Lucy Garner produced a stunning sprint finish to become the Junior World Race Champion on Friday and claim Britain’s first gold medal of the championships.
A crash early on could have proved disastrous for the 17-year-old but she recovered well from the collision on the first of five 14km laps to win the junior women’s road race at the Road Cycling World Championships in Copenhagen in her rookie year.
“It feels amazing,” Garner told British Cycling. “Our team did so well to keep everything together and when it came to the sprint I saw there was a slight gap. There were six or seven riders in front and I was the last one. Once I get going I don’t look where I’m going, just head straight to the finish line.
“When I crashed, I had to chase back on and I was alone for a long time. I thought it was over, that I would be too tired to do anything else.
“By the time I had recomposed myself and settled into the bunch there were two riders up the road with a big lead and in my mind the race for gold was over - that is what prompted me to attack off of the front with eight kilometres left to race, I had nothing to lose.”
With a group of six establishing itself heading into the penultimate lap, it was time traillists Rossella Rattio (ITA) and Mieke Krüger (GER) who broke away to build a 27 second gap. With just 8km to go it seemed the top two spots were covered, only for the chasing peloton to close the advantage.
A final uphill battle to the line saw many riders drop, prompting a fierce five-rider sprint for the line led by Belgian Jessy Druyts. But, despite being knocked off-line, Garner found the power to cut through the pack to cross as World Champion in 1:46:17.
Results
1 GARNER Lucy GBR 1:46:17
2 DRUYTS Jessy BEL @ST
3 SIGGAARD Christina DEN ”
4 SOUYRIS Manon FRA ”
5 PERCHTOLD Christina AUT ”
6 GUTIERREZ RUIZ Sheyla ESP ”
7 KÜLLMER Lisa GER ”
8 BARTELLONI Beatrice ITA ”
9 MARKUS Kelly NED ”
10 LATOZAITE Silvija LTU ”
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31 ROBERTS Amy GBR @ST
51 BARNES Hannah GBR +31
52 BARKER Elinor GBR +31
Jessica Whittington, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
