World Championships: Jastrab wins junior women's road race

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Megan Jastrab (USA) won the junior women's road race at the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, triumphing ahead of Julie de Wilde (Belgium) and Lieke Nooijen (Netherlands) after attacking in the closing kilometres of the race.

For a long time, it seemed as though the attacking duo of Catalina Soto Campos (Chile) and Cedrine Kerbaol (France) might just stay away to contest the finish. The duo attacked with 24km to go and built a gap while cooperation was lacking in the peloton.

It was only at the 3km to go mark that the pair were brought back, with Soto Campos the last woman standing, launching one last bid for glory three kilometres earlier. 

At the 2km mark, Jastrab and Aigul Gareeva (Russia) jumped away from the peloton.

With no response from behind, they would contest the finish, with the peloton only making the catch right at the line and denying the junior women's time trial winner Gareeva a medal.

"I can't believe it. I'm just smiling ear-to-ear right now and I'm just so grateful for my teammates today," said Jastrab after the finish. "It wouldn't have been possible without them. They were there from beginning to end. I know a couple of them got caught behind a crash and they came back stronger than ever. I'm so grateful for them.

"I knew it was going to be technical and it would be decided with 10km to go on the climb and then a fast descent. Katie Clouse and I were both at the front and then the Russian took off, and I was like 'well, this is what I thought was going to happen. I'm not going to let it go this time.' 

"I just stayed with her, didn't really want to work because I wasn't feeling the best. I saw that nobody was chasing so I just relaxed, kept it rolling and saw that we had a big enough gap that I could take a breather and then start my sprint, so it was great."

How it unfolded

In a change from the usual weather seen so far at the Yorkshire Worlds, the junior women's race started in dry conditions. The 86km race, which ran north from Doncaster to Harrogate, started out on largely flat roads, while the final 20km would prove the most decisive, bringing several hills as Harrogate neared.

After a relatively calm start with not too much in the way of attacking, the first rider to jump away from the peloton was Diana Bukanova (Kazakhstan). She went on the attack with 79km to go and received no resistance from the peloton in doing so.

During the race, a number of crashes hindered the peloton's progress and slimmed the group down. Bukanova's advantage maxed out at 50 seconds with 55km to go, but with the peloton pushing on as numerous riders were caught behind a crash, she was brought back 50km from the line.

A period of calm followed, though Jastrab was part of a short-lived move at 44km to go, while there were several more crashes in the peloton too. At 24km to go, Soto Campos and Karbaol made their move, jumping away and working well together to build up a 30-second gap.

Various teams, including Great Britain and the Netherlands, contributed at the head of the peloton, though it wasn't the most well-organised chase with the lead duo still 30 seconds up the road with 10km to go.

Pressure from the USA brought down the gap soon afterwards, which prompted Soto Campos to leave Kerbaol behind with 7km to go. It wasn't to be, though, and the Chilean was eventually caught just 3km from the line.

Then it was time for Gareeva to show her hand, and she powered away on an uphill rise in a rainy Harrogate. Jastrab followed – the only rider able to do so – and stuck to the Russian's wheel as Gareeva pulled out a gap on the chasing peloton.

The pair had enough time to slow it down in the final kilometre, but the brief cat-and-mouse would prove Gareeva's undoing, as the fast-closing peloton caught and passed her in the sprint for the line. They didn't quite catch Jastrab though, and the American hung on to take gold.

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