Despite looking like one of the strongest riders on the day, Kim Le Court-Pienaar (Mauritius) had to settle for eighth in the women's road race at the World Championships, after "stupid" tactics saw the favourites mark themselves out of the race.
Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada) took a surprise world title after a late-race breakaway survived to the line in Kigali, partly influenced by the fact that the group of bigger names, including the likes of Le Court-Pienaar, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Demi Vollering failed to close the gap to the leaders.
Le Court-Pienaar was one of the riders doing more to try and return to the front of the race, in particular putting in a big effort to close a gap to Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) when she set off in pursuit of the leaders.
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"When I saw my opportunity to go, because I saw the gap was huge, I had to go, and I tried everything and I'd rather try everything and come last than not try at all and still come last," she said post-race.
"I think I can be proud of the race I've done. I don't have any regrets, I've done whatever I had to do and it didn't come with a result, that's okay.
"This is my first World Championships that I've ever come to aim for a result, the last one I was a junior and I just, just finished in the gruppetto, so I think I can be proud of [today]."
However, despite doing everything she could, Le-Court Pienaar was also critical of the lack of cooperation she received from other riders, particularly in the moment of trying to bridge to Reusser, when she had Swiss rider Elise Chabbey on her wheel but apparently refusing to contribute.
"Honestly, I don't understand why Elise didn't help. She was just saying 'yeah, my teammate's in front', which if it was in a scenario where Marlen was in the winning group, then I'd understand, but she wasn't, there was still a group way far ahead," she said.
"I believe that if Elise helped, we could have both saved energy, we could have both then got to Marlen and maybe all four of us [could have] closed to the front. They're two Swiss, it doesn't make sense for me, but they were completely against it. They said I was the strongest rider, I should pace.
"It didn't make sense for me, tactics were I think very stupid. And at the end, I lost the podium, I tried everything, but she [Chabbey] also didn't make it, so she also kind of put herself into the hole."
In the end, Chabbey did finish better than Le Court-Pienaar, attacking out of that group and taking fourth whilst the Mauritian was reabsorbed by the chasers and sprinted to eighth, just behind Vollering.
A team of one
Le Court-Pienaar has been an impressively strong rider this year, winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a stage of the Tour de France Femmes with her trade team. However, she admitted she did struggle with being part of a smaller team at the World Championships.
She was meant to start with two teammates, but Aurelie Halbwachs did not start, whilst Lucie de Marigny-Legesse pulled out during the opening laps, meaning that effectively she was a team of one.
"Being alone from the start, it's lonely, it's really lonely, it's scary, but I think I managed it well and I did what I could," she said.
"Of course I came for more, a lot of us came for more, but I think with the race I've had... I only have two legs and two eyes, and I can only mark a few people, I can't mark the whole peloton. Teams come here with a group of seven or six riders, and I just can't mark everyone, so I had to play the gambling game and hope that the big countries would control it a bit better."
However, the big teams didn't dominate the breakaways as she had hoped, and despite her individual efforts, it wasn't to be for Le Court-Pienaar on Saturday, though she said she tried right until the very end.
"At that point [the final climb], I've done my massive effort, I've burned my match, so for me I also was completely shattered," she said of the finale.
"On the cobbles I exploded, me and Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot, France] worked together up, but then we still came back and I still got nipped on the line by Demi [Vollering, Netherlands] but still won all the rest. I think they raced really strange and I was expecting a really weird race. Personally, I'm proud of my own race."
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