CANYON//SRAM Racing riders claimed both rainbow jerseys at today’s UCI Individual Time Trial world championships in Stirling, Scotland. Chloé Dygert took her second title in the space of a week when she won the elite women’s ITT following her Individual Pursuit victory. Teammate Antonia Niedermaier won the U23 category and finished eleventh in the elite. Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka crossed the line in seventh place, just 26 seconds from the bronze medal.

Chloé was one of the earlier riders on the course and set the fastest time of 46:59 for everyone to follow. Rider by rider crossed the line after a brutal uphill finish to the 36.2 km-long course. Agnieszka, at one point, held the silver medal position, with Antonia fourth fastest also for a long time. Only when last year’s silver medalist Grace Brown (Australia), crossed the line six seconds slower than Chloé was the rainbow jersey secured. It caps off an incredible week for Chloé after winning her fourth rainbow jersey in the IP and adding her second ITT title to her palmares.

Antonia returned to racing today after being forced to abandon the Giro Donne due to a crash just one day after her phenomenal stage win in her World Tour debut. The young German rider stormed around the course in a time of 49:26, still able to keep something in reserve for the final kilometres to win the U23 category by seven seconds.

RIDER REACTIONS 

Chloé Dygert: “I’m beyond grateful to get the win today. Many people are behind this, and I’m forever thankful. It’s been a tough road the last three years. I’ve had a huge support system from CANYON//SRAM Racing, USA cycling, and my family and friends. I owe a lot to a lot of people. At the beginning of the year, it was still a question about how much racing I could do this season. There are many people to thank for getting me on the top step today.”

“I was definitely feeling nervous before the race. It was hard to go into a race with the mentality that I’d been sick for a few days. I think I just picked up something from the velodrome. It’s day five now, so I’m grateful that the race was today and not yesterday, as I feel like I’m on the way up. If the race was one day earlier, I don’t know that I would have started.”

“I knew I was going to struggle with my pacing after 30 minutes, so I just focused on being as aero and fast as possible and just hold on until the end. I was pretty much in the red after the first time check. I gave everything I had to try and stay composed throughout the race. It was tiring, but I’m so grateful to have been able to hold on.”

Antonia Niedermaier: “It’s overwhelming, and I still cannot believe it. The win means so much to me, especially after the crash at the Giro Donne.”

“I didn’t really have nerves before the start because I had no expectations. I was just happy to race again. I tried to keep the pace steady and high in the first half but not all out. In the second half, I gave it my all because I knew that the climbs were coming. I am very happy that I could do my pacing strategy so well. I knew that I needed to go really hard on the last climb. The final 500m felt more like five kilometres, but I think I could still do a good pace all the way to the finish line.”

Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka: “Before the start, I was really calm. I knew I was well prepared and had to go my way until the finish. My coach had set out a pacing strategy with watts, but I also tried to ride hard from the second intermediate time split.”

“The last climb was a killer! When I saw it was still 150m to the finish line, I already had nothing in my legs. I am very happy to get seventh. I’m also not far off the bronze medal, so it motivates me to continue working.”

CANYON//SRAM Racing and CANYON//SRAM Generation riders now turn towards Sunday’s combined  Elite and U23 road race with Ricarda Bauernfeind and Antonia Niedermaier (Germany), Elise Chabbey (Switzerland), Agua Marina Espinola Salinas (Paraguay), Nesrine Houili (Algeria), Diane Ingabire (Rwanda), Kasia Niewiadoma and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Poland), Soraya Paladin (Italy) and Sarah Roy (Australia).

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