The junior girls’s particular person time trial on the UCI Road World Championships is eighteen.8 kilometres lengthy, straight and pan-flat, making certain that the strongest riders emerge on the rostrum. The 17 to 18-year-old age group all the time brings surprises, specifically in time trials, making predictions troublesome.
Course map and profile of the Women’s Junior ITT on the Zurich UCI Road World Championships 2024 (Image credit score: Zurich 2024 UCI Road and Para-Cycling Road World Championships)
Last yr, Australian Felicity Wilson-Haffenden got here out of nowhere to dominate the occasion in Scotland. Barring one other shock, Cyclingnews appears to be like on the high 5 contenders who’ve been performing throughout Europe on the Nations Cups and different UCI occasions.
Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia)
Viktória Chladonová wins the ladies’s junior XCO race on the 2024 MTB World Championships (Image credit score: Will Palmer/SWpix)
Having taken third place on the European Championships junior girls’s time trial, Chladoňová emerged as a Worlds favorite. The Slovakian is the Junior MTB World Champion, double nationwide champion and winner of at the least seven national-level occasions this season together with the nationwide hill climbing championships in addition to a high cyclocross rider. She was simply 10 seconds off the win in Hasselt and a high contender for Worlds in Zurich within the time trial and highway race.
Fee Knaven (Netherlands)
Fee Knaven throughout the 2023 World Championships (Image credit score: Getty Images)
The Dutch daughter of former professional Servais Knaven is the reining time trial nationwide champion and silver medalist on the European Championships. She was crushed by Spain’s Paula Ostiz by a single second, making her a high contender for the world title in Zurich.
Paula Ostiz (Spain)
Paula Ostiz (c) on the rostrum as European Champion within the time trial (Image credit score: Getty Images)
The European Champion is without doubt one of the high junior riders in Europe, taking each Spanish nationwide titles and the general Watersley Ladies Challenge earlier this month. Ostiz took third within the a lot shorter time trial in that stage race, and received the European title on a course 5.5km shorter than what the junior girls will face in Zurich. Ostiz excels on longer programs and is the highest favorite for Worlds.
Célia Gery (France)
Célia Gery wins the ladies’s Junior cyclocross world title in Tabor (Image credit score: SWpix.com)
Gery did not race the time trial on the European Championships but when she competes within the self-discipline in Zurich, she is an inevitable favorite. A world champion in cyclocross, Gery was second to Britain’s Cat Ferguson within the 14.2km time trial throughout the Omloop van Borsele and received the 6.4km take a look at on the Watersley Ladies Challenge.
Imogen Wolff (Great Britain)
Imogen Wolff (Great Britain) received the Piccolo Trofeo Binda (Image credit score: Ghilardi)
Most of the discuss forward of Worlds will probably be of Britain’s Cat Ferguson, however Imogen Wolff beat her on the nationwide championships by 25 seconds over 30km. Great Britain are the world’s primary nation within the junior girls’s discipline and are favourites to win medals at Worlds, with Wolff a high favorite within the time trial and an vital foil for the group within the highway race.
