National time-trial champion Anna Turvey gave it her all in her debut World Championships and finished 28th out of 40 riders (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Brian Canty
Ireland’s sole female competitor at the World Championships in Doha, Anna Turvey, completed the elite women’s TT in 28th place earlier today.
Amber Nebben of the US took the gold medal in a time of 36:37; the 40-year-old beating Ellen Van Dijk (Netherlands) and Katrin Garfoot (Australia) by six and eight seconds respectively.
Reigning Irish TT champion Turvey has clocked some blistering times against the clock this season and set a time of 40:51 today.
Her prowess against the watch was underlined not only by winning the Irish title in June, but by the manner of her victory.
She put well over three minutes into the silver medal winner on the night, Eve McCrystal (Team ASEA)
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Turvey, who only recently declared for Ireland, is based in the UK and has competed for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in the past.
She has also ridden the British championships but declared for Ireland last year.
The Tyneside Velo rider is a brilliant 10-mile tester and occupied the top 10 for a time today but as the last raft of riders were let off she slipped down to what is a very encouraging 28th.
“The conditions were brutal,” said Turvey. “I went off a bit conservatively, knowing how hard it was going to be.
“It was 40 degrees with a hot wind. Within two minutes I had cotton mouth, cotton throat and cotton chest! At the start of the second lap the heat hit hard.
It was a tough day for Turvey but she was clearly thrilled to be at the Worlds and has a great attitude (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“I just kept losing power. I told myself to just keep going, as it’s the same for everyone.
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“I could see my numbers were well down and thought ‘come on, are you really going as hard as you can?’ Then I threw up, which reassured me that I was!
“My average power was down by about 15 per cent, but my heart rate was where it would normally be.
“At home I tried to do as much as I could to prepare, by sitting in a steam room and sauna for as long as I could bear, and also spent time in the environmental chamber at Northumbria University; they set it to 35 degrees and 50 per cent humidity.”
Turvey was said she was delighted to be riding the Worlds.
“My main ambitions this year were to win the National TT Champs, and to try to break the National TT records.
“Getting to the Worlds was a bit of a ridiculous ambition at the beginning of the year, but I’ve had a great season. I’m better than I’ve ever been.
“This has been a really awesome experience; I can’t quite believe I’m here. The support from the Irish team has been amazing and I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’m getting.
“Racing at this level, getting support from very experienced former riders [on the support team] and meeting the other riders and learning from them is amazing.”
Nicolas Roche is looking lean and focused at the world championships this week and he'd love to sign off his season with a top 10 in the elite time-trial tomorrow afternoon. (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Next up for Ireland are Nicolas Roche and Ryan Mullen in the elite time-trial tomorrow afternoon.
Roche, the reigning national time-trial champion looks in really good shape and his ride for Team Sky in the team time-trial at the weekend augers very well for tomorrow.
He never has any problems with the heat and often goes better later in the season so based on that he should be aiming to really push the top 10.
Rohan Dennis, Taylor Phinney, Tony Martin, Vasil Kiryienka, Jonathan Castroviejo, Alex Dowsett, Tom Dumoulin, Marcin Bialoblocki and Primoz Roglic should all be there pushing for the gold medal.
Ryan Mullen has done top 10s in this kind of company before – the inaugural European Games in Azerbaijan last year as well as the Tour of Britain this year - so he too can be confident of being in and around the top half.
It’s his first time doing the elite TT at the world championships and probably prefers the shorter 10-15mile efforts but on a flat course such as tomorrow’s track he will love it.
And unlike last year, there is zero chance of rain!
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