Anna Kay battled to fifth place in the women’s under-23 race at the 2019 UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships.
Silver medallist at the national championships three weeks ago, Kay was prominent in the race from the word go.
Starting strongly, Kay managed to stay in contention over the first three laps in a large group of riders. It wasn’t until the final stages that the race started to split up with Kay still managing to retain her position to the leading group.
A leading Dutch trio of Alvarado, Nagengast and Van Der Heijden broke away with half a lap to, the latter taking the win on the line.
Kay was left amongst another two riders in the chasing group and left to sprint to the line for fourth position that went to Italy’s Persico, almost overhauling Alvarado in third only one second ahead of Kay in fifth on the line.
After the race, the rider from Gateshead said, “Yeah it was a bit like a road race, it kept on stringing out and then coming back together. I think on some of the straights I’d lose it, but you could always catch up on the long finishing straight, so it went really well.
“I’m so pleased I wanted top 5 or top 10, so to get fifth, I’m over the moon.”
In the men’s elite race Ian Field was pulled from a tough race with two laps to go after battling for over 10 laps and an hour of racing.
The eventual winner would be The Netherlands’ Mathieu Van Der Poel who went clear of the rest of the field with an attack on lap three.
Reigning world champion Wout Van Aert finished second, 16 seconds off the pace. Outside the top four places, no one finished within a minute of the winner.
Yesterday saw Britain’s Ben Tulett and Tom Pidcock win the junior and under-23 men’s categories, you can read the full report from day one here.
GB Results
Women Under-23
5th - Anna Kay
19th - Hattie Harnden
29th - Anna Flynn
30th - Maddie Wadsworth
Men Elite
37th/DNF - Ian Field
