Mads Pedersen takes the win – Men’s Elite Road Race Championships

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen takes the title after gruelling conditions force the race to be shortened. Pedersen finished ahead of pre-race favourite Italian Matteo Trentin and Swiss Stefan Küng, who took second and third spots respectively.

The race lit up with 234km of the shortened race distance of 261km still to go when a group of 11 riders attacked off the front, including Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (this year’s winner of the Vuelta), Columbia’s Nairo Quintana and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz. The group would eventually build up a maximum gap of around 4 minutes 30 seconds before it was eventually reeled in during the first of nine laps on the circuit.

The race saw many abandonments, including one of the pre-race favourites, Philippe Gilbert, who crashed on the first time up the climb up Parliament Street. Remco Evenepoel would stay with him but the combination of wet weather and the crash proved to be too much for the Belgian.

The mood seemed pretty subdued, no doubt dampened by the rain until Lawson Craddock of USA attacked with 67km to go, to be joined by Swiss rider Stefan Kung. The pair would stay away until 46km when Max Pedersen of Denmark joined the duo, which coincided with Craddock’s legs giving up.

Pedersen and Kung worked together in earnest, before being joined by Dutch rider Mike Teunissen and Italian Gianni Moscon. But with 35km to go, Nils Pollitt of Germany attacked and pre-race favourites Matteo Trentin of Italy and Mathieu Van der Poel of the Netherlands took the opportunity to join Pollitt. Trentin and Van der Poel would be the only ones capable of bridging across to the three leaders, working together until the leaders reached the last lap, when Van der Poel would find that the race was one lap too long for his legs and he lost contact with the group.

Moscon would be distanced in the final kilometres, leaving the three riders to fight it out for the finish, with Pedersen reigning supreme in the final few metres.

It was a brutal day but that’s the type of weather I like to race in. When I found myself in that three-man group at the end I would have been happy with any of the medals. Because of that I felt I had nothing to lose and luckily my sprint was enough to get the rainbow jersey. My focus all year had been on this race and this victory is going to change a lot for me; I’m no longer going to be regarded as the underdog.

The crowd was crazy today, especially as there were so many people still around to watch us in weather like that. That was so nice to see and I want to thank them for being on the roadside. This was a really good race and when you win one as hard as this, you feel very proud.

 

Mads Pedersen

New World Road Race Champion, Denmark

 

 

It was six and a half hard hours in the saddle and I just didn’t have it at the end today. I gave it my best shot but it wasn’t enough. The fans were incredible and the atmosphere was building and building with every kilometre. They gave me some massive support and I’m incredibly grateful. It’s been a great Championships and great for cycling here in Yorkshire, and the UK.

Ben Swift

31st Placed Rider, Team GB

The past nine days of action across Yorkshire has once again demonstrated that the UK is a world-class destination for sport and home to knowledgeable and passionate fans who will turn out rain or shine. Via our National Lottery funded event programme, UK Sport is committed to bringing the biggest sporting competitions, like the UCI Road World Championships, to these shores. It isn’t just about the fantastic action, but also the long-term positive social and economic impact which results from holding these major sporting events.

Dame Katherine Grainger

Chair, UK Sport

The 2019 UCI Road World Championships have given the sport a brilliant platform to reach even more people and inspire them to get on their bikes. I’d like to thank Yorkshire 2019, everyone across the county of Yorkshire, and British cycling fans for their contribution to a fantastic event and the warm welcome extended to teams from all over the world.

Julie Harrington

CEO, British Cycling

We had to make some difficult calls regarding the route today because it simply wasn’t suitable to race on some of the roads. We had to think about the safety of the public as well as the athletes because we have a duty of care to them. We’d planned for every eventuality and our team did a fantastic job to change things at such short notice.

It was horrific weather but that didn’t stop the public lining the route. Every village, road and climb was packed so I have to say a massive thank you to the people of Yorkshire for turning out and welcoming the riders today. Congratulations to Mads Pedersen as well, he pulled off a phenomenal win.

