2022 World Cycling Championships: Norwegian Foss surprisingly becomes world champion in the individual time trial
DPA
· 18.09.2022
By Michelle Ostwald and Stefan Tabeling, dpa
Not far from the beautiful Wollongong City Beach, Tobias Foss sat in the finish area and didn't know what hit him. Whether it was the talent of the century Remco Evenepoel, ex-Tour de France dominator Tadej Pogacar or world champion Filippo Ganna - the stars of the scene were all in action in the individual time trial at the Road Cycling World Championship 2022 in Down Under have all been outdone by the relatively unknown Norwegian.
Time trial world champion Foss: "This feels like a dream"
The 25-year-old caused the biggest sensation since Bert Grabsch's time trial title in 2008 with his par force ride in the Australian spring. "It feels like a dream. I can't believe it, it's so unreal. I have to realise it first. I would have been happy with a top ten finish," said Foss, who needed 40:02 minutes for the 34.2 kilometre course. He was therefore 2.95 seconds faster than the eternal runner-up Stefan Küng from Switzerland. Third place went to the Belgian Vuelta champion Evenepoel with a gap of nine seconds.
The twofold Tour de France-champion Pogacar (Slovenia) and the Favoured title defender Filippo Ganna (Italy) only finished sixth and seventh. The two German starters Nikias Arndt and Miguel Heidemann also played no role, finishing 16th and 20th respectively. "The course was faster than expected. I found my rhythm well, but unfortunately I was two or three per cent behind where I would have liked to be," Arndt told the German Press Agency. Heidemann said: "I'm really happy. It's my first World Championships at the elite level."
Ricarda Bauernfeind took world championship bronze in the U23 class
Nevertheless, the German team, which had travelled to the event with few ambitions, was able to celebrate a successful start to the Road World Championships. Ricarda Bauernfeind won time trial bronze in the U23 class behind Italian winner Vittoria Guazzini and Dutch rider Shirin van Anrooij. "It's something completely new for me to be on the podium at a world championships. I didn't really expect to win a medal. Top 5 would have been nice," said Bauernfeind, who was the first to set off on the course, effectively opening the 2022 World Cycling Championships.
Medals were awarded in the U23 class for the first time at the World Championships in Australia. The riders competed in the women's time trial, which was won by Ellen van Dijk from the Netherlands in 44:28 minutes. It was the 35-year-old's third world championship title after 2013 and 2021, with second and third place going to Australia's Grace Brown and European champion Marlen Reusser from Switzerland.
Foss: "My legs were really good"
However, the highlight of the day was provided by Foss, who no expert had expected. The 25-year-old from Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard's Jumbo-Visma team has never won an international race apart from three titles at the Norwegian championships. He was not even in the line-up for the 2022 Tour de France and at the Giro d'Italia 2022 he had finished in 54th place.
"My legs were really good. The course was challenging. It was the perfect race for me," said Foss, who dethroned Ganna. The Italian had won the time trial title at the World Cycling Championships in 2020 and 2021 and actually wanted to take the next step towards Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara's record (both four World Championship titles).
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