The first day of the 2025 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, traditionally the time trial, brought glory for 23 riders who managed to get the gold medal in their age category on the 22.7km course in Lorne.
The first gold was for Elizabeth Randall who left the start ramp at 9h30 for her race. Her time of 52m17 delivered her the gold in the F80-84 category.
Gaye Lynn got a second Australian gold in the F75-79 category, beating British Margaret Docking by more than 8 minutes.
The home country also scored the best time in the F70-74 age group with Glenda Signorini beating Margaret Noonan by 1m51 with Mary Cullen from New Zealand in third.
Linda Dewhurst from Great Britain renewed her title from Aalborg 2024 and Glasgow 2023, beating two Americans with Patricia Caldeira as second at 1m04 and Shirley Crocker as third at 2m57.
The rainbow jersey in the F60-64 category was for Anna Davis, beating her compatriot Jane Despas and American Alizabeth Foxx for a 4th Aussie gold.
A complete Australian podium in the F55-59 with Jill Seeman winning ahead of Bizzy Butterworth and Anne Elliott.
Jenny Pettenon was the best in the women between 50 and 54. Claudia Weidekamm from New Zealand got silver and Debra Parker from Canada bronze.
The fastest overall female time in the time trial was for Marina Letaeva in a time of 34m54 and an average speed of 39.03km/h. She rode 2m01 faster than Sarah Morrison from New Zealand and Nicole Oh from Australia.
Polish Alina Mylka won the F40-44 category in the second-best female time of the day, beating her compatriot Martyne Wisniewska by 56 seconds with Australian Johanna Waller as third.
Another complete Australian podium in the F35-39 with Kim Pedersen winning ahead of Jodie Walker and Ula Chrabaszcz.
Emma Ochoa took the last female gold in the youngest category winning her F19-34 age group before Peta Antonello and Juliette Haddow.
Marcel Eve was the oldest rider at the start of the day. The Frenchman took gold in the M85-89 category in an impressive speed of 28.70km/h on the hilly time trial along the coastline.
Myles Higgins took the first gold for Australia in the M80-84 category, ahead of Robert Braszell and Kevin Donovan.
American Ed Chamberlin added another gold to his list, beating Tinsley Janes from New Zealand with his compatriot Paul McLachlan as third in a tight battle separating the first two by only 3 seconds.
The new rainbow jersey in the M70-74 was for Roger Cull, one of his many titles. He won ahead of American James Dickerson and Patrick Johnstone from New Zealand.
Multiple world champion Alan Nelson also added another title to his list with German Josef Stegherr as second and Gonzalo Eguiguren from Chile as third.
The gold in the M60-64 age group was for Joe Spano who won with a small 5 second margin to his Australian compatriot Mike Clucas and John Madden from Ireland.
John Thomas got a second gold for France in a tight 4 second win to Ben Arnott from Great Brtiain with Timo Heiskanen from Finland as third.
Defending World Champion Raul Patino Delgado renewed his title from Denmark to win the M50-54 gold. Girts Vevers from Latvia got silver at 33 seconds with Chris Ling from the home country as third.
American Andrew Knight rode the second fastest time of the day winning the M45-49 title by only 5 seconds with Rob Scarlett from New Zealand as second and Stuart McCaughey from Ireland as third.
Matthew Clark, another American won the gold in the Men’s 40-44 age group, exactly half a minute faster than Kyle Gray from New Zealand. Australian Nicholas Squillari managed to get to the third podium step taking the bronze.
Defending World Champion Jari Verstraeten could renew his title in the M35-39 with a 14 second margin to Matthew Lambert from New Zealand with Canadian Benoit St. Hilaire as third.
The last gold of the day was for Austrian Daniel Hochstrasser, riding the fastest overall time in 29m54, the only one going below half an hour to win the rainbow jersey in an average speed of 45,55 km/h. Australian Jordan Villani took silver with Aidar Zakarin as third.
Full results : https://www.multisportaustralia.com.au/races/uci-gran-fondo-world-championships-time-trial-2025/events/1/