It’s been an amazing nine days. Every single race, including our para-cycling event which kicked things off, has been spectacular. It’s taken over three years of planning to reach this point and it’s been a superb team effort. My staff at Yorkshire 2019 have been tremendous, as have our delivery partners, local authorities, emergency service providers, transport providers, utilities providers, volunteers – the list could go on and on. I want to say a massive thank you to them, and to everybody who supported this event.

Andy Hindley

CEO, Yorkshire 2019

It’s been a phenomenal nine days in Yorkshire and the whole county as shone even in spite of some of the weather. We’ve seen some truly amazing racing and crowned some incredible world champions. Every race has had a fantastic climax to it and that’s testimony to our variety of terrain as much as it is to the riders themselves. The people and businesses of Yorkshire have done themselves proud, as have our partners, emergency services, highways teams, and of course, our army of tremendous volunteers. Every rider and visitor has received a typically warm welcome, and I’m so proud of that.

The legacy and long-term benefits of hosting these Championships will be felt for many years to come and Yorkshire has definitely gone global over the last nine days. Thank you again to everyone who’s come and enjoyed themselves, and to all the businesses and residents for their support.

Peter Dodd

Commercial Director, Welcome to Yorkshire

Heather Bamforth

Heather Bamforth

CyclingShorts.cc Sub-Editor

Heather has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 10 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Influencer, Trustee & Founder of The Racing Chance Foundation Charity, Member of the British Cycling Road Commission, BC Regional board member and National Councillor

Heather is a highly respected member of the British Cycling community, she founded the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Anna Mgrath

Anna Mgrath

Editor & Founder

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related. She has a passion for track and road cycling.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams, all the way up to reporting from the top cycle races on the world calendar including; the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

Anna is a BAJ & SJA accredited journalist and has a background in Film & Television, and award winning Designer and Art Director, working for BBC, CH4, and many others.

Anna is a member of A©ID

Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.

Cycling Shorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance FoundationTeam Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.

Fred Bamforth

Fred Bamforth

Writer - Chair of Road Work Group British North West Region & Team Manager Racing Chance Foundation

Fred has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 5 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Active member of the Northern Cycling community since the 1980's. Team manager for the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Fred is Chair of Road Work Group for British North West Region.

Chris Maher

Chris Maher

Photographer & Writer

Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics.

Chris is a member of the SJA.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk

Van Vleuten solos to victory in the Elite Women’s Road Race

Dutch rider Annemiek Van Vleuten launched a solo attack with 104km remaining of the 149.4km race, with defending champion, Dutch teammate, Anna van der Breggen claiming the silver medal, whilst Australian Amanda Spratt came in third.

The Dutch team were active from the start, with Demi Vollering launching an attack to split the field before Van Vleuten attacked on the Lofthouses climb with just over 104km to go. She quickly gained 27 seconds which then increased to 44 seconds as a selection of eight riders looked to try to bring Van Vleuten back. Van der Breggen, Spratt, Longo Borghini from Italy, GB’s Lizzie Deignan and recently crowned World Time Trial Champion Chloe Dygert were all in the group.

After five kilometres on her own, Van Vleuten had increased her lead to over a minute and it would hover around the 50 seconds mark until the race reached Ripon with around 70km still to go, where it dipped to 43 seconds as Deignan and then Dygert launched attacks to try to bring her back. But with van der Breggen closing every attempt down, it became increasingly obvious that whilst van der Breggen was still in the group, any attempts to bring van Vleuten back would be in vain.

By 50km to go, the impetus had gone out of the chase group and van Vleuten’s lead had extended to over one and a half minutes. Deignan and Longo Borghini attempted to split the group but to no avail with Dygert also trying to split it. It was at this point that Koppenburg from Germany was dropped. Deignan looked totally frustrated as move after move was shut down.

By the time van Vleuten reached Harrogate with 40km to go, the win seemed to be hers for the taking as the gap reached 2 minutes 37 seconds back to the chasers.

