Amalie Dideriksen of Denmark won the first road race title of the 2013 World Championships, as she took victory in a tactical Junior Women’s race in Florence, Italy. The 17-year-old bided her time in a breakaway group of five, before striking at the finish to take victory over Anastasiia Iakovenko of Russia and Olena Demydova of the Ukraine.
Jessenia Meneses Gonzalez of Colombia was the fourth member of the breakaway group, but was left behind by the other three after she punctured on the final lap, and finished 18 seconds back in fourth place. The sprint for fifth was taken by Milda Jankauskaite of Lithuania, 34 seconds behind the winner, after the peloton tried but failed to close a two minute gap.
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The original break was made on lap one of the five lap, 82.85km race, when Demydova escaped with Germany’s Anna Knauer on the short, but steep climb of Via Salviati. Iakovenko, Dideriksen and Meneses were in pursuit, just a few seconds behind over the top, while the main body of the peloton was 24 seconds behind.
Across the line for the first time the leading pair had been joined by Iakovenko, and was 24 seconds ahead of Dideriksen and Meneses. The peloton was already 1’29” behind by this point, and was to drift further back.
The gap between the breakaway trio and the chasers was still just 26 seconds as they topped the main climb to Fiesole on lap two, but this was up to 42 seconds over Via Salviati. The chasing pair managed to cut this to 28 seconds by the time they reached the finish line again, and managed to catch up as they climbed Fiesole for the third time.
Knauer was struggling to hold on by this point, however, and was eight seconds behind the other four as they crossed the top. This gap was still just nine seconds over the top of Via Salviati, however, where Dideriksen was also having trouble holding on, and the quintet was all together again as it began the penultimate lap.
This time Knauer was unable to recover, as the German lost contact and crossed the top of the Fiesole climb fully 48 seconds down. She continued to try to chase, cutting the gap to 32 seconds over Via Salviati, but it grew to 40 seconds again by the finish line and she was forced to concede.
The quartet climbed to Fiesole all together, but disaster struck for Meneses on Via Salviati as she punctured and saw her medal hopes disappear. The other three continued over the climb, and into the finishing straight, where the cagey Dideriksen took victory.
Result
1. Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark)
2. Anastasiia Iakovenko (Russia)
3. Olena Demydova (Ukraine)
4. Jessenia Meneses Gonzalez (Colombia)
5. Milda Jankauskaite (Lithuania)
6. Tereza Medvedova (Slovakia)
7. Severine Eraud (France)
8. Alexandra Manly (Australia)
9. Kelly Catlin (United States)
10. Jeanne Korevaar (Netherlands)