The Women’s World Championship Time Trial is a relatively young event compared to the road race, only debuting in 1994, but it has quickly become one of the most prestigious rainbow jerseys in the sport. Since then, the event has been run annually over courses typically measuring between 25 and 35 kilometres, testing riders in their purest expression of power, pacing and aerodynamics.
The inaugural edition was won by Karen Kurreck in Agrigento, Italy, before Jeannie Longo established an early era of dominance. The French legend claimed four titles between 1995 and 2001 and still holds the record for the most victories. Judith Arndt became a consistent force, collecting seven medals in total – two gold, three silver and two bronze – while names like Leontien van Moorsel, Karin Thürig and Kristin Armstrong helped shape the discipline’s rise in the early 2000s.
Over time, mini dynasties have developed. Annemiek van Vleuten won twice in succession in the late 2010s, while Ellen van Dijk managed an extraordinary span between her first win in 2013 and back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. Anna van der Breggen never quite took control of the event, but her four silver medals in a five-year window underline just how consistent she was before finally taking gold in 2020. More recently, Chloe Dygert’s raw power, Marlen Reusser’s precision and Grace Brown’s rise to the top step in Zurich in 2024 have defined the current generation, although Brown went out at the top and is now retired.
Across the history of the event, Dutch and American riders have shared much of the success, each with eight gold medals. Germany and France have also had their share of dominance, but the spread of nations taking rainbow stripes shows how open the discipline has been compared to the women’s road race.
Photo Credit: Mathilde L'AzouThe 2025 edition in Kigali, Rwanda, will add a new chapter as the first women’s time trial world title contested on African roads. It’s also the first time that the U23 race is a fully separate event after 3 years of being amalgamated. The Elites course measures 31.2 km, starting at the BK Arena and finishing at the Kigali Convention Centre, and includes 460 metres of elevation gain. It is far from a traditional flat power course. The women will twice tackle the Côte de Nyanza – first as a 2.5 km climb at 5.8% on the way out, then as a longer 4.1 km drag at 3.1% on the return leg – before facing the sting in the tail, the cobbled Côte de Kimihurura. That final 1.3 km rise at 6.3% is also part of the city circuits later in the week for the road races, ensuring it will be a familiar but punishing landmark.
The design means rhythm will be broken repeatedly, with climbs demanding controlled pacing, transitions requiring technical sharpness, and the cobbled finale likely deciding the medals. At altitude, those efforts will bite even harder. This is not a course for flatland specialists – it is a complete test that will reward riders who can climb, descend, and manage their effort with precision under the pressure of the rainbow jersey.
Previous Winners
Elites
2024
Grace Brown
2023
Chloe Dygert
2022
Ellen van Dijk
U23
2024
Antonia Niedermaier
2023
Antonia Niedermaier
2022
Vittoria Guazzini
2025 Women’s World Championships Elites Race Profile
2025 Women’s World Championships U23 Race Profile
Live TV Coverage
Elites: Sunday 21st September 2025
U23: Monday 22nd September 2025
Live on Discovery/Max/TNT Sports across Europe, also live on the BBC in the UK
Elites Live: 9:10-11:00
U23 Live: 14:00-15:30
All times in BST
Twitter: Updates
Elites Startlist: FirstCycling
U23 Startlist: FirstCycling
Photo Credit: GettyWomen’s World Championships Elites 2025 Contenders
Chloe Dygert remains the reigning champion and a two-time winner of this event, having first stunned the world in Yorkshire in 2019 and then reclaimed the rainbow jersey in Stirling last year. She arrives in Zurich without having raced a single individual time trial in 2025, though she did ride the team time trial at the Vuelta Femenina. That hasn’t necessarily diminished expectations. Dygert has always been a rider who can summon form on the day, and with a course profile that leans towards raw power and control rather than climbing explosiveness, it still plays to her strengths. What’s harder to read is her overall condition – the 2025 road season hasn’t featured many standout performances, and with no recent TT data points to draw from, her title defence comes with a touch more uncertainty than usual.
There’s a clear sense of unfinished business for Marlen Reusser at the Simac Ladies Tour time trial. Second in both 2020 and 2021, third in 2022, and then that unforgettable moment in 2023, where she simply stopped by the roadside, her pursuit of victory here has been marked by both consistency and frustration. Illness blighted her 2024 season, but in 2025 she’s returned to dominant TT form, winning the Swiss nationals, the Giro Women TT, and at Vuelta a Burgos. While the hillier profile of this edition isn’t quite textbook Reusser terrain, her ability to handle rolling courses makes her one of the strongest contenders once again.
