Video: Evelyn Stevens proud of Boels Dolmans Worlds team time trial ride

Evelyn Stevens (Boels Dolmans) missed earning another team time trial  World Championship title in Richmond Sunday when the team finished six seconds behind  Velocio-SRAM, who won the event for a fourth straight year. The silver medal was bittersweet for Stevens, having missed breaking the record at home of becoming the first woman to win gold for the fourth time since the event was reintroduced. The record instead went to former teammate Trixi Worrack of Velocio-SRAM.

"I'm really proud of how my team raced today," Stevens told Cyclingnews. "We had a puncture in the first 5km with Cristine [Majerus], so that was just bad luck. I think we could have gotten down because of that. But we were in contention for the whole race. I had teammates go so deep to fight to stay in."

The squad was forced to ride the majority of the course with only five riders after losing Majerus. The team had notched the fastest time at the second time check, but Ellen van Dijk struggled on the final climb up Governor Street before the finishing stretch. The squad was forced to slow down in order to cross the line with four riders. In the end it cost them valuable seconds.

"Six seconds is sad, but we're there," Stevens said. "It's a matter of doing a few things differently. Because we lost Christine things changed. Your fourth rider is your strongest. You have to pace it correctly. She did so much early work because she can keep the speed where it’s really fast where, for instance, I can't.

"Congrats to Trixi," Stevens said of Worrack's record fourth win. "It was close, but it was good."

Subscribe to the Cyclingnews Youtube channel today for all the videos from the UCI Road World Championships and more.

Click here to subscribe to the Cyclingnews podcast on iTunes and here for our complete World Championships coverage.

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1