Erin Boothman's dream of adding another rainbow jersey to her collection of track world titles came to an end on the final climb of the junior women's individual time trial when she pulled her foot out of the pedals and lost all momentum, finishing in fifth place at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali.
It was hard to hide her disappointment when speaking to the assembled press in the mixed zone, where the Scottish rider said she was 'gutted' to have lost the race to bad luck.
"This is my last year as a junior, and I didn't get to ride [Worlds] last year, so I definitely came here to try and win and add to my collection, but it wasn't meant to be. I'm absolutely gutted, but you learn from these things," Boothman said.
In her short career in track and road cycling, Boothman has become one of the top young riders in the world, securing four gold medals across the Team Pursuit and Madison in Luoyang in 2024 and Apeldoorn in 2025 at the Track World Championships.
She also won Clásica de Jaén Nation's Cup and Gent-Wevelgem Junior, which have all earned her a contract to race for the Liv-AlUla-Jayco team; first at the Continental level, where she started as a trainee mid-season and will remain with the development programme in 2026 before moving up to the WorldTour squad from 2027 to 2028.
In Kigali, Boothman was the last rider off the starting ramp, wearing bib number one, and she was among the top three fastest riders at the first checkpoint, all within just two seconds of each other, and all to play for in the hunt for the rainbow jersey.
But as she reached the base of the final cobbled climb of the Côte de Kimihurura, with just one kilometre remaining, her foot came out of her pedal, and she was forced to slow down as she struggled to clip her foot back into it.
"I came onto the cobbled climb and had quite a good pace going. I had ridden the race pretty much exactly how I wanted to and knew I had more to give for the climb," Boothman explained.
"I pulled my foot out, and it took me a few tries to get it back in, and I just lost all my speed. Getting it going again was really hard. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be after that. I did give it my all, but it wasn't quite enough for a medal."
Boothman believes that had she not experienced bad luck, especially on the steep climb, she might have been able to secure the world title in her final year as a junior rider.
"I came here to try and win it, and I felt really good when I hit the bottom of the climb," she said. "I paced it pretty much exactly how I needed to. There was panic after my foot came out, and I just never quite settled in again."
She now looks ahead to the junior women's road race on Saturday, where she still has one more chance to try and win a rainbow jersey, before she starts the next chapter of her career with Liv-AlUla-Jayco.
"I do one year with their Conti team and then two years with the WorldTour team, so I'm super excited. I've done a few races with them already. I already love it and hopefully more to come in the next few years."
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