Six rainbow jerseys will be awarded in Bruges, Belgium where every world time trial title will be decided. Following 2020, a year in which only elite world titles were awarded due to the coronavirus pandemic, youth categories will return in 2021, as well as the team time trial mixed relay. 

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The team time trial discipline has come and gone at the world championships over the decades. The men’s team time trial was introduced at the world championships in 1958, and ran until it became an Olympic discipline in 1972. In 2012, the time trial was reinstated as a trade team event. In 2019, both men’s and women’s team trials were replaced by the mixed relay team time trial, an event which will return for its second running this September.

Read on for details of every time trial course at the Flanders World Championships.

Junior Men’s Time Trial

The junior men will race on September 21 for 22.3km. The riders will start on the North Sea beach in Knokke-Heist, pass over a seafront dike towards the city center and then through the town of Damme. The finish occurs on 't Zand in the heart of Bruges.

U23 Men’s Time Trial

The U23 men will race on September 20 for 30.3km. The riders will have the same beach start as the junior men, with a slightly longer section of potential cross-winds as they wind their way to Damme. The finish occurs on 't Zand in the heart of Bruges.

Elite Men’s Time Trial

The elite men will race on September 19 for 43.3km. The elite men’s time trial will feature the same beach start and winding passage into Damme that the U23 men will race. Additionally, there will be a 180 degree turn offering a straight 5km run into Damme before the finish into 't Zand in the heart of Bruges.

Junior Women’s Time Trial

The junior women will race on September 21 for 19.3km. The riders will start on the North Sea beach in Knokke-Heist, turn inland and have a nearly straight line into Bruges for their fast finish into Bruges and on 't Zand.

Women’s Elite Time Trial

The elite women will race on September 20 for 30.3km, copying the same race course as the U23 men. The riders will have the same beach start, with a slightly longer section of potential cross-winds as they wind their way to Damme. The finish occurs on 't Zand in the heart of Bruges.

Team Time Trial Mixed Relay

The mixed-gender team time trial takes place on September 22. Featuring 129m of climbing, teams of three men and three women will complete the 44.5km course in relay fashion. The men will kick things off by racing a 22.5km leg from Knokke-Heist to Bruges. Upon arriving in Bruges, the women will race a 22km loop beginning and ending in Bruges.