The 2022 UCI Road World Cycling Championships are taking place in Australia, near the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. Norway’s Tobias Foss surprisingly proved the fastest man on the flat 34.2-kilometer course of the pro men's individual time trial world championship, completing the ride in forty minutes and two seconds, an average speed of 51.257 km/h.

Switzerland’s Stefan Küng missed the world time trial champion title by a mere three seconds, causing great distress for the Grupama-FDJ rider who won the 2021 Chrono des Nations race. He will now have to make do with his silver medal after competing in Australia, a World Championships location that has been criticized by some professional riders for being located too far from Europe, causing too much travel strain and stress on the participants following an exhausting 2022 season affected by Covid-19.

25-year-old Foss, who is also Norwegian time trial champion, normally competes for the professional Jumbo-Visma team. Commenting on his gold medal, Foss told Roadcycling.com "I feel as though I am dreaming. I don't believe it. It is surreal. My legs felt strong during the time trial. After my recent races in Canada, I had faith that my form was sound. But the outcome is better than I could have ever imagined."

Foss explained the time trial route was difficult and had proven challenging for him. "I had to keep pushing to keep a high pace throughout the time trial. It was very technical and tricky. I tried to ride uphill fast and catch my breath downhill. The coaching was excellent. We prepared well."

That Foss gets to wear the world champion rainbow jersey in time trials in 2023 is still surreal for him. "Today, I hoped to finish in the top ten, maybe even inside the top five. Now I am world champion and get to wear the rainbow jersey for a year. That's very special for me and I'm going to honor the jersey as well I can enjoy it immensely.”

Newly crowned Vuelta a Espana champion Remco Evenepoel took the bronze medal in today’s race after having won the individual time trial of the Vuelta in August for his QuickStep team. The Belgian finished nine seconds behind Foss.

“I rode a solid time trial today, but in the end two guys were stronger,” Evenepoel explained after receiving his medal. ”I did my best out there, gave absolutely everything and although there’s some disappointment because the gaps were small, things are as they are and there’s nothing to be done about it. All I can add and promise is that I’ll continue fighting and chasing this world title in the years to come,” Evenepoel added.

Great Britain’s Ethan Hayter did his best to honor the recently deceased Queen Elizabeth in the World Championship race, but alas finished outside the podium. Küng’s Swiss teammate Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) finished fifth in the race.

Defending time trial world champion Filippo Ganna (Italy), who will attempt to break the UCI world hour record next month with his Ineos-Grenadiers team, suffered in today’s race and disappointingly finished seventh, 56 seconds behind the winner. Ganna found it difficult to set a fast, continuous pace on the hilly and twisting route in Wollongong and never managed to make his “big machine” work optimally to his benefit.

The professional male cyclists will now focus on the 267-kilometer road race of the UCI World Championships 2022. The race takes place on Sunday, September 25 on a hilly course from Helensburgh to Wollongong, Australia. Favorites to take the World Champion title include Belgium’s Wout van Aert, Vuelta champion Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), former Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia), Stefan Küng (Switzerland), Alexander Kristoff (Norway), Colombia’s Sergio Higuita, and Australia’s Jai Hindley.