A sensational performance in Kigali, Rwanda sees Söderqvist achieve his dream of a rainbow jersey
Jakob Söderqvist’s dream of winning the World title in Rwanda was a year in the making, after finishing second in Zürich in 2025. The Swede was on form after an exceptional season, including a win in the time trial at the Tour of Denmark last month, and entered the race as the favorite. Jakob had to shoulder not only the weight of expectation as favorite, but also the pride of his nation as he represented Sweden on the international stage and won its first cycling World title in 77 years.
I know I’m a TT specialist and it’s the pacing that makes it, so I just trusted myself and my feeling I just knew what to make out of it.
“I think I emptied myself to an equal amount, but the preparations for this one has been extra everything because as soon as I finished second last year the goal was ready for the next year. I’m in my last year as U23 and it was one last thing to tick off that I surely wanted to have in my career. This was the one thing in the U23 category that I cared about the most, so it was preparations all year round to make this one as good as possible. I had a good feeling coming into it and I’m really happy with how I handled the situation.
“For sure [there was pressure]. It’s a challenge that I really like to have as well. I think into a career handling pressure is a key success factor and for sure I want to win some of the biggest races and at that point you have to be the best at handling pressure.
“It was not the easiest [course] to pace but I knew what I was going to do and I knew I could depend on my feeling. I know I’m a TT specialist and it’s the pacing that makes it, so I just trusted myself and my feeling I just knew what to make out of it.”
