Russia’s Alena Ivanchenko beat Great Britain’s Zoe Backstedt to win the world title in the junior women’s time trial in Flanders.
Backstedt set 25:16 to take the hot seat for the fastest time but Ivanchenko started last, set a faster intermediate time and then snatched victory with a time of 25:05.
She added the rainbow jersey to the European time trial title she won in Trento and the multiple world titles she claimed on the track in Egypt a few weeks ago.
Germany’s Antonia Niedermaier took the bronze medal with a time of 25:30. Anna van der Meiden of the Netherlands was fourth at a more distant 1:25, with Great Britain's Madelaine Leech fifth at 1:26. The USA’s Olivia Cummins was eighth at 2:15.
The junior women raced over 19.3km between Knokke-Heist and Bruges, avoiding some of the long and straight extra sections covered in the elite races.
Ivanchenko almost crashed into the barriers on a left turn as she miss-timed her cornering but kept her nerve to win at an average of 43.350km/h.
“I'm very happy and it was very fun. It was very cool,” Ivanchenko said. “I felt good because the course was a flat one. I prefer that to the mountains. The atmosphere was good and it really helped.”
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Ivanchenko turns 18 in November and so will step up to the elite ranks, but she has still to confirm where she will race in 2022.
“Next year I want to race more and train more. I want to win a big race,” she said.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
