Having won the Irish road race title this year and competed very well on the pro scene in Europe, Alice Sharpe has said she is happy with her season.
Those remarks follow her ride at the
World Championships in Yorkshire, where she did not achieve a finish.
However, she has been a very strong
campaigner, often riding alone, in the Irish jersey; finishing major
championships in recent years.
And while she was disappointed not to
finish in Yorkshire, she was not overlooking a more than solid campaign in 2019
after stepping up to the UCI WCC pro team.
And though the season is not done, she is already looking forward to next year and hopeful of adding another level to her game.
Asked how the Worlds in Yorkshire had
gone for her she said: “It was a super hard day out but then the greatest prize
in cycling is on the line so it's to be expected.
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“The terrain was also always going to
make for hard racing. I was positioned well going into the first climb.
“With a bit if fighting I was in the
middle of the bunch as we reached the bottom of the Lofthouse climb.
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“But I just wasn't at the level I needed
to be at to stay with the bunch over the climb and lost contact with the main
peloton.
“We formed a group of 20 riders who rode
well together to the finishing circuit,” she said of chasing the race.
However, eventual winner Annemiek
van Vleuten (Netherlands) was flying solo out front towards victory at that
point.
She was followed by a chase group that was already very
far ahead of the peloton, with Sharpe’s group behind that bunch.
The dispersed nature of what remained of
the field meant Sharpe’s group was prevented from going out onto the circuit in
Harrogate.
With that official intervention her race
was over; her second Worlds resulting in a non finish after competing well in
25th at the Europeans earlier this year.
“It's disappointing of course,” she said
of having to stop in Yorkshire when she wanted to continue and finish the race.
“But I've had a great season and
sometimes it's easier to forget how far you've come. This time last year I was
still working and not racing at a UCI level.
“With another year of racing experience
I'll be expecting be finishing with the front bunch.”
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