“The Race of Truth” comes to the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Knokke-Heist, Belgium for the elite men on Sunday, September 19. The 43.3km men’s race will feature a beach start and winding passage into Damme that the U23 men will also race; the women’s TT race is 30.3km and follows a similar trajectory. Additionally, both races will feature a 180 degree turn offering a straight 5km run into Damme before the finish into 't Zand in the heart of Bruges.

Filippo Ganna

Defending world champion Filippo Ganna recently placed fifth in the 2020 Olympic Individual Time Trial and led Italy to a gold medal in the team pursuit. Ganna won both individual time trials in this year's Giro d'Italia and is consistently one of the hardest riders to beat in an individual effort. After attempting to defend his individual time trial world title, he will return to the track at the 2021 UCI Track World Championships, where he will try to reclaim his 4km individual pursuit world record from American Ashton Lambie.

Tom Dumoulin

Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin opted to take a break from racing early in the 2021. Since returning to the professional peloton, Dumoulin's focus has been largely centered around the time trial discipline. Dumoulin won the Netherlands National Time Trial Championship and went on to claim the silver medal in the Individual Time Trial at the Tokyo Olympics. Since the 2020 Olympic Time Trial gold medalist, Primož Roglič, will not be competing at UCI Road World Time Trial Championships, Dumoulin may be the outright favorite for the rainbow bands.

Wout Van Aert

Defending silver medalist, Wout Van Aert has had an incredible showing in his varied skill sets in 2021. The Belgian road race champion won a hat trick of unique stages in the 2021 Tour de France, (a mountain stage, a time trial and a bunch sprint) giving Van Aert recognition that had not been matched at the Tour since Bernard Hinault in 1979. Van Aert placed sixth in the Individual Time Trial at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and did not race La Vuelta a España, which may play into his favor against other riders coming off of a long, arduous three-week Grand Tour.

Stefan Küng 

Stefan Küng will represent Switzerland and has been the Swiss National Time Trial Champion  in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Küng placed 4th overall at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Time Trial and won the individual time trial in this year's Tour de Suisse. Küng often trails just behind the heavyweight favorites like Van Aert, but the European champion has proven that he can beat the best when it counts.

Rohan Dennis

Two-time world champion Rohan Dennis is coming off a strong showing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Individual Time Trial where he earned a bronze medal. It’s been recently announced that he will be leaving Team Ineos at the end of 2021 to join Jumbo-Visma through 2023. With this roster shakeup in 2022, Jumbo-Visma will have the full Olympic time trial podium on their team of Dennis, Dumoulin, and Olympic champion Roglič.