The Netherlands returns to the top of the world, and does so in the junior category with Megan Arens who dominated the time trial. The orange athlete was the protagonist of an incredible second part of the race that allowed her to distance the Spanish Paula Ostiz Taco, silver medal winner, by a full 35". Bronze medal went to Norway thanks to the excellent performance of Oda Aune Gissinger. Chantal Pegolo and Elena de Laurentiis, the two Italian athletes in the race, finished fourteenth and twenty-first respectively.

A truly thrilling race for the junior women who competed on an 18.3 km course characterized by the now-famous Kimihuru hill. The first part of the race was marked by the excellent performance of Chilean Marlen Rojas Lescot, who occupied the hot seat at the finish line for a long time. The big shake-up, however, came from Oda Aune Gissinger, an authentic promise of Norwegian cycling who demolished the times of her rivals.

At the start, there were no clear favorites, as demonstrated by the time references at the only intermediate point with the first four athletes within just over 3 seconds. Megan Arens, first at the intermediate with a really slim advantage, managed to make the most of the last kilometers of the race, carving out a significant margin over all her competitors. The orange athlete, already a winner of the small Trofeo Binda this year and national time trial champion, thus gave her nation the first gold medal of the African expedition.

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FINAL STANDINGS

1 NED ARENS Megan 25:47.41

2 ESP OSTIZ TACO Paula +35.30

3 NOR GISSINGER Oda Aune +37.54

4 NED MULLER Roos +47.51

5 GBR BOOTHMAN Erin +48.69

6 CAN SWIERENGA Sidney +53.73

7 POL OKRUCINSKA Maria +1:06.84

8 GBR MILLER Abigail +1:32.02

9 USA EDWARDS Liliana +1:32.76

10 BEL FIVE Laura +1:36.13