Remco Evenepoel wins World Championships time-trial; Filippo Ganna and Joshua Tarling complete podium

In a thrilling battle against the clock in Stirling, Remco Evenepoel took the Rainbow Jersey and World Championships title in the individual time-trial, with Filippo Ganna and teenage sensation Joshua Tarling rounding out the podium.

With 48 kilometres in distance, this is somewhat of a return to the longer events which have frequently not been seen lately in the worlds. It is a mostly flat time-trial, however with several small rises throughout the circuit that will disrupt the pace of many. A long effort close to an hour, one for the specialists however with its long flat straights.

The first rider to put a really competitive time down was Ireland's Ryan Mullen. Crossing the line in 58:21, Mullen was over eight minutes quicker than anyone else that had come previously.

The likes of Ryan Gibbons and Nils Politt came close to Mullen's time soon after but were unable to go quicker than the Irishman.

Heading into the first time-check, 19-year-old Brit Joshua Tarling set the quickest time and a few minutes later, just how quick it was, began to show as Wout van Aert reached the same point 27 seconds slower than the teenage sensation.

Indeed, only Filippo Ganna and Remco Evenepoel were able to top Tarling at the first check of all the riders in the event.

The first rider to topple Mullen was Canada's Derek Gee, although his time in the hotseat wasn't an especially long one with Lawson Craddock taking over before he in turn was unseated by Nelson Oliveira.

The hotseat merry-go-round continued with Tarling's arrival at the finish line as he romped into the overall lead, 1:04 quicker than Oliveira with his effort of 56:07.

Wout van Aert was next across the line but was unable to threaten Tarling's time, moving into a provisional second.

Tarling's hopes of becoming the youngest time-trial champion looked most threatened by Ganna and Evenepoel with both riders again quicker at the second time check.

Ganna, after catching and overtaking Tadej Pogacar, reached the third time check 27 seconds quicker than Tarling. When Evenepoel reached the same time check he was 10.6 seconds ahead of the Italian.

At the finish line, Ganna took the virtual lead, 35.92 seconds ahead of his INEOS Grenadiers teammate. Then it was all about the wait for the Italian, would his time hold on or would Evenepoel topple him?

55:31 was the time to beat and Evenepoel secured the win by 12 seconds to take the Rainbow Jersey.

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