After Cloe Dygert crashed out last year, Van der Breggen won the individual time trial in Imola, while Reusser took second place. Both Dygert and Van der Breggen are absent on the pan-flat course, so Reusser should be the new World Champion.
Too simple a logic, but it makes sense in this case. Not because Reusser took silver last year, but because she is in a class of her own this year.
Last week, she stormed to the Europena title on a similare course in Trento. Ellen van Dijk was the only rider who could more or less match her (finishing 20 seconds down), while Lisa Brennauer took bronze at more than 1 minute. Which is all the more ipressive, since the route was just 22.4 kilometres long.
Favourites World Championships 2021 women’s ITT
*** Marlen Reusser
** Ellen van Dijk, Annemiek van Vleuten
* Amber Neben, Lisa Brennauer, Riejanne Markus
Another interesting read: start times women’s ITT at the Worlds in Flanders.