Rozemarijn Ammerlaan (Netherlands) claimed the first rainbow jersey of the 2018 UCI Road World Championships, winning the junior women’s individual time trial in Innsbruck on Monday morning.
The bronze medal went to Britain’s Elynor Backstedt, a first-year junior and daughter of former pro Magnus Backstedt, with the 16-year-old finishing 18 seconds down on Ammerlaan.
“I’m really a bit surprised. I didn’t expect this, I don’t have any words for this,” Ammerlaan said.
“It was really tough, especially the second part with some hills. It was very tough. Also it was a headwind so it was so hard. I didn’t know anything about times or how I was riding. I didn’t want to know that because it doesn’t bring me anything – I just rode.”
Ammerlaan has had a strong season, becoming the Dutch junior women’s time trial champion before beating many of her rivals today against the clock at the Watersley Ladies Challenge.
Among the favourites were Vittoria Guazzini (Italy) and Hannah Ludwig (Germany), who had won gold and silver respectively at the junior and U23 women’s time trial at the European Championships. However, Guazzini could only manage sixth, at 24 seconds, while Ludwig, the last starter after finishing fourth last year, only just scraped inside the top 10 and broke down in tears at the finish.
While many were focused on the high-profile late finishers, it was Alessio, the second rider off the ramp, who went into the hotseat for most of the race. Backstedt, too, sprang something of a surprise as she blitzed the flatter first half of the course. She was the fastest of all riders at the intermediate checkpoint and bagged a medal, just ahead of her more established teammate Pfeiffer Georgi.
But Ammerlaan was the strongest on the day to provide an indication that the extraordinary pool of Dutch talent won’t be drying up any time soon.
Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rozemarijn Ammerlaan (Netherlands) | 0:27:02.95 |
| 2 | Camilla Alessio (Italy) | 0:00:06.80 |
| 3 | Elynor Backstedt (Great Britain) | 0:00:17.94 |
| 4 | Pfeiffer Georgi (Great Britain) | 0:00:21.89 |
| 5 | Simone Boilard (Canada) | 0:00:24.11 |
| 6 | Vittoria Guazzini (Italy) | 0:00:24.64 |
| 7 | Aigul Gareeva (Russia) | 0:00:24.66 |
| 8 | Marie Le Net (France) | 0:00:25.69 |
| 9 | Marta Jaskulska (Poland) | 0:00:28.24 |
| 10 | Hannah Ludwig (Germany) | 0:00:28.93 |
| 11 | Britt Knaven (Netherlands) | 0:00:36.97 |
| 12 | Olha Kulynych (Ukraine) | 0:00:49.35 |
| 13 | Mie Saabye (Denmark) | 0:00:52.40 |
| 14 | Catalina Anais Soto Campos (Chile) | 0:01:00.41 |
| 15 | Sarah Gigante (Australia) | 0:01:04.50 |
| 16 | Anya Louw (Australia) | 0:01:07.88 |
| 17 | Jade Wiel (France) | 0:01:09.65 |
| 18 | Shari Bossuyt (Belgium) | 0:01:10.42 |
| 19 | Lara Gillespie (Ireland) | 0:01:12.46 |
| 20 | Tetyana Yaschenko (Ukraine) | 0:01:21.22 |
| 21 | Giorgia Bariani (Italy) | 0:01:21.78 |
| 22 | Dorothea Heitzmann (Germany) | 0:01:24.74 |
| 23 | Martine Gjos (Norway) | 0:01:28.28 |
| 24 | Akvile Gedraityte (Lithuania) | 0:01:30.77 |
| 25 | Abigail Youngwerth (United States Of America) | 0:01:31.20 |
| 26 | Alina Abramenko (Belarus) | 0:01:31.91 |
| 27 | Svetlana Pachshenko (Kazakhstan) | 0:01:35.39 |
| 28 | Desiet Tekeste (Eritrea) | 0:01:36.46 |
| 29 | Marketa Hajkova (Czech Republic) | 0:01:46.92 |
| 30 | Mette Egtoft Jensen (Denmark) | 0:01:51.14 |
| 31 | Noemi Ruegg (Switzerland) | 0:01:57.71 |
| 32 | Vita Movrin (Slovenia) | 0:02:09.18 |
| 33 | Anastasiya Kolesava (Belarus) | 0:02:10.37 |
| 34 | Anzhela Solovyeva (Kazakhstan) | 0:02:14.46 |
| 35 | Silje Mathisen (Norway) | 0:02:21.96 |
| 36 | Lina Svarinska (Latvia) | 0:02:25.20 |
| 37 | Nika Jancic (Slovenia) | 0:02:31.24 |
| 38 | Marina Kurnossova (Kazakhstan) | 0:02:44.16 |
| 39 | Lorena De La Fuente Alcalde (Spain) | 0:02:45.01 |
| 40 | Veronika Jandova (Czech Republic) | 0:02:47.30 |
| 41 | Jasmine Soh (United States Of America) | 0:02:51.40 |
| 42 | Petra Machalkova (Slovakia) | 0:02:51.57 |
| 43 | Ariana Gilabert Vilaplana (Spain) | 0:02:57.64 |
| 44 | Radka Paulechova (Slovakia) | 0:03:04.54 |
| 45 | Daniela Leitane (Latvia) | 0:03:06.68 |
| 46 | Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (Canada) | 0:03:10.09 |
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