Reusser said she had huge discussions with her team and performance coaches all week, and was still "not 100 per cent sure" on the start ramp — nor even on course. That's the reigning world champion admitting the distance itself was the opponent. Zoe Bäckstedt, who led through the first two time checks before fading to silver, made the same point from the other side: racing 40 km instead of her usual 20-25 km changes how you have to think about the effort, not just how hard you push. When even the winner is guessing at pacing an hour out, the distance jump has outrun the peloton's race experience.

Analysed 3 sources, written and summarised with AI · How we work