Having watched the World Championships on TV as an U16 rider last year, Josie Knight represented Ireland today and despite crashing it has made what seems like a lasting impact on here. Seen here about to start this morning (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Ponferrada
Josie Knight is remaining upbeat despite crashing in the closing kilometres of this morning’s 13.9km junior women’s individual time-trial at the World Championships in Ponferrada.
The 17-year-old first year junior hit the deck with 2.5 kilometres to go and would eventually finish 37th, 1:45 behind winner Macy Stewart of Australia. But she believes a top 10 would have been possible only for the untimely spill.
Knight was one of the early starters, having rolled down the start-ramp at 10:06am. And she was flying early on; her name regularly being called out over the tannoy as one of the early pace-setters. But it all went horribly wrong in what were truly wretched conditions today.
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“I’m fine, a bit banged up,” she recalls of the moment she went down.
“I was coming down this fast descent, I was off the skis (tri-bars); my hands resting on the bars. But they were wet and they’re carbon so it’s not like bar tape with grip.
Knight was moving very nicely before her crash and a top 10 looked likely. She will be back next year stronger and wiser and determined to give it her all (Photo: Sirotti)
“I went over a bump and I flew forward and that sent the back wheel spinning and I thought I’d saved it but I went over another bump and then I went flying into the ditch.
“I got back on the bike, but my chain was off so I had to get off again. It wasn’t too bad, there’s nothing you can do about it. I wasn’t that disappointed or heartbroken.
“I just remember being on the floor but I just hopped straight back on and went again and put it out of my mind. At the finish the adrenaline was pumping and I said ‘I just gotta move on, there’s nothing I can do.’ I just wanted to get home as soon as I could, just drive it to the finish.”
Asked where she could have finished, she felt a top 10 may have been in the offing.
“At the time I had 2.5 kilometres to go and looking at the results there I’m 1:45 down and I reckon I lost a minute in the crash. So I reckon I would’ve got a top 10.
“I wanted to go as hard as I could and see where I could get but it’s all experience for next year. I want to come back and really give it everything.
Knight after her ride, with her Ireland skinsuit cut to pieces and filthy after her high-speed encounter with the tarmac.
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“At the back of my mind I was hoping for a top 10, I didn’t know was that possible or not but that is what I wanted. Brian (Nugent, Cycling Ireland high performance manager) never said anything; he just wants to develop me and there’s no pressure from him. He just said 'you tore the suit' at the finish and that made me laugh.
“Cycling Ireland are the best you could have, they’re all behind you. I’m very proud; I could never have expected my year to gone as well as it has. It’s been a dream coming here. I was going well at the time, but there’s always next year.”
For Knight, just being here represents a truly remarkable rise in her stock. This time last year she had never ridden the track and raced for fun.
Now she wants to “go all the way, wherever that takes me”; an ambition that will only be fuelled by her ride today and her silver medal in the pursuit at the European Track Championships earlier this year.
“It was only last year I was watching this on television thing ‘wow these girls are amazing’. And now I’m there myself. I want to go all the way in this sport, as far as I can.
“I love the track, that’s my passion, track and the time-trial. I love road racing too but I need to work on it a bit because my bunch skills aren’t great but that’s just a lack of experience. I haven’t been doing it long enough.”
Sport has always been big in her family and she tried just about everything. But when she rode the bike for the first time, she knew she had discovered her real passion.
“We’ve always cycled in our family; my dad was always into it and then a couple of years ago someone said ‘you’re always cycling you should try a race’.
“So I went to the Kerry championships one year and I was on my steel racing bike and my brother was on his mountain bike and I won and he was second, so we said we must do this a bit more. This is fun. It just kicked off from there.
“I did everything as a child; running, cross-country, football, basketball but cycling was it for me. I fell in love with it, I absolutely love it. My hand-eye co-ordination isn’t great, I was never good at ball sports and then I found cycling and said, ‘this is it’.
“I don’t really know who I look up to in the sport but I do love Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara, I suppose Laura Trott is a hero of mine too and Caroline Ryan as well.
“She’s been brilliant; over in Majorca she helps me, and brought me on loads and it’s great to be able to train with someone like here at the top of her game.”
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