Alice Sharpe put in a very good effort and could have made it all the way had she been just a couple of positions up the field (All photos Sean Rowe)
Alice Sharpe reflects on Innsbruck World Champs
Ireland’s Alice Sharpe was cruelly denied the chance to finish her first World Championships when an official pulled her out just before the last lap.
As is the practice in international races on circuits, riders who are a long way behind can be pulled out going through the start-finish area.
Eighty one riders passed through the line for the bell, and then the official with a red flag stepped out to stop any more riders embarking on the final lap.
First to be stopped was Poland’s Marta Lach. She was none too please, as the photo below will attest. And then Alice Sharpe was next to be stopped going out onto the last lap of the Innsbruck Worlds.
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Had she been a couple of riders further up the field she would have gone out onto the last lap and recorded a finish.
It was a disappointed for her, but one she took well. And aged 24 years, she will have other chances to come back.
It was a pity as the racing had been extremely hard; the winning effort by Anna van der Breggen (Netherlands) going with 40km remaining.
The official came out and closed the door and that was it for anyone who hadn't already begun the final lap.
When the field split properly for the first time on the Anstieg climb after 62km, she got back into the reduced peloton. And that was where Alice Sharpe began the first of the three 23.8km finishing circuits.
It was a good position to be in as she had been caught behind a crash before the Anstieg and was forced to unclip and briefly stop.
And when the field really split on the first of the three passages of the 7km Igls climb she spent the rest of her race battling.
In the end, the only Irish woman in the race in Austria was forced out with one lap to go. But she said she was delighted to get the chance to ride and had enjoyed it.
“It was an amazing atmosphere and I was just happy to be selected,” said Alice Sharpe of her Innsbruck Worlds experience.
“I was kind of expecting the racing to start later on in the day because it was quite a long hard course. But it felt like it went from the gun.
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“When they went up the short sharp climb fast and then the first climb on the finishing circuit; that just blew the whole race apart.
“So that’s where I lost contact with the bunch and it was a long slog after that.
“The next group on the road was two minutes behind. But obviously in the race you don’t actually know that.
“So I was kind of floating around in no-man’s land for a bit; trying to decide whether to hang on.
“But I wasn’t sure if the people behind were already being pulled (out). I probably wasted a bit of energy there; so I just carried on riding.”
Alice Sharpe battles on the incline. Anna van der Breggen adds the world title to her Olympic crown.
Alice Sharpe said it had been “annoying” earlier in the race to have to put her foot down. It was just before a climb and an unwelcome interruption at exactly the wrong time.
But being pulled out with one circuit to go, and having come so close to being allowed continue was a frustrating end; though one she took well.
“I was a bit disappointed,” she said of being withdrawn by a red flag-waving official.
“But I don’t think I can expect too much from myself. It’s my first (world) championships.
“I think I rode as hard as I could and put everything into it. I’m pleased with my performance.
“I was a bit nervous before the start obviously. It’s the biggest race I’ve ever done.
“And being the only Irish girl there I just wanted to do the best performance I could.
“But as soon as the race started there were crowds the whole way around which were amazing.
“So even when I was suffering I was still smiling. It was just an amazing atmosphere.
“This was definitely one of the toughest races I’ve done. I said that after Glasgow that that was the hardest race,” she said of the European Championships in August where she finished 36th of 106 starters.
“But I think this might have topped it. It was definitely the highest level race that I’ve done. And just to be there even vaguely competing was amazing.”
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