Evenepoel and Brown win races against time once more

The double Olympic gold medallist Remco Evenepoel successfully defended the world time trial title he won in last year's World Road Championships in Glasgow, with victory in this year's event in Zurich.

- Jeremy Whittle

The Belgian, who won gold in the men's road race and time trial at Paris 2024, joined Grace Brown, winner of the women's Olympic time trial, as the first to hold both Olympic and world time trial titles in the same year, after the Australian had won the women's "race of truth".

However, Evenepoel suffered one of his habitual time trial scares, even before starting his effort, when the chain on his bespoke Olympic gold time trial bike slipped off, just seconds before the start.

"It was a pretty tough day for me," the 24-year-old, who was third in this year's Tour de France, said. "My chain dropped with one minute to go before the start. Then I had no power meter from the start, so it was a pure time trial, on feeling."

He also faced a strong challenge from the former world champion Filippo Ganna of Italy, a silver medallist in Paris, who again took on Evenepoel, with the time gap between them narrowing in the closing kilometres, the difference 6.43 seconds at the finish.