Dygert saw her chance as they reached Harrogate, and with 38.8km still to go, she launched an attack that would put paid to Deignan’s medal hopes as she was unable to get back up to the chasers. The group now became four as Dygert continued to press on and distance Deignan.

With the gap around 2 minutes 12 seconds to van Vleuten, Dygert attacked the chasers again and this time van der Breggen was unable to bring it back, with Dygert going clear. Her gap would extend to a maximum of 29 seconds with 18km to go, at which point Spratt attacked and Longo Borghini was distanced.

By 16km to go, it seemed like the distance was starting to affect Dygert (whose longest race before today was 119km) and as she entered Parliament Street and the finish for the penultimate time, Spratt and van der Breggen were closing the gap, and they would then catch Dygert with 12.7km to go.

Dygert’s gutsy ride was not to end with a podium as van der Breggen attacked as the duo caught Dygert and Dygert was left behind by van der Breggen and Spratt. With 4.7km still to go, van der Breggen attacked Spratt and got a gap, which would be sufficient for her to claim second spot.

By now, Van Vleuten’s victory was secured and she powered up the finishing straight to become the World Champion, with van der Breggen 2 minutes 15 seconds behind, and Spratt a further 13 seconds in arrears. Dygert finished a fantastic fourth, 3 minutes 24 seconds behind van Vleuten, Longo Borghini finished in fifth a further 1 minute 21 seconds down, with Marianne Vos leading in the peloton at 5 minutes 20 seconds, which included Deignan and Anna Henderson who finished 22nd.

But the day belonged to Annemiek Van Vleuten, whose incredibly courageous ride has deservedly secured her place in the history books.

That was crazy. I knew the climb was really far from the finish but once I’d attacked my coach told me to keep riding hard and I was lucky I had really good legs. It was definitely not planned but I’d trained so hard for this – put in so many hours on the bike – and I thought ‘if anyone can do this, it’s you’. As I was riding I was thinking ‘maybe I could make history today’, and if it didn’t work out I knew Anna [van der Breggen] was in a great position behind.

It was only towards the end that I dared to believe, and I was being cheered on by so many fans. The crowds in Bradford were huge at the start and I had so much encouragement out on the course as well. British fans are amazing and I want to thank them all for helping make this win so amazing.

Annemiek van Vleuten

Women's Elite World Road Race Champion, Rider - Team Netherlands

Today was absolutely phenomenal and a massive privilege to be able to experience. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to ride a home World Championships and I just want to say thank you to all those people who supported me. It’s a day I’ll never forget and I’m so proud of Yorkshire. Congratulations to Annemiek too, she was in a class of her own today.

Lizzie Deignan

Great Britain rider

 

 

 

As Annemiek went on the attack people were telling me ‘you can’t win from that far out’, but she proved them all wrong with an outstanding performance. It was an amazing effort to stay out in front for as long as she did with no help whatsoever, and it’s just a shame Lizzie wasn’t able to go with her when she made her race-winning move.

We’ve got another Yorkshire star in the form of Ben Swift riding tomorrow, and he’ll definitely be in with a shout of the rainbow jersey. Of course, he’ll be going up against the very best in the business, and I’m very excited to see who’ll come out on top.

Andy Hindley

CEO, Yorkshire 2019

We were treated to another amazing start in Bradford and the land art on the route today was truly world class. Yorkshire’s known for its creativity, as well as its passion and pride, and all those things were in evidence today. It was so nice to see Lizzie on the front of the peloton as she rode through her home town of Otley as well, with her family on the roadside to see her. Congratulations to Annemiek as well for that amazing performance, and all eye turn to the Elite Men’s Road Race now which is sure to be a cracker.

