Switzerland, featuring the powerhouse time triallists of Marlen Reusser, Stefan Bissegger, and Stefan Küng, became the first nation to retain the mixed relay team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, overcoming Reusser's mid-race crash to put themselves in rainbows for the second consecutive year.
The six-rider squad kicked things off with Küng, Bissegger and Mauro Schmid topping the timing table after one lap of the technical Glasgow city-centre circuit, leaving the women's trio with a 19-second advantage over Italy to play with.
But things didn't go fully to plan for the team, with Reusser going down midway through the lap, sliding out on a corner while racing in between Elise Chabbey and Nicole Koller. The 31-year-old, who along with her teammates was part of the winning squad last year, was quickly back up, though, helping to deliver her nation to victory by seven seconds ahead of France.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, Reusser joked that her fall wasn't part of the plan to defend their title before thanking her male teammates for giving them the head start in time before the women set off down the start ramp.
"So, this was not the strategy," Reusser joked. "I did what I shouldn't do – I pedalled too early in the corner and crashed because of it. It was really stupid but we stayed calm and I was quickly back on the bike. We stuck to the plan and finished OK.
"We – the female cyclists of the team – are very happy that the men always put us in such a nice time. Last year we went out with a 22-second advantage, this year 20-second advantage, so they give us some time to do stupid things maybe [joke] so it's very nice and thank you guys."
Küng, who is in flying form after finishing fifth at the elite men's road race on Sunday, shed some light on how his Swiss squad coped with the atypical time trial course, which included somewhere in the region of 60 corners as well as numerous rises and hills.
"I think it's really important on this course to trust each other because if you do then you can stay on the wheel," he said. "That's the only thing we asked from our national coach in the car, to tell us if we're on the line after each corner because we can't look back – we have to focus on what's coming next and pushing on.
"We also had a plan for how to finish. Stefan Bissegger did a good lead-out into the final climb and then it was up to me and Mauro to finish. I think the whole strategy worked out really well."
He added that the win, coming just under a year on from beating Italy by three seconds in Wollongong, was a good way for the riders to give back to their national federation as a thank-you for the work they do.
Switzerland were perhaps the only nation to take on the race with a full-strength time trial squad, with numerous top time triallists in the peloton – Filippo Ganna, Demi Vollering, Remco Evenepoel, Chloé Dygert, to list a few names – not taking part. The team's strength only underlined how seriously they take the competition.
"It's the only real team event of the World Championships, and in the end, when you step on the podium, you step on it together as a whole team, so it's really important for the whole federation and the staff," Küng said. "They put in a huge amount of work over the two weeks we're up here in Scotland, and it's a good reward.
"We always have this big support, and we want to give something back for everything that they do. That's why we're committed to this event and why we're happy to bring back the rainbow jersey."
Now, for Küng, Reusser, and Bissegger, attention will turn to the time trials on Thursday and Friday. The courses in Stirling are an altogether different proposition to the city circuits of Glasgow, with far fewer corners, longer straights, and a cobbled uphill rise to Stirling castle to finish.
Reusser said that she'll have to recover from "a little bruise" and regain "a little bit of confidence" after her crash ahead of the time trial, while Küng said that he's thankful he took part in the Chrono des Nations – the 45km French one-day time trial – in the past two years, with the race giving him a good idea of what to expect on Friday.
"It's hard to tell because we have hardly any TTs of this distance nowadays in pro cycling," he said. "I'm pretty glad that in the last two years, I did the Chrono des Nations in mid-October because the course reminds me of this TT.
"It's a course where you hardly ever go out of the TT bars, especially in the first 20km you have two corners, and that's it. I knew it beforehand, I trained for it, so it means another chance to fight for the rainbow on Friday. My condition is really well after the Tour, and I raced on Sunday and today, so I'll try to keep this momentum going into Friday."
