Silver and Bronze for Australian duo in Florence
Frenchwoman Severine Eraud clocked up the first individual gold medal of this year’s UCI world road race championship today, taking a slender victory in the junior women’s time trial on the flat 16.19 kilometre course.
She started off last and admitted that she was discouraged when she went through the intermediate time check at 8.5 kilometres out of the podium places.
“I knew I was only fourth fastest and so I didn’t think I could win and was aiming for the podium,” she stated. “That made the victory amazing and unexpected.”
She accelerated towards the end and beat Australian rider Alexandria Nicholls by 2.69 seconds, while another Australian rider, Alexandre Manly, was 8.17 seconds back in third place.
The top five was completed by Zavinta Titenyte (Lithuania) and the Russian Anastasiia Iakovenko.
The victory eclipses the European championship she took earlier this year, and caps off a superb season for the 18 year old rider.
The finale was a cruel turnaround for Nicholls, who had been second to start today and was quickest of all the riders at the first intermediate check. She blazed into the finish in a time of 22 minutes 45.32 seconds and then watched the other riders come and go.
Manly started exactly thirty minutes after her and went close, but still came up over five seconds slower. When Eraud’s intermediate time was only fourth at the 8.5 kilometre point, it boosted Nicholls’ hope that she would hold on at the top of the leaderboard.
However the Frenchwoman was able to turn her 13.49 second deficit into a 2.69 second winning advantage over the remaining kilometres, scooping gold.
Nicolls accepted the result, saying it was actually more than she had anticipated. “I came into the race not really expecting a medal,” she said. “The fact that I’m standing here with a silver next to Alex is absolutely bewildering to me. To come away with a medal is just a dream come true.”
Manly said that she was equally surprised. “It’s absolutely amazing just to be here. I’m just so happy and have the chance to share it with Alex, I can’t quite believe it.”
World road race championships, Florence:
Junior women’s time trial:
1, Severine Eraud (France) 16.19 kilometres in 22 mins 42.60 secs
2, Alexandria Nicholls (Australia) at 2.69 secs
3, Alexandra Manly (Australia) at 8.17 secs
4, Zavinta Titenyte (Lithuania) at 11.49 secs
5, Anastasiia Iakovenko (Russian Federation) at 13.05 secs
6, Demi De Jong (Netherlands) at 14.11 secs
7, Kelly Catlin (United States Of America) at 20.72 secs
8, Floortje Mackaij (Netherlands) at 21.04 secs
9, Kinley Gibson (Canada) at 22.81 secs
10, Luisa Kattinger (Germany) at 23.47 secs
11, Olena Demydova (Ukraine) at 23.73 secs
12, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark) at 28.52 secs
13, Heidi Dalton (South Africa) at 30.36 secs
14, Hélène Gérard (France) at 31.91 secs
15, Devon Hiley (New Zealand) at 32.78 secs
16, Anastasiia Pliaskina (Russian Federation) at 38.47 secs
17, Francesca Pattaro (Italy) at 41.71 secs
18, Katsiaryna Piatrouskaya (Belarus) at 44.73 secs
19, Agata Drozdek (Poland) at 46.62 secs
20, Manon Bourdiaux (France) at 47.45 secs
21, Hannah Swan (United States Of America) at 49.08 secs
22, Yao Pang (Hong Kong, China) at 49.61 secs
23, Anna Knauer (Germany) at 50.37 secs
24, Julia Karlsson (Sweden) at 51.09 secs
25, Kaat Van Der Meulen (Belgium) at 51.82 secs
26, Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) at 54.04 secs
27, Rasa Pocyte (Lithuania) at 55.12 secs
28, Bogumila Dziuba (Poland) at 55.90 secs
29, Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark) at 59.35 secs
30, Solveig Edøy (Norway) at 1 min 0.43 secs
31, Jessica Parra (Colombia) at 1 min 1.32 secs
32, Emily Mcredmond (Australia) at 1 min 7.21 secs
33, Polina Yurieva (Ukraine) at 1 min 8.25 secs
34, Eliška Drahotová (Czech Republic) at 1 min 15.32 secs
35, Tereza Medvedova (Slovakia) at 1 min 16.68 secs
36, Kiyoka Sakaguchi (Japan) at 1 min 23.88 secs
37, Jessenia Meneses (Colombia) at 1 min 25.70 secs
38, Maddi Campbell (New Zealand) at 1 min 29.35 secs
39, Michela Maltese (Italy) at 1 min 30.24 secs
40, Natasha Jaworski (Argentina) at 1 min 35.27 secs
41, Razan Soboh (Jordan) at 1 min 55.61 secs
42, Jaruwan Somrat (Thailand) at 2 mins 4.39 secs
43, Kseniya Tuhai (Belarus) at 2 mins 5.46 secs
44, Frida Mendoza (Mexico) at 2 mins 7.34 secs
45, Alicia Gonzalez Blanco (Spain) at 2 mins 12.74 secs
46, Kajsa Persson (Sweden) at 2 mins 17.43 secs
47, Alba Teruel (Spain) at 2 mins 25.60 secs
Did not start: Anezka Drahotova (Czech Republic)