10/08/2023

Chloe Dygert battles through illness to take incredible individual time-trial World Championship victory

Chloe Dygert of the U.S.A. is, for the second time in her career a world champion in the women's elite individual time-trial battling through an illness to take the win.

With 36 kilometres in distance, this is somewhat of a return to the longer events which have frequently not been seen lately in the worlds. It is a mostly flat time-trial, however with several small rises throughout the circuit that will disrupt the pace of many. A long effort which will put to the test the biggest specialists in the world.

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The first of the pre-race favourites to take to the course was U.S.A's Chloe Dygert. The 26-year-old had been battling with illness over the last few days but as she crossed the finish line she was 2:29 quicker than any other competitor to that point.

The gauntlet had been laid, but having started so early, Dygert was now in for a lengthy spell in the hot seat.

One after the other, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka, Anna Henderson and Christina Schweinberger all posed challenges to Dygert but were all over a minute behind at the line in a provisional 4th, 3rd and 2nd respectively.

Then came a disastrous piece of news for Swiss pre-race favourite as Marlen Reusser abandoned the race part way through her efforts.

Recent Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering put in a very respectable time, 1:28 down on Dygert in a provisional fourth place.

Juliette Labous also challenged the podium but ultimately came up short, beating the time of Vollering but not managing to unseat the top 3.

Grace Brown came closer than anyone to the time of Dygert but after finishing second in last year's World Championship time-trial, the Australian was just 5.67 seconds off the lead.