Preview, favourites, profile, route and predictions men's World Championships Time Trial 2025 - Pogacar versus Evenepoel on BRUTAL course

We preview the men's elite time trial World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, which will take place on September 21st. The race will be 40 kilometers long, take place at altitude, and feature several climbs, making for a unique route where Remco Evenepoel will have to defend his title against Tadej Pogacar. The race is estimated to start at 13:45 CET and finish at 16:40 CET. 

This is an exceptionally hard time trial, which will take place over close to an hour. It's not a mountain time trial, nor is it flat; it takes place at around 1500 meters of altitude and includes four climbs - one of them cobbled - totaling around 750 meters of altitude. That, combined with the trip and vaccination requirements, sees some of the world's best time-trialists absent from the event.

The start will be flat but the first intermediate point will be atop the Côte de Nyanza, 2.4 kilometers at 6%, 10.5 kilometers into the course. Then follows a descent and climb back up the exact same hill, only this time around longer and less steep (6.6Km at 3.5%). Not brutal climbs, but effort management will be important, specially as there are descents to recover.

The riders then head back into Kigali and climb the Côte de Peage which is 1.9 kilometers long at 6.6%, ending with 6 kilometers to go. And a downhill after the riders begin to climb to the finish.

A cobbled climb on a time-trial is not usual, but will be a main feature here. Flandrien-like, the Côte de Kimihurura is 1.3 kilometers at 5.9% and ends very close to the finish, but the riders will then continue to ascend all the way to the finish line, meaning it is key to save the legs to the final kilometers.

Slight wind from the south, but it shouldn't make much of a difference. Now, the heat is likely to be a factor throughout the week, however with 27 of maximum, it's possible that the riders won't feel truly suffocated by it even with the high humidity.

Remco Evenepoel - The true battle for victory will be between these two, although there is one rider I would rate close to them. But Evenepoel and Pogacar against the clock are two titans and when you've got so much climbing, I reckon only Jonas Vingegaard and perhaps Primoz Roglic or João Almeida would come close to them (not beating them). At this point in his career, Evenepoel is the reigning Olympic and World Champion in the discipline, and could net his third consecutive rainbow jersey in the discipline. Altitude training, a strong Tour of Britain and likely a lot of specific work in the TT bike could put him above Pogacar, but I think the more climbing the more the Slovenian can benefit. But let's see if Evenepoel's experience, focus and perhaps equal form can be enough to hold him off.

Tadej Pogacar - It is viable to think the Slovenian could net this rainbow jersey, and it is one of the few big achievements he hasn't yet conquered in his career. Now, I wouldn't say Pogacar likely spent a lot of time recently training in the time-trial bike, and the road race is his priority obviously. But it's Pogacar, and underestimating him is a formula for failure. In a flat TT, as seen at the Tour de France, he can put in serious watts to be close enough to Evenepoel. The question is if he can gain enough on the climbs, and it's a very valid question. But if he isn't able to make a serious impact there, he's not walking off with a new title in is palmarès.

I would have Jay Vine as the clear favourite to take the bronze medal, and why not more? I won't exclude Vine from even winning this race, bigger surprises have happened in the Worlds (Tobias Foss anyone?) and Vine benefits from having an incredible TT setup at UAE. His problem is endurance and recovery. Put him in a short effort he is one of the very best in the world, and recently at the Vuelta he finished 1 second behind Filippo Ganna in a completely flat time-trial. That is quite crazy, specially as Vine is a climber on paper.

Below Vine would then be another step down, where the maximum ambition is a medal - this is a realistic ambition for many though, I would say. You have some of the pure specialists in the discipline such as Stefan Küng, Matteo Sobrero and Iván Romeo who can all climb well but will benefit from the fast sections. 

You've got climbers such as Isaac del Toro, Thymen Arensman, Ilan van Wilder, Luke Plapp or Paul Seixas who will benefit from the climbs specifically... And inbetwen an interesting mix of riders such as Andreas Leknessund, Magnus Sheffield, Max Schachmann, Mattia Cattaneo, Bruno Armirail and Raul García Pierna who will force the entire competition to have their best level just to break into the Top10.

*** Remco Evenepoel, Tadej Pogacar
** Jay Vine
* Thymen Arensman, Magnus Sheffield, Isaac del Toro, Luke Plapp, Mattia Cattaneo, Bruno Armirail, Paul Seixas

Pick: Remco Evenepoel