"It feels like a dream. I don't believe it yet" - Tobias Foss soars to World title as he beats Küng and Evenepoel to time-trial win

The Time-Trial in the men's Elite category saw a massive surprise in the top positions, as Tobias Foss rode his best day ever on the bike to take a win that virtually no-one had expected. He has become the first Norwegian to win the time-trial in the worlds, adding a layer of history to his achievement

"It feels like a dream. I don't believe it yet. The legs were good. I knew I was coming here from Canada in good shape, but I wasn't expecting this," Foss said in a post-race interview. "I'm not the most confident person. So I didn't believe it until it was over. I got everything out of it today. It couldn't have gone better. I am very satisfied, it is unbelievable.”

Foss started off his effort in the final round of riders, although as an outsider for a top result. With some mechanicals, crashes, but mostly riders struggling to get into their rhythm in the hilly and technical course in Wollongong, it ended up favouring some. Foss was one of them. “There was hardly time to relax or to slow down. It goes up and down. It was very technical, I had to accelerate in the corners and on the steeper parts. On the parts down, I could take a breath. We prepared it well and executed it perfectly," he described. 

The 25-year old took a commanding lead when he crossed the finish line, but the best was yet to come. He was not the fastest in the earlier intermediate points, but his final split was arguably the best and he managed to complete the 34.2 kilometers just seconds faster than Stefan Küng and Remco Evenepoel who finished afterwards. All this was taken alongside several gestures of disbelief as he gradually came closer to the world title.

“Beforehand I thought of the top ten or top five. It will be very special to wear the rainbow jersey. I will honor him as best I can," he concluded. The win itself came as a shock, but the upcoming weeks as the feeling sinks in and his new equipment is revealed will see a lot more emotion from the Jumbo-Visma rider, who had until today a season under the radar.