Peter Dodd

Commercial Director, Welcome to Yorkshire

Heather Bamforth

Heather Bamforth

CyclingShorts.cc Sub-Editor

Heather has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 10 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Influencer, Trustee & Founder of The Racing Chance Foundation Charity, Member of the British Cycling Road Commission, BC Regional board member and National Councillor

Heather is a highly respected member of the British Cycling community, she founded the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Anna Mgrath

Anna Mgrath

Editor & Founder

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related. She has a passion for track and road cycling.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams, all the way up to reporting from the top cycle races on the world calendar including; the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

Anna is a BAJ & SJA accredited journalist and has a background in Film & Television, and award winning Designer and Art Director, working for BBC, CH4, and many others.

Anna is a member of A©ID

Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.

Cycling Shorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance FoundationTeam Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.

Fred Bamforth

Fred Bamforth

Writer - Chair of Road Work Group British North West Region & Team Manager Racing Chance Foundation

Fred has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 5 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Active member of the Northern Cycling community since the 1980's. Team manager for the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Fred is Chair of Road Work Group for British North West Region.

Chris Maher

Chris Maher

Photographer & Writer

Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics.

Chris is a member of the SJA.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk

Battistella takes the victory in the Under 23 Men’s Road Race

Italian Samuele Battistella wins the Under-23 World Road Race Championships, beating Stefan Bisseger of Switzerland and Tom Pidcock of Great Britain into second and third respectively.

The event was marred by the decision to disqualify Nils Eekhoff, the person who crossed the finish line first, for drafting, although he wasn’t the only person to be disqualified, as Katie Clouse of USA had been disqualified in the Junior Women’s Road Race earlier in the day.

That aside, the race was one of epic proportions with pouring rain, driving winds, crashes and attacks, and was entertaining from the outset.

The early breakaway saw thirteen riders get a gap which would reach around a minute before the group would dwindle to four before swelling in numbers when the peloton split into groups in the crosswinds over Greenhow, with Pidcock one of the main riders driving the split.

Pidcock had been involved in a crash with around 67km which had exacerbated the injury that he had sustained at the Tour de l’Avenir in August.

Sajnok of Poland instigated a couple of attacks towards the end of the race, with the final selection comprising Bisseger, Battistella, Foss, Pidcock and Sajnok. Sajnok’s efforts would ultimately prove too much as he was dropped on the final lap.

The final four looked precarious as the gap between them and the chasers hovered around 10 seconds, with Eekhoff, Columbia’s Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia and Denmark’s Andreas Lorentz Kron joining the quartet with about 4km to go (Higuita Garcia and Kron would eventually finish 4th and 5th in the adjusted results).

The seven leaders entered the finishing straight together on the final lap with Pidcock looking the favourite for the sprint finish until around 150m to go when his earlier efforts to get back on looked to creep up on him and Eekhoff, Battistella and Bisseger overtook him to grab the podium spots initially. The final result was then adjusted to reflect Eekhoff’s disqualification.

Note: three riders were disqualified for drafting today, and their respective teams were fined 200 Swiss Francs each. Those riders were Alexander Konychev of Italy, Andreas Nielsen of Denmark and Nils Eekhoff of the Netherlands.

 

I didn’t understand what had happened at first, and when I was told, I can’t describe how it felt to become the world champion and to receive the jersey. I am very, very happy. I’m sorry for Eekhoff because he was the winner of the sprint but this is cycling and we have to abide by the commissaire’s decision. I am looking forward to becoming a professional rider now and this win will give me confidence.

Samuele Battistella

Under 23's Men's Road Race World Bronze Medalist, Team Italy Rider

This isn’t how I wanted to win a medal and I feel really sorry for Eekhoff but rules are rules. Maybe his group wouldn’t have caught us if he hadn’t had been drafting, so that did affect the race. I’m still disappointed that I didn’t win but at least I got to enjoy the crowd on the podium, and I got a medal in my home World Championships. The fans were amazing today and this was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Tom Pidcock

Bronze medalist Under 23's Men's Road Race, Team GB Rider

There’s never a dull moment at these Championships and it’s been an incredible day. The commissaires deliberated for a long time after the men’s race and they wouldn’t have taken that decision to disqualify the initial winner lightly. It was great news for Samuele, and great news for Tom, but obviously not for Nils. You have to feel for the poor guy, but rules need to be obeyed and sport wouldn’t work without them.

