Remco Evenepoel has been crowned world champion in the individual time trial for the fourth time, equalling Tony Martin’s record. With a commanding performance, the exceptional Belgian professional cyclist won in Montreal, finishing 57 minutes ahead of Italy’s Filippo Ganna. The bronze medal went to Paul Seixas. The 19-year-old French prodigy finished 1 minute and 13 seconds behind Evenepoel.
“It’s just incredible. Of course, I came here to win my fourth title in a row. I felt really good; it was very fast. It was simply marvellous. Now I’m going to take some time to recover; I want to savour this special title first,” said Olympic champion Evenepoel.
Like Martin (2011–13/2016) and the Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara (2006/2007/2009/2010) before him, Evenepoel was crowned the world’s best time trialist for the fourth time. However, the 26-year-old achieved his victories in quick succession. In the UCI World Championships standings, Evenepoel and Martin are now level on four titles, one silver and two bronze. Cancellara won three bronze medals.
Bad luck with a crash for Söderqvist
The German competitors Jasha Sütterlin and Maximilian Walscheid, finishing in 14th and 27th place respectively, fell short of a top result. Whilst Sütterlin met his target with his performance, Walscheid was visibly disappointed and still at a loss at the finish line. “That was below my expectations. I’d expected to finish a bit higher up the field,” Walscheid told ZDF.
Evenepoel was in the lead – at each of the three intermediate time checks. By the halfway point of the 39.2-kilometre race, his lead had grown to over half a minute. At that stage, the young Swede Jakob Söderqvist was still in second place. Last year’s U23 world champion was on course for a medal for a long time, but crashed around 2.5 kilometres from the finish and ultimately finished fifth.
Ganna benefited from his strong race management. The 2020 and 2021 world champion was only in tenth place at the first intermediate time check. However, the 30-year-old really showed his strengths, particularly in the second half of the course – which included a section of the Montreal Formula 1 circuit – and secured silver for the third time, following his victories in 2023 and 2024.
Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
