With light cloud cover and moderate temperatures of around 13 degrees Celsius, the marathon world championship races begin in Glentress Forest in Scotland's Tweed Valley, with mass starts at the historic Traquair House. The riders will cover a 96.5-kilometer course with 3200 meters of elevation gain, crossing five Scottish forests along the way.

Avancini world champion again after five years

The 118-strong men's field includes numerous top international riders and former world champions. The first five bibs are held by Italian Fabian Rabensteiner (European Champion and winner of the first round of the 2023 UCI World Cup), German Andreas Seewald (2021 UCI World Champion and 2022 World Championship runner-up), UCI ranking number 3 Martin Stošek (CZE), Simon Schneller (GER) and Hugo Drechou (FRA). However, the biggest competition comes from outside this group.

At the first intermediate time after more than an hour of racing, the German Martin Frey leads ahead of Hans Becking (NED), the 2018 UCI World Champion Henrique Avancini, the Colombian Héctor Páez (UCI World Champion 2019 and 2020) and Lukas Baum (GER). They form the top of a 30-strong group that also includes Seewald, UCI number 1 Rabensteiner, Stošek, South African Alan Hatherly and British hope Cameron Mason.

After two hours, a five-man group with Baum, Hatherly, Italian Lorenzo Samparisi, Mason and Avancini had opened up a lead of 20 seconds on the eight-man chasing group with Frey and Rabensteiner. At split 3, Avancini and Baum have a 30-second lead over Becking and Alexandre Balmer (SUI), while Rabensteiner and Stošek together are one minute behind the Brazilian leader.

At the last intermediate time, Becking has fallen back into the five-man Rabensteiner group. Balmer is left behind by a strong Avancini, while Baum catches up again and Stošek is slightly distanced, but can still hold on.

And it is the 34-year-old Brazilian Avancini who stretches his clenched fists over the finish line after a time of 4:14:42, reclaiming his rainbow jersey, which he won for the first time five years ago. Czech Stošek finishes second (+28 seconds) and Baum drops back to third place with +1:34. Two minutes later, as Balmer eases off, Marc Stutzmann (SUI) and Héctor Páez finish in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Results

Mitterwallner rides to solo title

A 62-strong women's field sets off. The favorites include 2021 UCI World Champion Mona Mitterwallner, Lejla Njemčević from Bosnia and Herzegovina (winner of the first UCI World Cup of the year), the UCI ranked second and third, Stefanie Dohrn (GER) and Estelle Morel (FRA), and Katazina Sosna from Lithuania

After an hour, two riders break away: the South African Candice Lill (bronze medal winner at the 2022 Commonwealth Games) and Mitterwallner. They have almost a minute's lead over a group of seven, including Morel, the winner of the second round of the UCI World Cup, Adelheid Morath (GER), Paula Gorycka (POL), Vera Looser from Namibia, Sandra Mairhofer (ITA) and New Zealand's Samara Sheppard. A trio followed half a minute behind, including the UCI rankings leader Njemčević.

After almost two and a half hours of riding, the leading pair, including the trio of Gorycka, Morath and Morel, come together to form a five-man lead group. At the third intermediate time, after just over three hours, Mitterwallner has a lead of 13 seconds over Lill, Morath is solo one minute behind and Morel two minutes. The 21-year-old Austrian broke away on her own and pulled out a two-minute lead over Lill as she entered the famous Glentress Forest, with Morath, Morel and Njemčević all more than eight minutes behind Mitterwallner.

In the final standings, Mitterwallner crossed the finish line after a time of 5:07:50 hours. The South African reduced the gap at the end and took the silver medal 54 seconds behind. The bronze medal went to Morath, almost ten minutes behind Mitterwallner. Njemčević and Morel took fourth and fifth place respectively.

Results