2024 World Cycling Championships: Surprise gold for Romeo in the U23 time trial

There was actually only one favourite for the gold medal in the U23 time trial at the World Championships in Zurich. After winning silver twice in the past two years and gold a fortnight ago at the European Championships with a time that was good enough for first place even at the elite level, there was no way around Alec Segaert. However, after 29.9 kilometres from Gossau to Zurich, the Belgian was ultimately left without a medal. The 21-year-old had to settle for fourth place after finishing five seconds ahead of Ivan Romeo at the second intermediate time with a good nine kilometres to go.

But while the Spaniard continued to accelerate, Segaert completely collapsed. Romeo (21), who had not competed at the European Championships, secured gold in 36:42 minutes ahead of the Swede Jakob Söderqvist (21), who was 32 seconds slower. Bronze went to Jan Christen, who is only 20 years old. The Swiss rider thus secured the hosts their second medal of the World Cycling Championships.

Romeo ten days on track inspection

Romeo and Christen had started relatively early compared to the other favourites, which was more of a disadvantage as the roads, which were still very wet at the beginning, only dried out as the race progressed. The Swiss rider was particularly strong in the first third, which led uphill, where he still had a 19-second lead over the Spaniard. At the second measuring point after the descent, both were roughly equal. However, the Swiss rider lost a lot of time in the last flat section and even had to vomit after crossing the finish line.

"For some people it might be a surprise, but for me it's the happiest day of my life," explained Romeo in the winner's interview. "I worked very hard to achieve this goal, spending ten days alone with my father inspecting the course."

Behrens satisfied with top 8 on "great track"

It was also a good day from a German perspective. Niklas Behrens, eighth in the European Championship time trial and second on the road, continued to show good form and finished the race in seventh place, just over a minute behind the winner. "I prepared more for the road race, but of course you take a time trial like this in your stride. The course was really cool and I'm really happy with the result," said Behrens. "To finish in the top eight with that line-up was really strong. It was fun to accompany him," added national coach Ralf Grabsch, who also had a second rider in the race. Ole Theiler finished 25th out of a total of 70 starters.

>> Routes and schedule of the 2024 World Cycling Championships

World Cycling Championships 2024 results: Individual time trial U23 - the top 10

1. Ivan Romeo (Spain) 36:42.70 minutes
2. Jakob Söderqvist (Sweden) +0:32.05
3. Jan Christen (Switzerland) +0:40.68
4. Alec Segaert (Belgium) +0:54.09
5. Robin Orins (Belgium) +0:57.87
6. Darren Rafferty (Ireland) +1:01.52
7. Niklas Behrens (Germany) +1:08.23
8. Artem Shmidt (USA) +1:10.04
9. Wessel Mouris (Netherlands) +1:11.43
10. Adam Rafferty (Ireland) +1:17.67