The smile on his face said it all. Sitting in the hot seat on the opening day of the 2022 Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia, Tobias Foss watched on as the final rider on course crossed the finish line. Foss blinked, shook his head and laughed in disbelief. He slapped his face multiple times, as if to make sure this was no dream. Then the Norwegian cyclist let out a guttural roar. A new men’s world time trial champion had been crowned – and an unlikely one at that.
Since recording the fastest time earlier on Sunday afternoon, the 25-year-old had watched on as some of the world’s best time-triallists had failed to better his effort. The final four riders to take on the technical 34.2km course were practically a roll-call of the best against the clock: the two-time European time-trial champion Stefan Küng; the two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar; the Vuelta a España winner, Remco Evenepoel; and the defending world time-trial champion, Filippo Ganna.
