Without Belgium and the Netherlands, other countries make Mixed Team Relay extremely exciting. Aussies beat Germany and Italy

In the "mixed relay," considered a relatively new component (since 2019) at the world championships, three men first had to complete a time trial of about 25 kilometers together, after which it was the women's turn on the same lap. The start and finish area was located on the Sechseläutenplatz, from where a relatively challenging course was selected, including such climbs as the Zürichbergstrasse (700 meters at an average of 8.4 percent) and the Witikon climb (1.4 kilometers at an average of 7.2 percent).

There were two so-called "starting waves," with logically the best and most favorable teams in half two. However, things already went completely wrong in the first half due to an error by the organization! So what exactly happened? The men of Algeria crossed the finish line, but the women of the World Cycling Centre left. Only a few minutes later, the Algerian women arrived at the start. Oops, oops, oops....

Well, who performed so well at starting wave one? Ukraine set the best finishing time, 1:19.52. That was good for an average speed of 40.3 kilometers per hour. Estonia came somewhat close at 1.29 minutes behind, but the remaining early starters had to give up a lot. Algeria took 23 minutes longer and 'only' averaged 31.1 kilometers per hour.

You guessed it: it was waiting to start block two, which included Italy, home country Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Denmark. Could the Azzurri live up to their favorite status, with Filippo Ganna and Edoardo Affini, among others? It was a fascinating battle, we could say.

Australia, Germany, and Italy were close together at the halfway point. Even at the final intermediate point, these three countries were within five seconds of each other, with the Aussies as number one (just like in the earlier intermediate stages). Did the Oceanic ladies, including Olympic and world champion Grace Brown, manage to keep this up to the finish line, or did one of the European teams snatch the gold from their hands? Germany (1.12.53) quickly knocked Denmark (1.14.58) out of the hot seat, and then it waited for Italy and Australia. Australia came first and was eight-tenths faster than Germany (1.12.52)! So, was that the winning time? Yes, because Italy took the bronze with 1.13.00!