The Women's time trial of the

2013 UCI Road World Championships The 2013 UCI Road World Championships took place in Tuscany, Italy, between 22 and 29 September 2013. The Championships consisted of 12 events for elite, under-23 and junior cyclists. It was the 86th Road World Championships, the 13th in Italy ...

took place on 24 September 2013 in the region of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Italy. The course of the race was 22.05 km from

Parco delle Cascine The Parco delle Cascine (Cascine Park) is a monumental and historical park in the city of Florence. The park covers an area of 160 hectares (395 acres). It has the shape of a long and narrow stripe, on the north bank of the Arno river. It extend ...

to the Nelson Mandela Forum in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Ellen van Dijk Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Besides road cycling she was also a track cycling, tr ...

from the Netherlands lived up her expectations as main favourite and won the time trial by dominating the race, beating perennial podium finisher

Linda Villumsen Linda Melanie Villumsen Serup (born 9 April 1985) is a Denmark, Danish-born road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Women's Team . Villumsen became a New Zealand citizen in 2009 and has ridden under a Kiwi licence from 2010. Career Born in H ...

and the surprising American Carmen Small.

Qualification

All National Federations may enter 4 riders of whom 2 may start. Besides of that, the outgoing World Champion and the continental champions may take part in addition to this number.

Participating nations

32 nations participated in the women's time trial. *

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Preview

, the Dutch National time trial Champion and the number 5 in the time trial at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships was the absolute favourite. She won many time trials in the 2013 women's road season. Of the 10 time trials she rode she won eight of them including the time trial at the prestigious

Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual women's cycle stage race around Italy. First held in 1988, the race is currently part of the UCI Women's World Tour, and is currently organised by RCS Sport, the organisers of the men's Giro d'Italia. The race was previously ...

and a week before the championships the Chrono Champenois – Trophée Européen. Van Dijk did not win two time trials,

Emma Johansson Emma Karolina Johansson (born 23 September 1983) is a Swedish retired professional racing cyclist. Nicknamed ''Silver Emma'', Johansson accumulated many second and third places at major championships and one-day classics. In 2013 in women's roa ...

from Sweden beat her in the

Emakumeen Euskal Bira The Emakumeen Euskal Bira was a women's cycling race held in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. It was held annually from 1988 to 2019, starting out as a two-stage race and building up to five stages in 2007. One of ...

and Shara Gillow from Australia in the Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen. Hanna Solovey, a Ukrainian track cyslint, won the time trial at the European Road Championships, the only race she rode before the World Championships. With an average speed of over 47 km/h it was the fastest average speed in a time trial of the season.

, who was on the podium in the last four editions, and Evelyn Stevens were other podium candidates.

Schedule

Source

Race

Danish mountain biker Annika Langvad, who finished 6th in the end, was the early leader after setting a time of 28' 27" and stayed in the hot seat for a long time. German

Trixi Worrack Beatrix "Trixi" Worrack (born 28 September 1981) is a German former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2021. The winner of the 2003 German National Road Race Championships, Worrack's ...

, the first of the final 10 riders to finish, took over the lead after finishing in a time of 28' 19". The main favourites started last and showed some fast intermediate times at the two intermediate time points after and . The Dutch

was the fastest from the start by riding 20 second faster than

and 24 seconds faster than Carmen Small at the first time point. At the second split the gaps were 25 and 28 seconds respectively. Van Dijk lost one second to Villumsen in the final five kilometres but her margin was large enough to win her second world title of the championship after winning the

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ...

with her squad on Sunday. For Villumsen it was her fifth consecutive time on the world championship time trial podium, but never won the

rainbow jersey The rainbow jersey is the distinctive cycling jersey, jersey worn by the reigning World Cycling Championship, world champion in a cycling discipline, since 1927. The jersey is predominantly white with five horizontal bands in the Union Cycli ...

Medalists reactions

;

Van Dijk lived up the expectations as main favourite and won the time trial by dominating the race. "I'm super happy. It's difficult to describe how I feel now", she said after the race. "I'm so excited because I dreamt so long of this one and the pressure was high to finish it off. It's great to have won. My intention was to start fast but I wanted to keep going a bit longer than I did. I maybe got over excited and a went too fast, but I maintained the time difference and so it was all ok." This race was the seasons' main goal for Van Dijk. She had been tested on her time trial position during the season and found a better position which she was able to maintain for almost half an hour. Van Dijk told she practiced the course twice in August at 5:00am to avoid traffic and made video recordings of the course to get to know the turns. She had watched the video over and over again until she could dream it. ;

Villumsen rode the New Zealand National Time Trial Championships in January before backing off until June. She rode the

Giro Rosa The is an annual women's Road bicycle racing, cycle stage race around Italy. First held in 1988, the race is currently part of the UCI Women's WorldTour, UCI Women's World Tour, and is currently organised by RCS Sport, the organisers of the men' ...

and won La Route de France and the time trial at the

Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche is a women's staged cycle race which takes place in the Ardèche Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after th ...

before heading to World Championships. "It was a different year for me but a good year." She said in an interview. "I started late and with a different approach. I trained more at home and then did race after race. I enjoyed it. I was still there on the podium so I can thank my team for helping me this far." Villumsen, a former a Danish national road race champion, switched her nationality in 2010 from Danish to New Zealand. It was her fifth straight podium at the world championships in the time trial. She took her first bronze in 2009, 2010 and 2012, and won silver in her former home country in 2011. "It's not bad luck." Villumsen said. "If someone is better, they deserve to win.

has been riding very well all throughout the year, she has won all kinds of time trials, short ones, long ones. She really deserved to win. A place on the podium is still nice. I go close every year but something is missing. I'll try to work it out and go all the way to the top perhaps next year." ; Carmen Small Small, American national time trial champions, considered retirement in 2012 before signing by . She won her first medal at the World Championships. "I’m pretty surprised, I didn’t expect to actually podium. I thought top five would be a really good ride for me. Jim Miller (USA Cycling vice president of athletics) and I met before and I really wanted Jim in the car talking to me because he was in the car at Nationals with me when I won. I just buried myself in the last 500 meters. I knew it was going to hurt, but it hurts for everyone. With 100 meters to go I wanted to quit, but I did one more click down on my gears and I just counted the pedal strokes to get me to the finish. This hurt worse than I’ve ever hurt before." She also felt sorry for Evelyn Stevens who missed a place on the podium by 0.04 seconds. "It's a very bittersweet feeling for me. Evelyn is a good friend, a teammate and a fellow countryman. We've spent a lot of time together this season and it's hard to have been beaten and have it be so close".

Final classification

Of the 48 riders on the starting list, 3 riders did not start. DNS = did not start

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2013 UCI Road World Championships - Women's time trial Women's time trial UCI Road World Championships – Women's time trial 2013 in women's road cycling