The sun was shining, the waves were rolling in and a Dutch woman was winning the opening race of 2022 UCI Road World Championships. It was seemingly the natural way of things – a predictable result in a flawless setting on the beachside streets of Wollongong, as Ellen van Dijk defended her women’s individual time trial crown and the Dutch national team won the sixth edition of the race over the past decade.
But if the 35-year-old’s victory on Sunday seemed predestined – her third world title since first winning the discipline in 2013, alongside four European time trial titles – it almost wasn’t to be. Australia’s Grace Brown sat in the hot-seat all day, after starting in the opening wave of riders and setting a blistering pace over a technical, undulating 34.2-kilometre course.
