The 87th UCI Road World Championships were held in Imola, Italy and the Emilia-Romagna region from September 24 to 27. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that will be raging in 2020, only the road races and the individual time trials for women and men of the elite were held. The men’s individual time trial took place on September 24th at the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari of Imola.
The women’s race was won on the 31.7 kilometer circuit, which is just as long as the men’s, by co-favorite Anna van der Breggen from the Netherlands, ahead of Marlen Reusser from Switzerland and Ellen van Dijk from the Netherlands. 51 female riders started, 49 of whom crossed the finish line. The defending champion Chloé Dygert retired due to a serious crash. Olga Sabelinskaja, Uzbekistan champion, gave up the race. Anna van der Breggen completed the lap with an altitude difference of 200 meters in 40:20.14 minutes, which meant an average speed of 47.157 kilometers per hour. She was thus 15.58 seconds faster than Marlen Reusser and 31.46 seconds faster than third-placed Ellen van Dijk. Best German driver was Lisa Brennauer in fourth place, 45.06 seconds behind the winner.
Random photos of the elite women’s individual time trial UCI World Road Championships on September 25, 2020 (more under the direct link below to the image database):