Tom crashed hard onto his knee today so that was a really brave performance by him to even to get into contention.

 

Andy Hindley

CEO, Yorkshire 2019

Doncaster did itself proud as a host location today, just as they always have done at the Tour de Yorkshire. I don’t know who was more excited at the start; the riders for the incredible reception they received, or the 1,000+ schoolchildren who went wild to welcome them. It’s been a similar buzz during the entire Championships and we’re gearing up for a massive weekend. These next two days are the pinnacle of the entire cycling season there’s thousands of people arriving into Yorkshire every hour now and the atmosphere will be electric.

Peter Dodd

Commercial Director, Welcome to Yorkshire

Heather Bamforth

Heather Bamforth

CyclingShorts.cc Sub-Editor

Heather has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 10 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Influencer, Trustee & Founder of The Racing Chance Foundation Charity, Member of the British Cycling Road Commission, BC Regional board member and National Councillor

Heather is a highly respected member of the British Cycling community, she founded the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Anna Mgrath

Anna Mgrath

Editor & Founder

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related. She has a passion for track and road cycling.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams, all the way up to reporting from the top cycle races on the world calendar including; the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

Anna is a BAJ & SJA accredited journalist and has a background in Film & Television, and award winning Designer and Art Director, working for BBC, CH4, and many others.

Anna is a member of A©ID

Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.

Cycling Shorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance FoundationTeam Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.

Fred Bamforth

Fred Bamforth

Writer - Chair of Road Work Group British North West Region & Team Manager Racing Chance Foundation

Fred has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 5 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Active member of the Northern Cycling community since the 1980's. Team manager for the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Fred is Chair of Road Work Group for British North West Region.

Chris Maher

Chris Maher

Photographer & Writer

Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics.

Chris is a member of the SJA.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk

Jastrab shows her class in the Junior Women’s Road Race Championships

Megan Jastrab continued USA’s good form to hold onto a slender lead and take the Junior Women’s Road Race title, despite a last gasp effort from Belgium’s Julie De Wilde and the Netherlands’ Lieke Nooijen, who came second and third respectively.

The 86km race set off from Doncaster with Jastrab one of the clear favourites, alongside Britain’s Elynor Backstedt and European Champion Ilse Pluimers from the Netherlands. The nature of the course meant that the peloton would stay pretty much together for the duration, although this also resulted in a number of crashes.

The first break of the day came from Kazakhstan’s Diana Bukanova whose solo attack lasted for around 25km and saw her get an advantage of nearly a minute over the peloton before she was reeled in with 50km to go. A crash just after Bukanova was caught would see Pluimers’ hopes for a medal dashed, although those involved would later form a group to try and get back on.

This crash coincided with the first of a handful of attempts by Jastrab to split the field, although the next main attack would come from France’s Cedrine Kerbaol, who was quickly followed by the sole Chilean in the race, Catalina Anais Soto Campos. The pair launched their attack with around 25km of the race remaining, and would build up a gap of around 30 seconds which they would retain until around 6km to go when Soto Campos launched a solo attack. Soto Campos would eventually be caught with around 3km to go.

With around 2km remaining, Russian Junior Women’s World Time Trial Champion, Aigul Gareeva and Jastrab launched an attack and with 500m to go, it was touch and go as the duo had around 100m advantage on the peloton although another crash in the final 500m did little to stop De Wilde and Nooijen who made up significant ground to deny Gareeva of a second World Championship medal. Jastrab’s advantage by this point was unassailable and she held on to give USA a third world title in as many days.

Interview – Megan Jastrab Junior Women’s World Champion 2019 by Cycling Shorts

Interview – Megan Jastrab Junior Women’s World Champion 2019. All content ©www.cyclingshorts.cc | www.chrismaher.co.uk

I’ve wanted to win this race for several years now so to have everything come together today is just amazing. It’s incredible how well the USA is doing in these Championships and I am so happy for all the team. We love riding here and I wish I could take two more weeks to enjoy these roads even more, but on Sunday I have to go back to reality, and back to college.