Photo Credit: SirottiAnna van der Breggen, the 2020 world champion, is back on the startlist for her first time trial world championships since taking the gold medal in Imola. Now in her first full year of racing post-retirement, she’s kept her calendar light and targeted. Though better known for her climbing finesse and tactical racecraft, van der Breggen has long been a consistent performer against the clock. Her record here includes four silver medals, spanning from 2015 to 2019, usually sitting just behind the dominant rider of that particular era – be it Van Dijk, van Vleuten or Dygert. In 2025, she’s only raced one ITT, placing 4th in the Giro Women’s opener. That effort showed her capacity to still produce a sharp, consistent ride, but whether it’s enough to return to the podium five years after her world title remains to be seen.
Still yet to race a TT this season, Demi Vollering arrives with GC ambitions and a record of strong performances at this race. She was runner-up overall in 2024 and 6th the year before, relying on her all-round ability and solid time trialling to stay in contention. There’s some uncertainty about her form against the clock – she hasn’t raced a TT yet this year – but her strength on climbs and her ability to maintain high power for extended efforts could make this course a good fit.
With consistent top-10s in recent editions, Anna Henderson should also be considered a threat. Fourth in 2023 and seventh last year, she backed that up with a silver medal at the British national championships and sixth in the Giro time trial. While she may lack the brute force of Reusser or the GC pedigree of Vollering, her strength over rolling terrain, honed through years of lead-out work and solo efforts, makes her perfectly suited to a course like this. If she gets her pacing right, she’s a strong outside bet for the podium.
Consistency is a major asset for Juliette Labous, and she brings plenty of it into this year’s Simac Ladies Tour time trial. With finishes of 5th in 2023, 6th in 2021, and 9th last year, she’s a reliable top-10 performer in this race and seems to thrive on rolling, power-based efforts. Her recent results back that up – runner-up in both the French National Championships and the Vuelta a Burgos time trial, plus a third place at the Tour de Romandie TT earlier this summer. While she’s unlikely to unseat the very top specialists, Labous remains one of the safest picks to feature high on the leaderboard again.
Photo Credit: GettyEmerging as one of the most exciting TT riders of the new generation, Antonia Niedermaier already boasts two U23 world titles and pushed the best elite riders close with a 4th-place finish at the 2024 World Championships. She added a national title in Germany this year and although her 14th in the Giro Women TT suggested she’s still refining her pacing, the potential is clear. This course should suit her strength over longer efforts, and a top-10 – maybe more – is well within reach.
It’s a debut appearance in this event against the clock for Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, but her name still brings weight to the startlist. Second at the Polish National Championships – the only time trial she’s ridden in 2025 – was an encouraging sign, but her history against the clock has often seen her lose ground rather than gain it. That said, on a hillier route and with a strong final quarter to her season in sight, she could sneak into the top-10 if the legs are there and the pacing goes to plan.
Quietly consistent in recent editions, Cédrine Kerbaol has posted back-to-back finishes of 13th in 2023 and 14th in 2024 at the World Championships time trial. Her form in national competition remains strong – she retained her French TT title this year, showing clear strength over a similar distance and profile. While she hasn’t yet cracked the top tier on the Worlds stage, she’s maturing into a more complete time triallist and could improve on those past results if everything aligns. A top-10 is a realistic target on this parcours.
Women’s World Championships U23 2025 Contenders
Photo Credit: GettyUnquestionably, Zoe Backstedt starts as the rider to beat. The British national champion in both the elite and U23 categories, she’s made time trialling her standout discipline in 2025. With wins in both the short prologue and longer TT at the Baloise Ladies Tour, plus a stage victory in the Simac Ladies Tour TT, her track record is formidable. The only time she’s missed the top step this season was at Vuelta a Burgos, where she placed sixth – and that’s her worst TT result all year. She’s the gold medal favourite, and it will take something special to beat her.
