schedule and performance. While her bronze medal at the recent Olympics would seem to indicate that she has the needed form, her leg injury sustained in 2020 at the World Championships still appears to cause her problems and makes her performance unpredictable at times. That said, Dygert’s super power is her ability to push through the difficult moments and turn herself inside out. At last year’s Worlds, she was ill with a virus just days before and almost didn’t start. Yet, despite her illness she still managed to win. A Chloe Dygert that is 100% healthy will be unstoppable.
Olympic gold medalist Grace Brown (AU) will more than likely be the greatest threat to Dygert. She finished second to Dygert at last year’s Worlds, 6 seconds behind, and second to Ellen van Dijk in 2022. Not only has Brown developed into a formidable time trialist, she also manages hills well, as evidenced by her win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes this year. In June she stated that she would retire at the end of this season, and more recently, expressed her desire to add a rainbow TT jersey to her Olympic TT gold medal before her career comes to a close. Her strength may be in the hilly first half of the course, rather than the flatter second half, where Dygert will have the upper hand.
Lotte Kopecky (BE) has made enormous progress in the time trial discipline over the past year. While she’s always managed to win the National TT Championships in Belgium, success at the international level has never been her focus. But her recent win in the European Time Trial Championships two weeks ago may be the sign that she’s ready to step up and win at the international level. It was also recently revealed by Sporza that Kopecky and Belgian Cycling have been working on her aerodynamics, and that a mannequin of Kopecky was made to use in wind tunnel tests – at a cost of 15,000 euros, according to Het Nieuwsblad. This, along with Kopecky’s trainer Arne Wallays saying he thinks the hilly TT course suits her, may be a sign that we will see a very serious challenge from Kopecky for the rainbow jersey this Sunday.
Anna Henderson (GB) was second to Grace Brown in the Olympic time trial, fourth last year at the Worlds in Glasgow, twice British time trial champion (2021, 2024), and was second at the European Championships in 2023. All this makes Henderson a serious contender for a medal this Sunday, but how well she does may largely depend upon how well Dygert, Brown, and Kopecky ride. If one of the top 3 contenders has a bad day, we might see Henderson fighting it out for the bronze, or possibly silver.
Christina Schweinberger (AT) was 3rd at the European Time Trial Championshsips in 2023, won the bronze medal in the time trial last year at the Worlds in Glasgow, and recently took bronze at the European Championships in Hasselt, Belgium, 1:02” behind Kopecky. While it’s not likely that she will challenge Dygert, Brown, or Kopecky for the rainbow jersey, she could very well be a contender for a podium spot in Zurich if she has good legs. Like Henderson, if one or more of the top 3 contenders gets into difficulty, Schweinberger may have a chance at the podium.
A wild card for the time trial, Demi Vollering (NL) could outperform the specialists if the conditions in the hilly part of the course are more demanding than predicted. While she performs well in time trials during Grand Tours, she doesn’t focus specifically on the time trial discipline at the national or international level. She was sixth in last year’s time trial at the Worlds in Glasgow, 1:28″ off Dygert’s winning pace, and fifth at the recent Olympics, 1:51″ behind winner Grace Brown. So, it’s a yes, no, maybe for Vollering. How well Vollering can do on this particular TT course may depend upon how well the specialists handle the hilly first half. Either way, she shouldn’t be overlooked.