Despite the morning start, temperatures in Doha were already north of 35 degrees Celsius for the junior women's time trial at the UCI Road World Championships, but Karlijn Swinkels (Netherlands) made light of the conditions to land the rainbow jersey ahead of Lisa Morzenti (Italy) and Juliette Labous (France).
Swinkels clocked the quickest time at the intermediate check and covered the 13.7-kilometre at an average speed of 44.764kph to beat Morzenti, the European champion in the discipline, by 8 seconds.
"I did a warm-up in a cold room but it was very hot at the start. But after two kilometres, I didn't think about it anymore and I just rode," Swinkels said afterwards.
Swinkels placed 6th behind Morzenti in those European Championships in Plumelec barely a month ago, but she showed marked improvement in Qatar to claim the world title. The flat, fast course in Doha suits powerful riders, but there was a degree of nuance, too, to the sinuous circuit on the artificial island of the Pearl.
"I came here on Thursday, we did a recovery ride on Friday and then on the second day, I rode on the course and I did every curve ten times to make sure it was perfect," Swinkels said.
Morzenti was one of three Italians to place in the top ten on Monday, but there was to be no repeat of her Plumelec triumph. The Bergamo native was three seconds down on Swinkels after 7.4 kilometres, and conceded further ground in the closing kilometres.
"I'm very satisfied, because I didn't know what to expect from these Worlds. Coming first is always hard, so I'm pleased with silver," Morzenti said, adding of her Italian team: "We prepared for these Worlds together. We have a cohesive group and that got us good results."
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Labous was the last rider down the start ramp and when she came through the intermediate check with the 6th fastest time, some 13 seconds behind Swinkels, the destination of the rainbow jersey already seemed clear.
Although Labous was unable to peg back any time on Swinkels in the final part of the course, she did manage to ride her way onto the podium, dislodging Skylar Schneider (USA) from the bronze medal position in the process.
Labous came home 21 seconds down on Swinkels but 9 seconds ahead of Schneider to claim the third step of the podium, just as she had done in the European Championships on home roads last month. Bronze in Doha, however, had a different flavour.
"My aim was to win, but third place is also good. Last year, I was very disappointed with how I rode in Richmond and I was very disappointed again after the European Championships, but here I am happy," said Labous, who will turn professional with Liv-Plantur in 2017
The day belonged to Swinkels, who claimed the Netherlands' first rainbow jersey at junior women's level since a young Marianne Vos won the road race in Verona twelve years ago. "I'm very proud," Swinkels said. "I didn't expect it at all, but dreams come true."
