The look of surprise on his face when he learned that Lemko Evenpoel had beaten him in the time trial at the World Championships 10 months ago, and the question, "Who is Foss?

Next August 11, at the World Time Trial Championships in Scotland, Foss will no longer be considered an outsider.

But as the 26-year-old himself told Cycling News during the Tour de Pollogne, the identity of his rival is not the key factor that will determine his success or failure next week.

"If I can ride well on the day, the podium should be within reach," Foss said. [It's been a pretty tough year with COVID and illness, so I don't think I was 100% prepared like I was last season. But we won last year, so I don't see any reason why we can't do well again this year."

Foss has not yet revealed where he will race in 2024, telling Cycling News, "No news yet. Foss, part of the Jumbo Visma team that won the Paris-Nice team time trial, will not be wearing the world champion's skinsuit this season.

But even though the Scottish trials are 13 km longer than the Wollongong course, he said the extra distance is not, in and of itself, a challenge when it comes to defending the rainbow jersey.

"Normally, the Norwegian national championships are at least about 50 km long, and I've done quite a bit of that," he said.

"The longer the better. After flying from here to Glasgow, I did a bit of looking at the Scottish course on the computer, and it's a bit of a long course, but it's not as long as I'd like.

The 16.6km time trial on stage 6 of the Tour de Pollogne will be the final test before the world championships. Foss believes this shorter distance suits others better than himself, but it won't prevent him from going all out in Katowice on Thursday.

"It's not just for the TT, but also to get a feel for the race as a whole," said Foss, who has not raced since the Tour de Romandie in late April.

"But at the end of the day, this [stage 6] is a time trial, and I'll be wearing the world champion jersey.

As for defending the jersey in Scotland, Foss did not give a specific goal. However, he believes that winning one World TT title would be a great motivation to win a second rainbow jersey. What's more, if he wins again, Evenpoel won't be as shocked as he was in Australia, he grinned.

"Before last year's race, I had a really good feeling that if I had a good day, I could finish in the top five," he said. And I had a great day, good enough to win. This year is basically the same. I just have to ride the full race and do well in the time trials."

"Everyone needs to have a special day to win. So it's hard to put a number on what I can do, but I believe the podium is well within my reach."