Cycling World Championships - Remco Evenepoel storms to individual time trial glory, GB's Joshua Tarling takes bronze

It was glory for an inspired Remco Evenepoel as he powered to victory in the men's individual time trial at the Cycling World Championships in the city of Stirling, just north of Glasgow.

The Belgian superstar overcame second-placed Filippo Ganna by 12 seconds as he produced a stunning performance to take the rainbow jersey in style. Evenepoel became the youngest world champion in the discipline, beating Australia's Mick Rogers by 95 days.

Britain's Joshua Tarling took an impressive third place. The 19 year-old from Aberaeron in Wales, shattered the fastest time at the finish, spending 15 minutes in the hotseat before being dislodged by Ganna. He ended the day 48 seconds adrift of Evenepoel to become the only teenager to take home a medal in the competition's history.

The course, which both started and finished in Stirling, was less technical, and better suited to true time trialist's than the one for Tuesday's inner-Glasgow team relay, which a number of the riders had complained about. The 48.7km route carried the competitors out into the countryside before turning back on itself at Thornhill and returning via mostly a parallel roads. Its 28 turns were a mix of tight and sweeping, testing the rider's bike-handling, while asking a lot of their engines on the fast headwind-facing straights.

The finish at Stirling Castle was the same as faced the younger riders, and the women who rode a similar course yesterday and on Friday morning.

Leading the 78 starters down the ramp, at 14:21.20 was Ahmad Badreddin Wais from Aleppo in Syria, representing the Refugee Cycling Team. He was never likely to trouble the final leaderboard, but rode his heart out and was not overtaken.

After Wais the riders followed at eighty second intervals.

Ryan Mullen, who started tenth, was the first rider to get up to what could be considered a competitive speed. The Irish rider from Birkenhead was fastest at the first time check, and every subsequent split, before finishing in 58’21, which would ultimately be good enough for nineteenth place.

Mullen would spend longer than anyone in the leader’s chair, known as the hotseat. The rider to dislodge him was Canada’s Derek Gee, who pushed the Bora rider aside by 4 seconds.

By that point, however, there were many riders out on the road going much quicker.

Josh Tarling, who started 60th out of 78 riders, was the surprise package of the day. The GB national champion set out as he would go on, fastest at every intermediate split by a massive margin.

Only when he beat the two-time TT champion Rohan Dennis at the second split, taking more than a minute off the Australian, did it become clear how competitive Tarling’s time would be. He eventually stopped the clock at 56.07.

The USA’s Brandon McNulty put in a strong ride, but couldn’t come closer than 38 seconds off Tarling. Wout van Aert (Belgium) clearly feeling the effects of a long season, was well off the pace and while he struggled by his own high standards, still did enough for 5th place.

Another rider who might have been expected to challenge for medals, Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), was even further down. The two-time Tour de France champion finished in 21st position, 3’05 slower than the winning time.

Once all the riders had set out, it quickly became clear than only two of them might be able to challenge Tarling for the rainbow jersey: Italy’s Filippo Ganna and Remco Evenepoel of Belgium.

Ganna was quickest of everyone at the first intermediate split, before Evenepoel kicked into high gear and never faded.

After 34km last year’s road champion had converted a 4 second deficit to Ganna into a 12 second advantage, which was where it stayed for the duration of the ride.

All the riders arrived back in Stirling to a rapturous reception from the locals, but it was Evenepoel who claimed the crown.

He had more than a minute in hand for the final few hundred metres but still had to dig deep up the slippery steep cobbled climb. In the end he stopped the clock at 55'19.23.

"It's a bit crazy," said Tarling afterwards. "And super cool to do it in the UK. Australia was amazing but this feels next level."

Tarling said he was unable to use his computer to help inform his effort so instead decided to just "smash it and see what happens... It went well".

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