"The sensations are a bit strange" - Ivan Romeo on racing in a new environment at the world championships

Ivan Romeo lines up today in Kigali for the first elite world championship of his career. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who last year claimed the U23 world time trial title, now takes on a brutal course of 40 kilometres packed with four climbs. Representing Spain alongside Raúl García Pierna, the Movistar rider from Valladolid knows the challenge in Rwanda is unlike anything he has faced before.

"The sensations are a bit strange, it's an environment we're not used to, altitude, humidity, dust on the road, it's different," he told Eurosport. "But in the end we're all the same and it's going to be a nice and different time trial in which I think there will be surprises, so let's hope it's us."

Romeo expects the conditions to dictate the outcome more than any past experience. "I think the key will be to see who feels good, because it is a time trial in which the experience of others is of little use," he said. "It will be a long time trial, about fifty minutes in which you will have to dose a lot because here with the altitude if you go a little too much you go to the hole quickly."

The absence of specialists such as Filippo Ganna has also shaped the start list, though Romeo cautions that the course cannot be reduced simply to a climber’s test. "It's clear that it's not for climbers, the best climbers in the world didn't come, and that's for a reason. It's not for pure climbers either, it's hard, but except for the Kigali wall the percentages are low."

Romeo arrives with confidence after winning the U23 World Cup earlier this season, but he remains realistic about his prospects against riders like Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar. "It's my first elite time trial, I don't know exactly how it's going to be, but I'm telling you the same thing I told you last year, that if I get the time trial I have in my head I can be very, very far ahead. I don't think I'll be as far ahead as last year, but I hope I'll be close enough. I just need to have good legs and enjoy the day."

Romeo is scheduled to start at 15:42, eighth from last, only 18 minutes before defending champion Evenepoel rolls down the ramp. For Spain’s rising star, the test in Kigali offers not only a chance to measure himself against the very best but also a first step into a new chapter of his career.