Yara Kastelijn says she has apologised to Shirin van Anrooij and regrets her tactics at the UCI Gravel World Championships after the Dutch rider helped a chasing group to catch their leading teammate in the final kilometre of the women's elite race.
The women's race on Saturday was won by Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands in fairly dramatic fashion, after her Dutch teammate Van Anrooij had been leading solo for 12km, but was caught by her own nation in the final kilometre after a pull from Kastelijn leading into the sprint.
Van Anrooij was upset and critical at the end of the race, saying "my chance at the world title was taken away" by her own teammates after the group including Kastelijn, Wiebes and Marianne Vos swept past her in the finale.
"I just don't understand why it has to be closed down now," she said. "It's clear: if someone is leading the race and is certain to become world champion, and they're from the same country, you let them go."
The Dutch riders in the chase group had for most of the last part of the race sat back and pressured Julia Kopecký (Czechia) and Silvia Persico (Italy) to do the chasing, but when a tired Kopecký pulled off in the final 2km, Kastelijn took over the pacing and the gap to Van Anrooij decreased quickly.
As soon as Wiebes and Vos opened their sprint, they came straight round the leading rider and battled for the win, with Van Anrooij finishing outside of the medals.
After much criticism overnight, Kastelijn reacted to the upset within her team and from around the cycling world.
"I absolutely didn't want to make Shirin lose," she said via her Fenix-Deceunick team, Wielerflits reported on Sunday.
"I just wanted to get the most out of myself. Laurens ten Dam, our national coach, had also made clear before the race that the Gravel World Championships aren't raced with the same mindset as the European Road Championships. I took that a bit too literally in the final.
"I regret it now, though," she admitted. "I learn from these kinds of moments. I've since apologised to Shirin."
Despite the Gravel World Championships being raced in national teams, gravel is not always the most tactical team sport, and it appeared for much of the race that the Dutch riders had been given free range to race each other, especially in the finale where they outnumbered every other nation dramatically.
Van Anrooij herself had previously chased down a move from Vos and Wiebes, rejoining the leaders with Persico on her wheel, who would go on to take third.
With that tactical instruction in mind, Kastelijn said she was also thinking about racing for a medal herself, with silver and bronze up for grabs if Van Anrooij did hold on for gold.
"At that moment, I was completely focused on my own race and on achieving the best possible result. I thought a podium finish was within reach," she said. She finished fourth on the day, outsprinted by Persico.
"At that moment [when she started to lead out the sprint], I didn't really realise that Persico was nearby. Only later, when I watched the footage, did I fully realise it wasn't the wisest move."
Ultimately, neither Kastelijn nor Van Anrooij came away with medals, but the Netherlands did take the world title and silver with Wiebes and Vos. In what seems to be a repeated theme, the dominant nation in women's cycling has its success underpinned by confusing and widely-criticised tactical decisions.
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