Garner sprints to Worlds victory

Lucy Garner of Great Britain sprinted away from the field to claim the junior women’s road race title at the UCI World Championships. She beat Jessy Druyts of Belgium and Christine Siggaard of Denmark.

"I didn’t expect this. The team worked really hard and I couldn’t have asked for more from the team," said Garner.

"They put in early attacks and I was just trying to keep sheltered during the whole race. On the last lap there were still two riders away but I did try and give it a go but it all came back together," she said at the finish.

With blood streaming from her left knee, the 17-year-old pulled away from 8th place in the field and accelerated strongly past her rivals to win by a good ten meters.

She had enough of a lead to start celebrating before she even reached the finish line.

"At the bottom of the hill a few riders did go and I just tried to sit in because I knew that if I went early on the sprint I would blow. I felt that I timed it just right though and put my head down until the finish line,"Garner said.

"On the last corner I knew that we’d caught the group and when the sprint gets going it gets pretty fast. I bided my time because I knew I couldn’t go early and with around 150 meters to go I knew it was time to go."

Until the last kilometre, it looked as if the race would come down to a sprint between Germany's Mieke Krüger and Rossella Ratto of Italy.

The two had built up a lead of up 21 seconds and looked in control of things, but as the field moved up at the last second, they lost heart and were caught with about 600 meters to go.

The teenagers rode five laps of the 13.5km long course. The first lap was marred by three crashes as nerves and inexperience came into play.

The first of these crashes took out time trial gold medal winner Jessica Allen of Australia, as another rider ploughed into the barriers on a corner, followed by Allen and an Australian teammate.

The 74 rider field split at various times, mainly due to the crashes and wind, but it all came together again at the end. 55 riders finished within two minutes of Garner, with 13 more straggling in up to 15 minutes later. Six riders, including Allen, did not finish.

Full Results

Swipe to scroll horizontally
1Lucy Garner (Great Britain)1:46:17
2Jessy Druyts (Belgium)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Christina Siggaard (Denmark)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Manon Souyris (France)Row 3 - Cell 2
5Christina Perchtold (Austria)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Sheyla Gutierrez Ruiz (Spain)Row 5 - Cell 2
7Lisa Küllmer (Germany)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Beatrice Bartelloni (Italy)Row 7 - Cell 2
9Kelly Markus (Netherlands)Row 8 - Cell 2
10Silvija Latozaite (Lithuania)Row 9 - Cell 2
11Rossella Ratto (Italy)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Svetlana Kashirina (Russian Federation)Row 11 - Cell 2
13Irene Usabiaga Balerdi (Spain)Row 12 - Cell 2
14Katarzyna Kirschenstein (Poland)Row 13 - Cell 2
15Céline Van Severen (Belgium)Row 14 - Cell 2
16Ingrid Drexel (Mexico)Row 15 - Cell 2
17Larissa Brühwiler (Switzerland)Row 16 - Cell 2
18Sophie Williamson (New Zealand)Row 17 - Cell 2
19Gabrielle Pilote-Fortin (Canada)Row 18 - Cell 2
20Chiara Vannucci (Italy)Row 19 - Cell 2
21Jessica Mundy (Australia)Row 20 - Cell 2
22Ruta Zemaityte (Lithuania)Row 21 - Cell 2
23Anouska Koster (Netherlands)Row 22 - Cell 2
24Marthe Emilie Skjolden (Norway)Row 23 - Cell 2
25Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Poland)Row 24 - Cell 2
26Lisa Fischer (Germany)Row 25 - Cell 2
27Alina Bondarenko (Russian Federation)Row 26 - Cell 2
28Rebecca Talen (Netherlands)Row 27 - Cell 2
29Oriane Chaumet (France)Row 28 - Cell 2
30Madeleine Ortmüller (Germany)Row 29 - Cell 2
31Amy Roberts (Great Britain)Row 30 - Cell 2
32Anna Kyva (Ukraine)Row 31 - Cell 2
33Katarzyna Wilkos (Poland)Row 32 - Cell 2
34Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Italy)Row 33 - Cell 2
35Allison Rice (Australia)Row 34 - Cell 2
36Lourdes Oyarbide Jimenez (Spain)Row 35 - Cell 2
37Alexandra Nessmar (Sweden)Row 36 - Cell 2
38Elena Lloret Llinares (Spain)Row 37 - Cell 2
39Thalita De Jong (Netherlands)0:00:09
40Fie Degn Larsen (Denmark)0:00:10
41Addyson Albershardt (United States of America)Row 40 - Cell 2
42Kseniya Dobrynina (Russian Federation)Row 41 - Cell 2
43Alexis Ryan (United States of America)Row 42 - Cell 2
44Marlene Wintgens (Belgium)0:00:13
45Rita Imstepf (Switzerland)Row 44 - Cell 2
46Steffi Lodewijks (Belgium)Row 45 - Cell 2
47Alexandra Chekina (Russian Federation)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Mieke Kröger (Germany)Row 47 - Cell 2
49Kamilla Sofie Valin (Denmark)0:00:19
50Annie Ewart (Canada)Row 49 - Cell 2
51Hannah Barnes (Great Britain)0:00:31
52Elinor Barker (Great Britain)Row 51 - Cell 2
53Dalia Muccioli (Italy)0:00:35
54Varela Erika (Mexico)0:01:18
55Valentine Morin (France)0:01:20
56Thi That Nguyen (Vietnam)0:07:54
57Egle Poskaite (Lithuania)Row 56 - Cell 2
58Lija Laizane (Latvia)0:08:02
59Felicia Ferner (Sweden)0:08:04
60Carolina Rodriguez Gutierrez (Mexico)0:08:11
61Alizee Brien (Canada)0:08:20
62Emma Ahlstrand (Sweden)0:11:41
63Antonela Ferencic (Croatia)0:14:08
64Iana Tiganova (Ukraine)Row 63 - Cell 2
65Marina Shmayankova (Belarus)0:15:20
66Alicja Komos (Poland)Row 65 - Cell 2
67Pia Charlotte Matter (Norway)0:15:23
DNFUrska Kalan (Slovenia)Row 67 - Cell 2
DNFJenny Rissveds (Sweden)Row 68 - Cell 2
DNFAllison Beveridge (Canada)Row 69 - Cell 2
DNFMathilde Favre (France)Row 70 - Cell 2
DNFGrace Alexander (United States of America)Row 71 - Cell 2
DNFJessica Allen (Australia)Row 72 - Cell 2
DNFGeorgia Williams (New Zealand)Row 73 - Cell 2

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.

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