Megan Jastrab

Junior Women's Road Race World Champion, Team USA

Interview – Junior Women’s World Road Race silver medalist – Julie de Wilde by Cycling Shorts

Julie de Wilde Junior Women’s World Road Race silver medalist talks to the media. All content ©www.cyclingshorts.cc |www.chrismaher.co.uk

 

It was amazing riding on my home roads today and the crowds were unbelievable. The schoolkids were screaming really loudly and I heard so many people shout my name, which was lovely. It gave me more adrenalin and kept me motivated. There were so many Yorkshire flags on the route as well and I just wanted to grab one of them and wave it whilst I was riding and give the supporters a wave back. Things didn’t go quite as we’d planned today but I’ve loved the whole experience and hope to have more chances in the future.

Abi Smith

34th Junior Women's Road Race, Team GB Rider

CyclingShorts.cc grabs few words with Lucy O’Donnell of Team Ireland by Cycling Shorts

Fred grab a few words with Lucy O’Donnell representing team Ireland at the finish of the UCI World Championship Junior Women’s Road Race, they discuss her crash during the race. All content ©www.CyclingShorts.cc | Fred Bamforth

Interview – Junior Worlds Women’s Road race 3rd – Lieke Nooijen -Netherlands by Cycling Shorts

Lieke Nooijen of the Netherlands talks to the media after taking 3rd in the Junior Worlds Women’s Road Race. All content ©www.cyclingshorts.cc | www.chrismaher.co.uk

 

I have to mention the supporters. I was in Doncaster for the roll out of the women’s race and the riders were blown away by the reception they received, especially from the hundreds of schoolchildren. You have to remember, those athletes are not long out of school themselves and they’d never seen anything like that before. Their race was fantastic as well, and we’re looking forward to a big weekend now. We had a Yorkshire medal today and hopefully we’ll get another one tomorrow with Lizzie Deignan taking part in the Elite Women’s Road Race.

Andy Hindley

CEO, Yorkshire 2019

Heather Bamforth

Heather Bamforth

CyclingShorts.cc Sub-Editor

Heather has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 10 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Influencer, Trustee & Founder of The Racing Chance Foundation Charity, Member of the British Cycling Road Commission, BC Regional board member and National Councillor

Heather is a highly respected member of the British Cycling community, she founded the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Anna Mgrath

Anna Mgrath

Editor & Founder

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related. She has a passion for track and road cycling.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams, all the way up to reporting from the top cycle races on the world calendar including; the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

Anna is a BAJ & SJA accredited journalist and has a background in Film & Television, and award winning Designer and Art Director, working for BBC, CH4, and many others.

Anna is a member of A©ID

Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.

Cycling Shorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance FoundationTeam Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.

Fred Bamforth

Fred Bamforth

Writer - Chair of Road Work Group British North West Region & Team Manager Racing Chance Foundation

Fred has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 5 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Active member of the Northern Cycling community since the 1980's. Team manager for the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Fred is Chair of Road Work Group for British North West Region.

Chris Maher

Chris Maher

Photographer & Writer

Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics.

Chris is a member of the SJA.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk

Simmons solos to victory in the Junior Men’s Road Race Championships

Quinn Simmons of the USA launches a solo attack with 33km to go to claim victory in the Junior Men’s Road Race, ahead of Alessio Martinelli of Italy, with Magnus Sheffield, also from USA, securing third spot on the podium.

The race was fraught with crashes from an early stage which would result in the field splitting to such an extent that riders were able to escape off the front hidden in plain sight.

The break of the day saw five riders clip off the front, including the eventual winner and third place riders (Simmons and Sheffield respectively), with GB’s Lewis Askey an integral part of the move. The group of five worked well together and it looked like it could have been the winning break until Germany, and then Italy started working together, eventually bringing the gap down to 10 seconds.

