Home > News

Dygert wins the Junior women’s double at Worlds, France takes thrilling U23-men’s championship

September 25, 2015
Share on SMS

American Chloe Dygert took the Junior women’s double at the Richmond, Virginia 2015 UCI Road World Championship on Friday, winning the road race four days after her time trial triumph. It was the first time a Junior woman won the double since Brit Nicole Cooke in Lisbon, Portugal in 2011. The road race podium looked familiar to the time trial’s, as Dygert’s countrywoman Emma White garnered another silver. Later in the day, Bretagne-Séché’s Frenchman Kevin Ledanois won a wild, breathless U23-men’s race.

The Junior women faced four-laps of the 16.2-km course, each lap containing three short climbs near its end–two of which, 23rd Street and Libby Hill, were cobbled. After the final haul up Governor Street, the riders had a false flat to the line.

The Canadian contingent was ready for action.

The Russians kept the pace high under cloudy skies and the 72-rider bunch arrived mostly intact at the end of the first circuit. Although France’s Marion Borras tried to get away on Lap 1, she was unsuccessful. A Lap 2 move consisting of Ksenia Tcymbaliuk (Russia) and Monday’s time trial silver-medalist Emma White (USA) doubled in size after Libby Hill when Chloe Dygert and a Pole made the junction.

The quartet kept its separation into the penultimate lap where Dygert bolted on the others, White acting as the anchor ub the closest chase group. Dygert continued to pour it on for the final lap, her gap back to her former breakmates so large that it was clear before the triplet of climbs that she would prevail. The chasers avoided getting swamped by the peloton and in the push up the false flat White nipped Polish rider Agnieszka Skalniak for runner-up.

The top Canadian was Katherine Maine at 13th. All four Canadian riders finished.

The U23 men had 10-laps to negotiate and the early breakaway was very diverse.

The quintet was bolstered on the 3rd lap by a reinforcement but with 110-km to go Irishman Eddie Dunbar and Chilean Jose Luis Rodriguez attacked the others. Italian Davide Martinelli made it a trio and Kazakh Oleg Zemlyakov latched on a lap later. By the midway point of the race the four enjoyed a 1:40 lead on the peloton.

The quartet lost their Irishman but gained a German before Martinelli suffered a cruel mechanical. The Italians promptly took up the pace making. Once the breakaway was lassoed on the final lap, Dane Soren Kragh Anderson stole away.

As the rain began to fall, Austria took up the reins and grabbed the Dane. A Pole, Italian and German lit out for glory with 5-km to go and the Americans chased. A crash on 23rd Street clogged the road with 4-km to go. Another Italian initiated the next move and drew a couple of Frenchmen, including Ledanois. The chaos on the hill gave them a huge gap.

On Libby Hill Ledanois led a trio of chasers followed by a thinned group towards Governors Street. He had a sizable gap on the final ascent. The long false flat was exhausting and two Italians thought they could break French heart, but Ledanois held fast to take a thrilling victory. His teammate Anthony Turgis (Cofidis) broke up the Italian podium party by finishing third. France had two men on the U23 podium four years ago in Copenhagen.

Canadian Adam De Vos of H&R Block was part of the small, rampaging chase group and placed ninth.

If the Elite women’s and men’s races–Saturday and Sunday respectively–are anything like the U23 contest, they’ll be doozies.

2015 UCI Road World Championships Junior Women’s Road Race
1) Chloe Dygert (USA) 1:42:16
2) Emma White (USA) +1:23
3) Agnieszka Skalniak (Poland) +1:28
13) Katherine Maine (Canada) +1:41
42) Gillian Ellsay (Canada) +3:46
60) Anna Gabrielle Traxler (Canada) +7:54
66) Emeliah Harvie (Canada) +15:25

2015 UCI Road World Championships U23 Men’s Road Race
1) Kevin Ledanois (France) 3:54:45
2) Simone Consonni (Italy) s.t.
3) Anthony Turgis (France) +0:02
9) Adam De Vos (Canada) +0:10
26) Ben Perry (Canada) +0:24
DNF Alex Cataford (Canada)
DNF Nigel Ellsay (Canada)