One year ago Evelyn Stevens missed out on a podium spot at the World Time Trial Championships by less than a second. Using the frustrating near-miss as a motivation, the American put the disappointment behind her when she took the bronze medal in the 2014 edition of the race.

One year ago Evelyn Stevens was left in tears when her compatriot and trade teammate Carmen Small had denied her a World Championships medal in the time trial by less than a second. This year she rolled down the start ramp determined to make up for the frustrating experience.

This time her sacrifices paid off as she finished third in the race, beating pre-race favourites like Ellen Van Dijk and Linda Villumsen. The performance earned her the second medal of her career after she had finished second in the race in 2012.

“Last year was a good lesson of ‘Every pedalstroke counts’,” she said at the post-race press conference. “Definitely in the end, I kept thinking about it but at the same time every race is different. I came into this race knowing that I had prepared as well as I could and I just wanted to execute as well as I could. I think I did. If people are better, it is okay if you know that you have done as well as you could.”

The race was a very close one. At the first time check, she was less than 2 seconds off the best time but was only the fourth fastest. At the second check, she was again fourth, 11 seconds off Hanna Solovey’s time. At the finish, she had narrowed the gap to Solovey to less than 3 seconds but a storming finish by Lisa Brennauer had catapulted the German into the lead with a commanding 18-second margin over Solovey.

“I was lucky that I had my sports director in my radio,” Stevens said. “I wanted the time splits and I wanted to know everything. She was giving me up-to-date information that she had. I knew that I was in contention so it was exciting. I wasn’t sure how close it was.”

Brennauer made the difference on the late climb that has also played a crucial role in determining the outcome of many of the other time trials. However, Stevens tried not to be too focused on the final big challenge.

“I tried not to think about the final climb until I got there because it was only 2km and in my opinion the finish line was at the top of that climb,” she said. “I just tried to empty up my pockets and go as fast as I could. I think I actually closed my eyes for most of it because I was just in the pain cave. At that point, you just race hard. It is just about what you have left.”

Stevens has already done the team time trial where she was part of the winning Specialized-Lululemon team. On Saturday she will be back in action when she lines up for the road race.

However, the American is not concerned that the workload will be too big.

“For me, it’s the perfect amount [of racing],” she said. “The past three years when they have had the team time trial, I think the world champion has come out of a team that has raced the team time trial. Last year Ellen [Van Dijk] came from our team and this year Lisa [Brennauer] came from our team. So for me it is the best way to prepare for the time trial and obviously we have the race on Saturday too. Otherwise it’s just too much time hanging around.”

Until now the time trials have been dominated by Australians, Americans and Germans. Nonetheless, Stevens refuses the suggestion that it will be impossible for other countries to get their share of the medals.

“We will try not to have that happen,” he said. “But for the women’s road race, there are a lot of amazing women racing so there are tens of women who can win. I can guarantee that it will be very exciting from the gun.”