Great Britain's Bethany Hayward and Anna Christian finished 20th and 25th in this morning's junior women's road race at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships in Tuscany.
The world title was taken by Amelie Dideriksen of Denmark, victor from a four rider break with Anastasia Iakovenko (RUS), Olena Demidova (UKR) and Jessenia Meneses (COL), which dominated the five lap, 82.85km race.
The breakaway went on the first lap and with an apparent reluctance to chase, the gap to the leaders went out to over two minutes. Hayward and Christian decided to take up the chase but the teams of other nations did little to augment the efforts of the two Great Britain riders, who did much of the work to try and make the catch and stay in the hunt for medals.
In the end the four stayed away until the finish, Meneses puncturing late on and losing contact with the lead group but hanging on for fourth place.
"The girls gave it their best shot, tried a few moves, tried to go with the attacks in the back part (of the race) but it was never going to come back really."
Coach Matt Winston
Following the race British Cycling Olympic Development Programme coach Matt Winston summed up the race from a Great Britain perspective:
"The girls gave it their best shot, tried a few moves, tried to go with the attacks in the back part (of the race) but it was never going to come back really."
Winston went on to outline what his development riders learned from the race:
"They will have learned a fair amount in terms of the way racing unfolds. You see a lot of racing where you've got big strong teams with nine riders where a break will go and get five or ten minutes because you've got a whole team on the front riding and it's timed to perfection.
"That doesn't always happen in races outside of the senior pro ranks really. I think that's a lesson for them to learn.
"Sometimes you're not going to get any assistance and you're going to have to wait and make that move.
"We finished 20th and 25th having done most of the work in the peloton. We could have put that to better use really."
Action continues today with the under 23 men's road race.
Result
