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Chloe Dygert puts down stunning performance to edge out Grace Brown and seal world time trial title
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Published 10/08/2023 at 17:40 GMT+1
America’s Chloe Dygert won the world time trial championship in 2019 and in 2023 in Glasgow she doubled up. Dygert’s time was a blistering one, putting in a performance that left the other riders in her wake. No rider was able to get to within a minute of Dygert’s time until Grace Brown came agonisingly close, in the end finishing just over five seconds off Dygert.
Dygert storms to gold in time trial at Cycling World Championships
Video credit: TNT Sports
Chloe Dygert put down a brilliant performance on Thursday at the 2023 Cycling World Championships to secure the individual time trial world title, to go along with her gold from 2019.
Dygert’s time of 46:59.80, a milestone that riders struggled to contend with as scores failed to get within a minute of the American’s figure.
However one of the final riders out of the gate, Australia’s Grace Brown came remarkably close, finishing just 5.67s off the American as she had to settle for silver.
The final place on the podium went to Christina Schweinberger of Austria.
Dygert’s win marked her second ITT world title after she won her first in Harrogate in 2019. Additionally, it signified an inspiring return to glory after a horrific crash at the 2020 ITT World Championships in Imola forced a lengthy road to recovery.
After she was awarded her second ITT rainbow jersey she struggled to sum up the emotions surrounding her win.
“I don’t even know. I don’t even have the words,” she said. “It’s just been a long three years and to be able to have this jersey is just absolutely unbelievable.
“I think this is a very special title for everyone behind me. At the beginning of this year, it was almost unclear if I was even going to race this season so to be able to be here and to win, it’s a huge accomplishment for everybody that got us here."
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US rider Chloe Dygert takes part in the women's Individual Time Trial in Stirling during the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland on August 10, 2023. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
The week before, she won the individual pursuit world title at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and upon crossing the line in Stirling she became the first woman to win the IP on the track and the ITT on the road in the same year.
After suffering from illness in the days that led up to the ITT, Dygert started the race not feeling her best and admitted after her win: “If the race was yesterday I don't think I would have started.
“It was definitely 16km too long for me. After a certain point, I couldn’t catch up with my breathing and the snot and everything was just coming up. The fatigue set in and I did everything I could to make it to the finish and that point and I was just really lucky it was enough.”
Dygert started early on in the race, 19th out of 86 riders to go down the start ramp, and immediately set the fastest time of 14:27.64 on the first intermediate split after a relatively flat opening 12km.
She then took the lead at the second time split with a 1:35.06 lead on Eugenia Bujak (Slovenia) who had initially held the fastest time at the same point.
When Dygert crossed the finish line in front of Stirling Castle with her winning time of 46:59.80, after a challenging cobbled climb which pushed riders to their limits, she then faced the anxious wait for the remaining 67 riders that were yet to set their times.
Soon after Dygert took her place in the hot seat which she would occupy for the rest of the afternoon, British rider Anna Henderson began her race. Henderson set the second-fastest time behind Dygert as she went through all three time splits and would go on to put in one of the best rides of her career so far.
The 24-year-old crossed the line to take a provisional second place, 1:15.05 in arrears of Dygert, before she was moved down to third as Austrian rider Schweinberger put in an equally impressive challenge to move within 1:12.95 of the leader.
Not long after, Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser, a key favourite for the title alongside Dygert, abandoned the race and sat at the side of the road distraught after getting off her bike. A few days prior she had crashed as part of the victorious Swiss mixed-time trial relay team which may have played a part in her mid-race withdrawal.
Henderson’s bronze hopes remained as Tour de France winner Demi Vollering (Netherlands) crossed the line in fourth, but it would be Australia’s Brown who was the one to eventually displace her. After the race, the British rider spoke of her pride in taking fourth place in a home World Championships.
She said: “I’m so proud of myself. My goal, I said to the girls today and to my coach and to my boyfriend, ‘If I can see a single digit next to my name I’ll be over the moon.’ To have fourth and be that close to a medal, I’m really, really proud.
“I couldn’t see, think, hear going up the last climb. It was a really tough finish. I was really proud to be here at a home Worlds and the crowd really lifted me today. I fought all the way.
“To be close to a medal, I never expected it. I thought my dream would be to be in the top 10 or maybe top 15 I’d be pretty happy with but fourth place, I’m really happy.”
Brown, who was the penultimate rider to go down the start ramp and finished second at last year’s World Championships, put in a barnstorming ride that would see her demolish the course leaving both those in the podium places and the viewers on the edge of their seats.
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Grace Brown takes second in time trial at Cycling World Championships
Video credit: TNT Sports
She reached all three of the intermediate time splits within 30 seconds of the times set by leader Dygert and moved ahead of Henderson into second place. As she climbed the cobbled streets towards the finish line she was momentarily in the green and closing in on Dygert's hot seat.
The Australian crossed the line within five seconds of Dygert which earned her a second silver medal in consecutive years, and Dygert held on to her place in the hot seat by the skin of her teeth.
Dutch national champion Riejanne Markus was the final rider to start as she took the place of last year’s winner Ellen van Dijk. The 28-year-old’s efforts weren’t enough to challenge for a podium place and she crossed the line in ninth place.
As Markus concluded proceedings Dygert had secured her second ITT rainbow jersey in stunning fashion. Brown stood second on the podium after a magnificent battle to reach Stirling Castle, and Schweinberger took home a well-deserved bronze medal.
In the U23 category, Belgium’s Julie de Wilde took bronze (17th overall), the best young rider from the recent Tour de France Cedrine Kerbaol took silver (13th overall), and Germany’s Antonia Niedermaier took the rainbow jersey with an 11th-placed finish.
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Stream the World Cycling Championships live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
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