Alice Sharpe placed 11th in the elimination race at the UCI World Track Championships in Paris this evening. The Irish rider was unlucky, and looked surprised, not to go further in the event.
Orla Walsh made her Worlds debut in the sprint event today, placing 26th of the 34-rider field in qualifying after clocking a time of 11.079. That put her into the 1/16 round - for riders who placed 5th to 28th in qualifying.
The 1/16 round consists of head-to-head sprints, where Walsh met Great Britain's Sophie Capewll, who had placed 7th in qualifying. The Irish rider was beaten Capewell, who advanced into he 1/8 round, with Walsh knocked out of the competition at that point.
That was a disappointing outing for her as the national record she set in the Europeans earlier this year was about a tenth of a second faster than she rode in qualifying today. However, with her first ever sprint outing at a Worlds now in the bank she has gained invaluable experience and still has the 500m TT to come on Saturday.
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Meanwhile, in the elimination race in Paris this evening national road race champion Sharpe looked to be riding very well and within herself as the field was whittled down each lap. The Irish rider also avoided a nasty crash at the bottom of the track which saw about six riders fall, though they rejoined the event after it was neutralised for a short period.
With 24 riders having started the race, Sharpe looked in control as she survived to the halfway point; 12 riders eliminated for crossing the line last on each of the 12 sprint laps and 12 remaining for the second half of the race.
However, while Sharpe looked like she was easily maintaining her place in that zone in the group that was keeping her out of trouble each lap, she was then caught out. With the field down to 11 riders, there was a surge among several women at the back of the field on the line on the sprint lap.
And in a blanket finish among four or five riders, Sharpe was last over the line and was eliminated. Her apparent surprise at being taken out of the race strongly suggested she had a lot more to give and was surprised in her final sprint rather than lacking the legs.
The race was won by Belgium's Lotte Kopecky, the top road pro who won Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche this year. Italy's Rachele Barbieri, who won the omnium and madison at the Europeans this year, took silver. Jennifer Valente of the US, a four-time world champion in team pursuit and reigning omnium Olympic champion, took 3rd.