A strong season of climbing time trials has put Paula Blasi in the mix for a medal in the U23 World Championship TT. The Spaniard has quietly stitched together a tidy results sheet against the clock – third in her national championships, third in the Tour de l’Avenir prologue, and fifth in the longer TT at the same race. Perhaps most significantly, she won the short uphill TT at the Tour de Romandie Féminin in a field that included elite riders, showing she can convert potential into victories. A 12th-place finish overall at Vuelta a Burgos rounds out a very credible case as a podium contender.
For Millie Couzens, the title might be a step too far this time, but a strong ride could easily bring her into the top 10. She won the GB U23 national title, but hasn’t quite translated that into results at the international level, finishing outside the top 15 in both the Tour de l’Avenir and Vuelta a Burgos TTs. That said, the World Championship course may suit her better, and if everything clicks on the day, she’s more than capable of riding into the top 10.
National champion Viktoria Chladonova comes in with solid but not spectacular form. Her TT win at the Slovakian Championships showed she’s still developing, and seventh at Vuelta Extremadura earlier this season adds another respectable result to her name. A 12th place at the tougher terrain of Ardeche might not directly translate here, but with a clean and measured ride, she could flirt with the top five – particularly if some of the more favoured names falter.
Results have been inconsistent this year for Fleur Moors, who came close to a national podium with fourth at the Belgian Championships, but hasn’t yet delivered a standout international ride against the clock. A low placing at the Tour de l’Avenir and a muted Giro Women TT suggest she may struggle to compete with the very best here, but on a good day she’s still in the conversation for a top-10 placing, especially with the course not overly long or technical.
It’s been a quietly impressive season for Marie Schreiber, whose versatility as a cyclocross rider and improving TT credentials make her an interesting name for this race. She took the win at the Luxembourg Nationals and also claimed gold at the Games of the Small States of Europe – a rare but meaningful result. Her fourth in the Baloise Ladies Tour prologue and ninth in the longer TT there were particularly promising, and she also finished 14th at Vuelta a Burgos. She’s well-placed to challenge for a top-five finish and could even sneak onto the podium with a sharp effort.
Julie Bego arrives with a respectable foundation of results and the sort of steady consistency that could earn her a top-10 finish. Ninth at the French Nationals was a solid effort given the depth of competition there, and she followed it up with 8th in the Tour de l’Avenir prologue and 10th in the longer TT. While not yet threatening the podium, she’s clearly capable of holding her own on a course like this and should be eyeing another strong placing.
The Canadian U23 champion Ava Holmgren is another quietly reliable name in the mix, with a skillset that’s well-suited to flatter, punchy TTs. Her national title showed she’s the best of her generation at home, and ninth at Vuelta Extremadura plus 18th in the longer TT at the Baloise Ladies Tour give her a decent reference point against this international field. A top-10 finish feels very much within reach, especially if she can stay composed in the technical sections.
Justyna Czapla looked impressive at the German U23 Nationals, where she dominated to take the win comfortably, but her international results have suggested a few more question marks. She placed 16th in the Tour de l’Avenir TT and 19th in the prologue – both reasonable, but not yet headline-worthy. The profile here might be just a touch too lumpy for her to truly thrive, but if she rides with control and confidence, she’s not far from the edge of the top-10 conversation.
This course could suit Lore de Schepper more than most. She’s shown good form on lumpier routes, finishing 6th in the Tour de l’Avenir prologue and backing that up with 7th both in the Belgian Nationals and the longer TT at Avenir. Her consistency across different efforts makes her a realistic top-5 candidate, especially if the climbs become more decisive than expected.
A name that’s been building well across the season is Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, the reigning junior world champion who’s taken meaningful steps up in the U23 ranks. She started the year with 2nd at the Australian U23 Championships and has since delivered two 4th-place finishes in the Baloise Ladies Tour and Vuelta Extremadura time trials. Her raw power is clear, but the hilly profile here might slightly dull her edge compared to flatter efforts. Even so, a podium is not out of the question if she paces it right.
After a couple of seasons in the shadows, Alena Ivanchenko looks to be returning to something like her previous TT level. The former junior world champion was 8th in the uphill time trial at the Tour de Romandie, then posted 14th in both Ardeche and Extremadura. She’s no longer a clear favourite as she once was, but her ability to ride at a steady pace across rolling terrain could still see her land a solid top-10 result.
Top 3 Prediction
Elites
⦿ Marlen Reusser
⦿ Demi Vollering
⦿ Chloe Dygert
U23
⦿ Zoe Backstedt
⦿ Paula Blasi
⦿ Lore de Schepper
