In the second ever edition of the U23 Women’s CX World Championships, British Rider Evie Richards was hoping to defend the title she won last year.
Early in the race Dutch rider Anna Marie Worst and Evie Richards looked to have gone clear of the rest of the field, but American Ellen Noble fought back on and with two laps to go the three riders were back together, then Richards drifted off the back. Perhaps Richards had gone off too fast trying to keep a clear line in front of her? She certainly looked strong on the technical sections, so you could see why she perhaps wouldn’t want to find herself trapped behind someone who might crash in front of her.
Elsewhere in the field there were multiple crashes on the ice and snow on a course with some tricky off camber sections. The head to head battle between Worst and Noble came to an end when Noble lost the line at the bottom of one such section. Noble seemed to shift from battling for first to looking over her shoulder to check she wasn’t going to lose second, confidence perhaps shaken enough to let tiredness take over as Worst capitalised on the slip up and accelerated away.
Worst kept pushing and viewers’ hearts were in their mouths even in the final moments as she came scarily close to crashing into the barriers. Worst stayed upright for the win, followed in by US rider Noble in second and Richards in third.
It's bronze for @eviee_alicee after an incredibly brave ride in the under-23 women's race at #Bieles2017.
👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/USD8Lt9V0p
— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) January 28, 2017
.@AnnemarieMTB is our new Women's U23 World Champion! 🌈 @KNWU pic.twitter.com/LHGhBU8G4J
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 28, 2017
To watch the race click here:
