Bronze as Road World Championships Highlight

Rwanda. From the very beginning, the venue for this year's UCI Road World Championships was controversial. As commendable and understandable as the desire of the International Cycling Union to finally hold the championships in Africa may be, the criticism of the decision to award them to Rwanda was just as vehement. Civil war, human rights violations, exorbitant prices, EU sanctions, and the many vaccinations required for entry—the list of counterarguments and uncertainties was long.
Accordingly, the delegation from Austria heading to the event, scheduled from September 21 to 28 in the capital Kigali, was small. The men's team was entirely absent, while the women's team consisted only of Carina Schrempf for the road race and Anna Kiesenhofer for the time trial. Meanwhile, Christina Schweinberger chose to focus on the European Championships in France in early October. From the U23 category, Tabea Huys and Marco Schrettl participated, while the junior riders were represented by Michael Hettegger, Heimo Fugger, and Valentin Hofer. Accompanying them were coach Thomas Binder, a mechanic, and a physiotherapist.

However, the security situation and related concerns were not the only reasons for the reduced team. In an ORF interview, Austrian Cycling Federation (ÖRV) Secretary General Florian König stated that the cost of sending each participant to Rwanda was four times higher than for the previous World Championships in Zurich.
Given that the elevation-heavy topography of both the road course (5,500 meters of elevation gain for the men!) and the time trial course, according to ÖRV Sports Director Roland Pils, "would not have suited every rider," the selection was made under the premise of "not just participating but achieving results," which significantly narrowed the choices. And last but not least, the expectation was for true elimination races on the road, which meant that support riders were not necessarily needed.

The opening for the home team was made by Anna Kiesenhofer in the individual time trial on September 21. The following day, Tabea Huys competed in the U23 category, which for the first time had its own race in Rwanda.
The 2021 Olympic champion entered the World Championship time trial, an "unfinished business," without expectations due to her training deficit—she had been struggling with a knee injury for a long time this year. With a time deficit of 3:49 minutes behind the victorious Swiss rider Marlen Reusser, she ultimately finished 17th after 31.2 kilometers packed with 460 meters of elevation.

Tabea Huys even broke into the top ten during her fight against the clock, finishing ninth. "Goal achieved, really satisfied," summarized the 19-year-old athlete from Tyrol, whose nerves had been tested beforehand due to her non-UCI-compliant bike setup. The winner was Britain’s Zoe Backstedt.
On Tuesday, Heimo Fugger followed up with another top-20 placement. The junior track world champion finished 17th in the time trial, a race that saw 83 athletes in the youngest category take on the challenge. With an average speed of 44.55 km/h, the Carinthian sped through the 22.6-kilometer course, which featured a cobblestone finale in downtown Kigali. The victory went to Dutch rider Michiel Mouris.

The final 267 km men's race on Sunday, as mentioned at the beginning, took place without any Austrians and was won by defending champion Tadej Pogačar in impressive fashion. The 27-year-old triumphed after a 66 km solo effort with a 1:28 minute lead over Remco Evenepoel – thus also avenging himself for the time trial, where the Slovenian, who finished fourth, looked somewhat out of sorts against the victorious Belgian.
Only 30 out of 165 starters reached the finish line; in addition to the topography and weather conditions, gastrointestinal problems took their toll on many riders.

Apart from this malaise, the much-criticized World Championship in the run-up went off without incidents. There was nothing to criticize about the organization of the first UCI Road World Championship on the African continent, and the organization need not shy away from comparisons with Zurich last year or Innsbruck in 2018, stated ÖRV Secretary General Florian König to ORF. The residents were very helpful and friendly, and Rwanda presented itself, as expected, in its best light.
And Austria's youngsters, in particular, were thrilled by the experience of being in a new country. “Cool vibe here, the people are awesome. You’d heard things before about all the mosquitoes, the diseases, hygiene, and food. Now I have to say: we worried more about it than was actually necessary,” said 19-year-old Tabea Huys, for example.

See the results