Simmons kept his head and launched a solo attack, which would prove to be decisive. His time trialling ability no doubt helped him to grow the gap although his teammates did a phenomenal job of controlling the front of the bunch. Indeed, the live commentary compared them to a senior pro team.

Alessio Martinelli escaped off the front with a couple of laps to go, but was unable to catch Simmons, whom by now had the bit between his teeth. An attempt to reel Martinelli back would eventually lead to a group of four riders who would fight for the bronze medal, with Sheffield proving to be the strongest in the sprint.

The riders showed composure beyond their years, especially Simmons and Martinelli, both of whom move up to senior ranks in 2020.

It was always the plan to try and win solo and my training’s been aimed at that. Everything went perfectly today. The roads here are rolling and heavy, and that was a long distance for a junior race. Add the rain into that mix and it wore a lot of people down – which worked to our advantage. When the course was revealed I knew it’d suit me and it’s been my goal ever since. To win solo with a flag passed to me by my family is probably the coolest experience I’ll ever have in my life. The support here was crazy as well – the largest crowd I’ve ever experienced in a junior race. I loved it all and I’d definitely like to come back to Yorkshire in the future.

Quinn Simmons

Junior Men's Road Race World Champion, Team USA

It was a tough route – up and down all day – and made even tougher by the wet conditions. I ride these roads all the time and I never knew you could actually ride them that quickly. Being local, there was quite a lot of pressure on me but I’m able to deal with that quite well. This whole Championships has been an amazing experience and even though I didn’t come away with the result I wanted, the crowds were absolutely fantastic and they definitely kept me going.

Sam Watson

placed 28th, Team GB

 

 

Heather Bamforth

Heather Bamforth

CyclingShorts.cc Sub-Editor

Heather has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 10 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Influencer, Trustee & Founder of The Racing Chance Foundation Charity, Member of the British Cycling Road Commission, BC Regional board member and National Councillor

Heather is a highly respected member of the British Cycling community, she founded the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Anna Mgrath

Anna Mgrath

Editor & Founder

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related. She has a passion for track and road cycling.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams, all the way up to reporting from the top cycle races on the world calendar including; the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

Anna is a BAJ & SJA accredited journalist and has a background in Film & Television, and award winning Designer and Art Director, working for BBC, CH4, and many others.

Anna is a member of A©ID

Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.

Cycling Shorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance FoundationTeam Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.

Fred Bamforth

Fred Bamforth

Writer - Chair of Road Work Group British North West Region & Team Manager Racing Chance Foundation

Fred has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 5 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Active member of the Northern Cycling community since the 1980's. Team manager for the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Fred is Chair of Road Work Group for British North West Region.

Dennis proves to be too strong for his rivals – Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial

Aussie Rohan Dennis takes the Elite Men’s Individual Time Trial Championship for the second year in a row, with a winning margin of over a minute from his nearest rivals, Remoc Evenepoel of Belgium and Filippo Ganna of Italy.

Dennis completed the 54km course in 1 hour, 5 minutes 5.35 seconds with Evenepoel 1 minute 8.93 seconds behind with Ganna a further 46 seconds in arrears.

The course started in Northallerton and, although the weather was much better than the previous day, the event would see its fair share of incidents, with riders hitting the deck and one of the pre-race favourites, Belgian Victor Campenaerts, suffering a snapped chain out on the course.

GB’s John Archibald was the early leader, with teammate Alex Dowsett also sitting in the hot seat for a very short while before Ganna took the lead, coming in less than a minute after Dowsett.

Dennis admitted later that he had initially been in a negative place after his early exit from the Tour de France, but the power of the support he received from his family and his coach helped him to refocus and get back on track.

