Men's Elite time trial World Championships 2025 startlist | Riders: Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar, Isaac del Toro, Jay Vine, Thymen Arensman & more

On the 21st of September, 2025, the Rainbow Jersey for the men's elite time trial at the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda will be handed out. With an all-star lineup set to compete for victory, find the startlist in its entirety right here!

The men’s elite individual time trial in Kigali is a lumpy, technical test rather than a flat power prologue: riders start inside BK Arena and cover 40.6 km before finishing at the Kigali Convention Centre, climbing roughly 680 m along the way. The course uses the same undulating city terrain that the road races exploit — a mix of short, sharp climbs and fast descents, a cobbled section and an uphill finish that guarantees it will suit powerful rouleurs who can handle repeated rises rather than pure TT specialists. Organisers describe four main climbs on the route and the finish ramps up after a late section through Kigali’s built-up streets, so pacing and equipment choices (tyres/pressures) will be decisive.
Download the startlist in A4!

The race will feature defending champion Remco Evenepoel, winner of the 2023 and 2024 editions of the event, as the main favourite for the race and as his main rival will be Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian has never won this race, but due to the climbing nature of the course and the difficulty attached to it, the Tour de France winner may very well prove to be a massive headache for Evenepoel as the two are set for a mythical battle.

The likes of Primoz Roglic, João Almeida, Jonas Vingegaard and Filippo Ganna are all absent from the race which means that the race for the medals will be wide open. A lot of the potential main favourites have not made the trip to Rwanda due to their schedule, the difficulty of the courses and the extensive requirements necessary for the trip to Eastern Africa - as well as the heat and altitude factors which will be key to the race.

Instead we have a mixed list of outsiders including the likes of Jay Vine who recently thrived at the Vuelta a España with two stage wins, the KOM classification victory and a masterful ride in the individual time-trial that almost earned him a win against Filippo Ganna.

Luke Plapp, Bruno Armirail, Stefan Küng, Mattias Cattaneo, Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro form part of a diverse startlist that could see quite a few surprises on the podium, Top5 and Top10. The time-trial will be very long and with variables that are very rare for such an effort, and at this point in the season we also have riders coming in with very different levels and methods of preparation. The choice of material for the time-trial, including the size of wheels, tyre pressure (due to the climbs and cobblestones) could also prove to be vital in the pursuit of seconds, and it could be the make or break between finishing first and second.