The second day of competition at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships brought more historic individual time trial (ITT) performances after Remco Evenepoel and Marlen Reusser’s opening successes in Rwanda.
On Monday, the Women Under 23 and Men Under 23 riders took on the climbing-focussed courses exploring the hills around Kigali. Great Britain’s Zoe Bäckstedt took another rainbow jersey for her collection in the morning, getting the better of Viktória Chladoňová (SVK) and Federica Venturelli (ITA).
In the afternoon, Sweden’s Jakob Söderqvist ruled the Men Under 23 event, claiming his first rainbow jersey after finishing second to Spain’s Ivan Romeo last year in Zurich, Switzerland. New Zealand’s Nate Pringle (2nd, +1:03.96) and France’s Maxime Decomble (+1:04.13) stood with him on the podium.
Bäckstedt makes Junior – Under 23 transition look easy
“I feel I coped with the pressure okay,” Bäckstedt observed after she ruled the Women Under 23 ITT in dominant fashion. A couple of days before her 21st birthday, the British powerhouse took her ninth rainbow jersey across different disciplines (track, cyclo-cross, road) and age categories (Junior, Under 23 and also as part of Team GB’s mixed relay at the UCI Cyclo-cross Worlds).
“It means a lot to be able to do it in both categories,” said Bäckstedt, who had ruled the Junior ITT in 2022. “Hopefully next time I can try out for the Elites!”
Her rivals couldn’t resist the Welsh tornado, who started last and recorded the quickest time at every checkpoint, eventually covering the 22.6 kilometres (with an elevation of 350 metres) in 30:56.16. “Those two climbs that we had to do, they just sap your legs completely,” Bäckstedt described. “I was up on the first time check by only 16 seconds and I thought I could lose that on the last climb but I just kept pushing as hard as I could on that section in between the two climbs and then on the last part I was chasing the rider in front of me and hoping to catch before the finish.”
Felicity Wilson-Haffenden was her closest rival after 10.6km (+17’’), and after 18km (+35’’), but the Australian faded in the last section, clocking the fourth best time (+2:21.75). Chladoňová, 18 years old, had a strong finish to take silver, 1:50.85 behind Bäckstedt – a difference of almost 2.5km/h in their average speeds (43.832km/h vs 41.362km/h). Federica Venturelli rounded out the podium (+2:11.58).
No fewer than 47 riders, representing 33 nations, started the Women Under 23 ITT, held separately from the Elite event for the first time in UCI Worlds’ history, highlighting once again the exceptional participation for the first UCI Road World Championships held in Africa.
Söderqvist: “Not the easiest course to pace”
With an extra ascent of the Côte de Nyanza, 61 Men Under 23 riders representing 43 nations faced 31.2 kilometres of racing, with 460 metres of elevation - the same course that crowned Reusser on Sunday. The Swiss woman’s power had prevailed up and down the climbs, and the same applied to Söderqvist, taking the lead at the first intermediate point and eventually putting more than a minute into his rivals as he took Sweden’s first rainbow jersey in the UCI Road Worlds since Susanne Ljungskog ruled the Women Elite road race in 2002 and 2003.
“As soon as I came second last year, the goal was there for this year,” he explained with a massive smile. “I’m a last-year Under 23 and it’s something I really wanted to tick off. I prepared all year round to make this one as good as possible. I had a good feeling coming into it, and I’m really happy with how I handled the situation.
“It was not the easiest course to pace, but I knew what I was gonna do,” the new UCI World Champion expanded. “I am a TT specialist and it’s the pacing that makes it. I just trusted myself, trusted my feelings.”
Behind Söderqvist’s dominant performance, it was a tight battle for the podium, with less than eight seconds covering silver medallist Pringle, bronze medallist Decomble, fourth-placed Lorenzo Finn (ITA) and fifth-placed Callum Thornley (GBR).