Interview – Christopher Sysmonds Representing Ghana In The Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial by Cycling Shorts

Christopher Sysmonds In The Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial chats to Fred Bamforth of CyclingShorts.cc about his last minute call to represent Ghana. All content ©CyclingShorts.cc

 

 

I did a lot of work to get mentally prepared for today and I was confident in my ability. Once I got out there I was able to let my legs do the talking. I knew the pace I went out with [at the Championships] last year and just stuck on that. I was 20 seconds up at the first time check and knew I still had more to give and that I wasn’t going to die on the climbs. It was perfect and the course today was awesome as well. We first saw it on Saturday and instantly loved it, so whoever designed it, thanks for that!

Rohan Dennis

Men's Elite Individual Time Trial World Champion, Team Australia

On every kilometre of the route today we saw pride and passion from the fans, and that true Yorkshire spirit. Special mention to Northallerton for the way the community came together to celebrate the race. Every business had adopted a country and their window displays were brilliant. The UCI Road World Championships have never seen land art like what was on the route today either as well, and the footage of this event is taking Yorkshire global.

Peter Dodd

Commercial Director, Welcome to Yorkshire

It was a good ride and I’m happy with how I executed our plan today. The crowds out there were mad, clearly many people had taken a day off work to cheer us on and that was really good of them. It gave us an extra something. We definitely had to dig in and hearing that support gave us extra power. It really helped and I’m super grateful – this was a really cool result.

Yorkshire is the home of cycling in the UK and this has been colossal. There’ll be even bigger crowds at the weekend and it’s an honour to have been a part of it – one to tell the grandkids for sure.

Alex Dowsett

5th in Individual Time Trial, Team GB

We saw some amazing cycling and it was another cracking day for Yorkshire. The crowds in Northallerton were fantastic and they were full of support for the riders as they started. On the climbs and through the villages as well, we couldn’t have asked for any more, and Harrogate provided another great welcome.

It was a challenging course – up and down with plenty of corners – and Rohan produced an incredible display. Seeing his wife and baby there at the finish was very emotional and massive congratulations to him. Remco also deserves a mention. That performance from a 19 year old in an elite event was just amazing, and what a force for the future he will be.

Andy Hindley

CEO, Yorkshire 2019

Heather Bamforth

Heather Bamforth

CyclingShorts.cc Sub-Editor

Heather has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 10 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Influencer, Trustee & Founder of The Racing Chance Foundation Charity, Member of the British Cycling Road Commission, BC Regional board member and National Councillor

Heather is a highly respected member of the British Cycling community, she founded the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Anna Mgrath

Anna Mgrath

Editor & Founder

Anna Magrath founded CyclingShorts.cc in 2008 and invited some of her cycling friends; coaches, photographers, writers and pro cyclists of different disciplines to join her, bringing you all things cycling related. She has a passion for track and road cycling.

Over the years Anna has supported grass roots cycling events, riders and teams, all the way up to reporting from the top cycle races on the world calendar including; the Tour de France, Olympics, World Cups & World Championships.

Anna is a BAJ & SJA accredited journalist and has a background in Film & Television, and award winning Designer and Art Director, working for BBC, CH4, and many others.

Anna is a member of A©ID

Want to get involved? Why not get in touch.

Cycling Shorts.cc are official sponsors of The Racing Chance FoundationTeam Jadan and cyclists Amy Gornall & Fraser Martin.

Fred Bamforth

Fred Bamforth

Writer - Chair of Road Work Group British North West Region & Team Manager Racing Chance Foundation

Fred has been with CyclingShorts.cc for 5 years attending and reporting on major cycling events; Tour de France, Tour de Yorkshire, World Track Championships, World Road Race Championships to name a few.

Active member of the Northern Cycling community since the 1980's. Team manager for the Racing Chance Foundation, a cycling charity to help women gain experience in cycle racing and progress their cycling careers.

Fred is Chair of Road Work Group for British North West Region.

Chris Maher

Chris Maher

Photographer & Writer

Based in the North East of England; photographer Chris Maher specialises in sports photography with his main interests in Cycling and Super Bikes. Chris has covered sports events from local and national level right up to the Olympics for CyclingShorts.cc.
Website: www.ChrisMaher.co.uk

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