U.S. woman, Denmark man win gold in time trials Monday at UCI Worlds

The second day of the UCI Road World Championships consisted of individual time trial races for U23 Men and Women’s Juniors.

The circuit course for both the men and women was the same, but the men completed two laps while the women completed one. The course began in downtown Richmond and headed west toward Monument Avenue. There, the riders made a 180-degree turn before riding through VCU’s campus and across Belle Isle and the James River. Another technical turnaround for the cyclists led them back across the James and up through Governor Street, where they faced a 680 meter false-flat before reaching the end of the circuit loop at the intersection of Broad and 5th streets.

The day kicked off at 10 a.m. with the Women’s Junior Individual Time Trial, a 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) ride. Eighteen-year-olds Chloe Dygert and Emma White were able to bring home a gold and silver medal for Team USA, with third place falling to Australia’s Anna-Leeza Hull. Dygert finished with a time of 20:18, which was 1:05 faster than White and 1:26 faster than Hull.

Dygert was projected to do well since she was already a double junior national champion this year, but her circumstances leading up to the race were not promising. She had not competed at all last year because of a knee injury and was sick with bronchitis the week leading up to this race. None of that stopped her, though. 

Once the women were finished, the U23 Men took on their 29.9-kilometer (18.6-mile) time trial, which began at 11:30 p.m. Mads Würtz Schmitz of Denmark won gold with a time of 37:10. Maximilian Schachmann of Germany came in a close second, just 12 seconds behind Schmitz, and Lennard Kamna, also of Germany, came in third, 21 seconds behind Schmitz.

Schmitz was a favorite to win the race because of his performances earlier in the year, when he won the time trial at the Tour of Denmark and Tour de l’Avenir. The riders in the first couple of waves also benefited from favorable weather, which Schachmann and Schmitz were both included in. Later racers, including Kamna, faced strong headwinds and light rain during their time trials. 

Contact sports assistant Jennie Trejo at jennifer.trejo@richmond.edu