Reusser Defends World ITT Title in Montreal

The Swiss rider covered the 39.2-kilometre course in a winning time of 50:24:44, finishing 40 seconds clear of Great Britain’s Zoe Backstedt.

Trailing early, charging late

The defending champion rode blind by choice, refusing all intermediate time checks. She was fifth fastest through the first technical sector at 10.7 kilometres, ten seconds slower than Backstedt.

Pacing in the dark

“I said I didn’t want to know the time checks, so I had no idea,” Reusser told reporters afterwards. “I’m glad I didn’t know, but I told the people in the car not to worry if we were a bit behind, because the first section is quite technical.”

From yellow jersey to rainbow stripes

The win in Canada arrived barely six weeks after Reusser took the stage-four time trial and the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes in Dijon. Four days before these Worlds, she won the Chrono Féminin de Gatineau, a hilly 20.4-kilometre test that also served as a final tune-up on a new Canyon TT bike.

Backstedt, on her elite world championship debut, held on for silver by just 5.43 seconds over Germany’s Franziska Koch. The Swiss national anthem played for a second consecutive year in Montreal, where the crowd added a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

A quiet, measured performance on a borrowed continent — and another rainbow jersey earned by folding into the position she trusts.