Preview: Women's Elite World Championships Time-Trial. Van Dijk attempts title defense against very strong field

This 18th of September will see the start of the World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, where most of the world's best time-trialists will go on to fight for a gold medal and rainbow stripes throughout the coming 12 months at the very highest level.

34 kilometers on the menu for the men’s Elite time-trial World Championships, it will consist of two 17-kilometer laps around the city of Wollongong, in the outskirts of Sydney. The circuit will have 17 kilometers in distance and will be very similar to what the riders will find in the road race. It’s an urban circuit, without exposed roads, with a lot of roundabouts and several sharp corners which will see the riders never be able to achieve a constant grinding pace.

After 7 kilometers to riders will go through a small hilltop at the base of Mount Pleasant. It will be ridden twice of course, 700 meters at 6.7%. It may not be a brute, but in races that are usually decided by just a few seconds, it can prove decisive. It will be in the final five kilometers where the road straightens out and the riders will be able to put out a constant power output, favourable to the purists. However, overall the route does not suit them perfectly, instead form, technique and explosivity will also have a very important say on the day’s winner.

The final startlist includes the likes of: Kristen Faulkner, Leah Thomas, Shirin van Anrooij, Ellen van Dijk, Annemiek van Vleuten, Lotte Kopecky, Anna Kiesenhofer, Marlen Reusser, Emma Norsgaard, Niamh Fisher-Black, Mieke Kröger and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:
**** Marlen Reusser
*** Annemiek van Vleuten, Ellen van Dijk
** Grace Brown, Kristen Faulkner, Juliette Labous
* Shirin van Anrooij, Leah Thomas, Anna Kiesenhofer, Lotte Kopecky