UCI Road World Championships: Tobias Foss upturns the favorites to claim elite men’s time trial

Double defending champion Ganna suffers on testing Wollongong course and misses medals, Hayter and Sheffield derailed by misfortune.

Photo: Getty Images

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Tobias Foss started the UCI Road World Championships time trial as a far-outside favorite and came home with a rainbow jersey Sunday.

The Norweigan ace bettered Stefan Küng (Switzerland) and Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) to score a surprise world title and win his first pro race outside of his national championships.

“It feels like I’m in some kind of dream, I don’t believe it, it’s so unreal,” Foss said.

“I got the signals, my legs were really good and I was confident my shape is good, but this is more than I could ever dream of. I will try to enjoy it but first I have to realize it.”

Küng had looked poised to unseat Foss only to suffer late into the course and miss the Norweigan’s time by just two seconds. Evenepoel ended up nine seconds back in third.

Double defending champion Filippo Ganna started strong but was reeling through the back end of the hilly, twisty 34km track in Wollogong and missed the medals altogether. The Italian stallion finished seventh, 56 seconds back.

Young talents saw their rides derailed by misfortune.

British hope Ethan Hayter was blazing through the course when a dropped chain forced him to change bikes deep in the middle of his ride. The 24-year-old kept cool for fourth overall.

U.S. star Magnus Sheffield was on track for the second-fastest time when he crashed into the barriers in the final sector and finished 17th.

Foss, 25, long promised big things but his ride Sunday came from far off the radar.

Recent trips to the Giro d’Italia with trade team Jumbo-Visma saw the Norwegian amass a series of strong stage results and 9th overall in last year’s race.

Despite being known as a strong time trialist, Foss rolled down the ramp in Wollongong overshadowed by stars like Ganna and Evenepoel. Instead, Foss ripped up the form book to deliver Norway its first elite time trial world title.

“If I had been top-10 today I’d have been really satisfied,” he said. “And even top-five I was hoping for, so to wear that rainbow jersey will be really special. I will try to honor it as best as I can, but I will for sure enjoy it as best as possible.”

World Championships ME - ITT Results

Time Trial
RankNameTeamTime
1FOSS TobiasNorway40:02
2KÜNG StefanSwitzerland0:03
3EVENEPOEL RemcoBelgium0:09
4HAYTER EthanGreat Britain0:40
5BISSEGGER StefanSwitzerland0:47
6POGAČAR TadejSlovenia0:48
7GANNA FilippoItaly0:56
8OLIVEIRA NelsonPortugal0:59
9LAMPAERT YvesBelgium1:09
10ARMIRAIL BrunoFrance1:10
11CAVAGNA RémiFrance1:15
12PLAPP LukeAustralia1:24
13AFFINI EdoardoItaly1:28
14BJERG MikkelDenmark1:30
15SOBRERO MatteoItaly1:34
16ARNDT NikiasGermany1:43
17SHEFFIELD MagnusUnited States1:44
18BODNAR MaciejPoland1:49
19GEE DerekCanada1:59
20HEIDEMANN MiguelGermany2:01
21CORT MagnusDenmark2:07
22POWLESS NeilsonUnited States2:09
23HOOLE DaanNetherlands2:15
24LEKNESSUND AndreasNorway2:18
25MOLLEMA BaukeNetherlands2:18
26DAL-CIN MatteoCanada2:22
27LUTSENKO AlexeyKazakhstan2:23
28FEDOROV YevgeniyKazakhstan3:05
29LAZKANO OierSpain3:09
30ILIĆ OgnjenSerbia3:16
31CONTRERAS RodrigoColombia3:22
32NATAROV YuriyKazakhstan3:53
33LAŠINIS VenantasLithuania4:34
34BONELLO DanielMalta4:55
35JURADO Christofer RobínPanama5:34
36ESPINOZA BolivarPanama5:52
37NOVAKOWSKYI VitaliiUkraine5:56
38LAU Wan Yau VincentHong Kong6:06
39ERDENEBAT BilguunjargalMongolia6:41
40CAHYADI AimanIndonesia6:42
41ABDURRAHMAN MuhammadIndonesia6:53
42SMYTH AlexanderMalta7:12
43KONONENKO MykhayloUkraine7:27
44NG Sum LuiHong Kong7:36
45CHRISTOPHER DarelBritish Virgin Islands9:07
46XU ChangquanChina9:37
47OINGERANG EdwardGuam11:43
48ALAM Drabir Bangladesh19:11

Results provided by ProCyclingStats.

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