Lucy Bénézet Minns and Aliyah Rafferty have put in strong shifts for Ireland in the junior TT at the UCI World Championships today, though the flat course did not favour the Irish effort.
Rafferty, a first-year junior, was riding her first ever even at a road Worlds but Bénézet Minns came into today's 18.8km race having placed 4th in the same event in Glasgow last year and after winning a European title on the track during the summer.
And though Bénézet Minns took 13th today, which is a very strong result at this level, it was perhaps not what she'd hoped for. As a rider who is very capable on the climbs, and against the watch, she would have preferred terrain today with some lumps and bumps.
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Instead, the course allowed the bigger and powerful riders, whose efforts would have been undermined by climbs, to perform better.
The world title was won by Cat Ferguson, the British junior who is already a Movistar rider and won a pro road race last weekend; claiming the opening stage of AG Tour de la Semois (2.2) in Belgium.
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Over the 18.8km course today, she clocked a time of 23.49, with her average speed of 47.338kmph just over 1kmph faster than the silver medal winner, Viktória Chladoňová (Slovakia), who was 34 seconds down. Imogen Wolff made it a 1-3 for Great Britain and was 36 seconds down on team mate Ferguson.
Bénézet Minns was 13th at 1:26 while Rafferty placed 28th at 2:12. Both riders still have the junior women's road race to come at these Worlds, where they will be joined by Aine Doherty.
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Cat Ferguson powers to the line to become the new Women Junior ITT WORLD CHAMPION! ?#Zurich2024 pic.twitter.com/oPZqyH8SBF
— Eurosport (@eurosport) September 24, 2024
World Championships, Zurich | Junior Women’s TT 18.8km
