The 2026 World Championships in Montreal opened under the sign of Marlen Reusser. The Swiss rider, with six victories in the season before today, successfully defended her world title in the elite women's time trial, covering the 39.2 kilometers of today's race in 50'24" (46.7 km/h average), a time that allowed her to finish 40 seconds ahead of British rider Zoe Backstedt in silver and 45" ahead of the surprising German Franziska Koch in bronze.

No luck for Vittoria Guazzini and, above all, Elisa Longo Borghini: the Tuscan rider finished in tenth place with a final gap of 2'05", while the Piedmontese rider, author of a great comeback in the final part, stopped just short of the podium, finishing in fourth place 50" behind a Reusser who, on her 35th birthday, gave herself the fifth personal medal at the elite level in this specialty (two golds, two silvers and one bronze).

Thanks to her success, the Swiss rider also brought to four the tally of golds won by Switzerland in the world time trial reserved for elite women, a race in which, before Reusser's double, only Karin Thürig had managed to lead the Alpine nation to the top of the world, signing a superb double in 2004 and 2005. As in those circumstances, this year the Dutch athletes also failed to find a place on the podium, with Lieke Nooijen (twelfth, 2'16" behind today's winner) and a lackluster Demi Vollering (eighth, 1'49"), ending up far from the target and having to settle for a backup placement.

Also far from the medal zone were France, Belgium and Germany, which respectively with Cédrine Kerbaol, Lotte Kopecky and Antonia Niedermaier, saw their top athletes finish no better than fifth, sixth and seventh place: all of them, however, will have a chance to redeem themselves next Saturday in the elite women's road race where, over the 180 kilometers of Montreal's iconic circuit, Magdeleine Vallieres will put the rainbow jersey she won last year in Rwanda on the line.

CLICK HERE to read the full race report.

Updates to follow.

FINAL RESULTS

1. Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) - 50:24

2. Zoe Bäckstedt (Great Britain) at 0:40

3. Franziska Koch (Germany) at 0:45

4. Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) at 0:50

5. Cédrine Kerbaol (France) at 1:10

6. Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) at 1:48

7. Antonia Niedermaier (Germany) at 1:49

8. Demi Vollering (Netherlands) at 1:50

9. Dominika Wlodarczyk (Poland) at 1:59

10. Vittoria Guazzini (Italy) at 2:05

11. Lotte Claes (Belgium) at 2:10

12. Lieke Nooijen (Netherlands) at 2:16

13. Taylor Knibb (United States) at 2:19

14. Lauretta Hanson (Australia) at 2:20

15. Juliette Berthet (France) at 2:51

16. Anna Morris (Great Britain) at 2:57

17. Christina Schweinberger (Austria) at 3:02

18. Paula Blasi (Spain) at 3:06

19. Nadia Gontova (Canada) at 3:14

20. Mireia Benito (Spain) at 3:37

21. Kristen Faulkner (United States) at 3:41

22. Anniina Ahtosalo (Finland) at 4:16

23. Olivia Baril (Canada) at 4:47

24. Nika Bobnar (Slovenia) at 5:01

25. Teniel Campbell (Trinidad and Tobago) at 5:08

26. Lucie de Marigny-Lagesse (Mauritius) at 5:39

27. Valeriya Kononenko (Ukraine) at 5:41

28. Romina Hinojosa (Mexico) at 5:42

29. Ann-Christine Allik (Estonia) at 5:47

30. Diana Peñuela (Colombia) at 5:56

31. Bronwyn Macgregor (New Zealand) at 6:09

32. Shimeng Zhu (China) at 6:26

33. Sara Roel (Mexico) at 7:29

34. Gergana Stoyanova (Bulgaria) at 8:12

35. Xin Tang (China) at 8:20

36. Faina Potapova (Kazakhstan) at 8:50

37. Xaverine Nirere (Rwanda) at 9:17

38. Diane Ingabire (Rwanda) at 9:45

39. Firotika Magh Marenda (Indonesia) at 11:36

40. Skye Davidson (Zimbabwe) at 11:38

41. Mashael Alhazmi (Saudi Arabia) at 12:55

42. Karin Abe (Japan) at 13:05

43. Monica Jelimo Kiplagat (Kenya) at 16:14

44. Kendra Masiga (Kenya) at 16:51

45. Alyssa Burgess (Cayman Islands) at 18:36

46. Rongina Ngandu (Zimbabwe) at 22:38

47. Sajedeh Siyahian (Iran) at 28:51

Did not start: Katrine Aalerud (Norway).