Cycling-Birthday girl Reusser retains world time trial title in Montreal自行车赛——生日女孩鲁瑟在蒙特利尔卫冕世界计时赛冠军
Sept 20 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Marlen Reusser retained her rainbow jersey in the women's elite individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Sunday, defending her title on her 35th birthday with a winning time of 50 minutes, 24.44 seconds.
Sep 20, 2026; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Marlen Reusser (SUI) competes in the Women individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
Sept 20 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Marlen Reusser retained her rainbow jersey in the women's elite individual time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Sunday, defending her title on her 35th birthday with a winning time of 50 minutes, 24.44 seconds.
Britain's Zoe Backstedt claimed silver, finishing 40.11 seconds behind Reusser, while Germany's Franziska Koch took bronze, 45.54 seconds adrift.
The 39.2-kilometre course wound through Montreal along the St. Lawrence River, over the Samuel De Champlain Bridge and through Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before tackling an uphill finish in Old Montreal.
Reusser, nicknamed 'The Flying Elephant', captured the rainbow jersey in Kigali 2025 and said the demanding nature of the course this year had left her nervous.
"On the one hand, I was looking forward to it because it has so many challenges and technical aspects. But from the side of pacing, how fast you should go, to cope with the challenges, I was really nervous," Reusser said.
"We don't have time trials like this really.
"We had loads of discussions with the performance coach about the pacing strategy."
Tour de France champion Demi Vollering of the Netherlands was unable to match the specialists, finishing eighth, 1:49.94 behind Reusser.
"I think I cannot be negative yet," Vollering said. "I felt it was a good time trial, a good rhythm, and I was actually happy.
"Then I heard Marlen was coming from the back, and I was like: 'Wow, Marlen is flying today like all the other time trials'.
"I lost a little bit of focus at this moment, but tried to come back to it. I had thought I was doing well. But it was really a course for the specialists."
The championships returned to Montreal for the first time in 52 years and marked the third time Canada has hosted the event, following editions in Montreal in 1974 and Hamilton in 2003.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Goa;Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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2026年9月20日；加拿大魁北克省蒙特利尔；瑞士选手马伦·鲁瑟 (Marlen Reusser) 参加UCI公路自行车世界锦标赛女子个人计时赛。图片来源：Eric Bolte-Imagn Images（必须注明出处）
9 月 20 日（路透社）——瑞士选手马伦·鲁瑟 (Marlen Reusser) 周日在蒙特利尔举行的 UCI 公路自行车世界锦标赛女子精英个人计时赛中保住了她的彩虹衫，在她 35 岁生日当天以 50 分 24.44 秒的成绩卫冕冠军。
英国选手佐伊·巴克斯特德获得银牌，落后罗伊瑟 40.11 秒；德国选手弗兰齐斯卡·科赫获得铜牌，落后 45.54 秒。
这条 39.2 公里的赛道蜿蜒穿过蒙特利尔，沿着圣劳伦斯河，越过萨缪尔·德·尚普兰大桥，穿过吉尔·维伦纽夫赛道，最后在老蒙特利尔迎来上坡终点。
绰号“飞象”的鲁瑟在 2025 年基加利环法自行车赛上夺得彩虹衫，她说今年赛道的难度让她感到紧张。
“一方面，我很期待这场比赛，因为它有很多挑战和技术方面的问题。但从节奏控制方面来说，为了应对这些挑战，你应该跑多快，我真的很紧张，”鲁瑟说。
“我们其实没有这样的计时赛。”
“我们和体能教练就配速策略进行了大量的讨论。”
荷兰环法自行车赛冠军黛米·沃勒林未能与专业选手匹敌，最终获得第八名，落后鲁塞尔 1 分 49.94 秒。
“我觉得现在还不能消极，”沃勒林说。“我觉得这是一次不错的计时赛，节奏很好，我其实挺高兴的。”
“然后我听到马伦从后面追了上来，我就想：‘哇，马伦今天像其他计时赛一样飞驰。’”
“当时我有点走神，但我努力让自己重新集中注意力。我原以为自己做得不错，但这门课其实是给专家上的。”
时隔 52 年，锦标赛首次重返蒙特利尔，这也是加拿大第三次举办该赛事，此前分别于 1974 年在蒙特利尔和 2003 年在汉密尔顿举办过。
（果阿邦 Pearl Josephine Nazare 报道；Christian Radnedge 编辑）
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