"It was always on the cards" – Confident Jakob Söderqvist had no doubts before dominant Kigali Worlds U23 time trial victory
Cycling
Jakob Söderqvist delivered on his status as overwhelming favourite in the under-23 men’s time trial at the 2025 World Championships in Kigali, powering to a resounding victory that he insists was never in doubt.
The Swede destroyed the competition on the rolling 36km course, finishing more than a minute ahead of New Zealand’s Nate Pringle and France’s Maxime Decomble to claim the Rainbow Jersey. His splits told the story of complete control: 14:22 at the first check, 23 seconds faster than anyone else, then half a minute clear of the rest of the field by the second time point. In essence, long before he reached the line, the result was a formality.
“It was always on the cards,” Soderqvist reflected to Cycling Pro Net after pulling on the rainbow stripes. “I never doubted that I could win it – especially with the level I’ve found this year in time trials. Of course the pressure can create doubts, but I managed it well and I’m proud of that.”
Absorbing the Kigali atmosphere
Soderqvist’s confidence was matched by the fluency of his performance. Where others faded against the attritional course and the Rwandan altitude, the 20-year-old only grew stronger, riding with the poise of a rider who knew the outcome was already sealed.
Beyond the result, he emphasised how much he has enjoyed his time in Kigali. “I’ve really absorbed a lot of energy from the surroundings here,” he said. “The people are lovely, the crowds were amazing – it gave me extra energy today, and I think that showed in my ride.”
Looking ahead
A former mountain biker, Soderqvist is still carving out his identity on the road. While time trials currently fit him most naturally, he sees a broader future. “I’m working towards becoming a Classics specialist, and maybe even a stage race contender with my TT abilities. There are many projects ahead, and I’m excited for the rest of my career,” he explained.
Attention now turns to Friday’s road race, where he will line up with the confidence of a world champion but a realistic sense of the challenge. “For sure it will take something extra, but I don’t think it’s impossible to have another successful ride. I’ll try to refocus and come in with the same mentality,” Soderqvist said.
On the evidence of his total domination in this first race of the Kigali World, few would bet against him making another impact.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- What a travesty ! That little deviation did nothing to impede Brand !frieders307-11-2026
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