Wong battles for Ireland as U23 Worlds dominated by Backstedt | Sticky Bottle

*Esther Wong flew the flag for Ireland as our sole representative in the U23 women's world title race, which was dominated by GB's Zoe Backstedt (Photo: Toby Watson)*

Esther Wong was today the sole representative for Ireland in the U23 women's race at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in France. Riding her first Worlds in the green of Ireland, she battled around the courts to an eventual 35th place.

Wong, who is also likely to compete on road and track for Ireland in the years ahead, is a first-year U23 rider and will take valuable lessons from today's Worlds ride. She has also competed in some of the UCI World Cup races in Europe in recent months, getting to grips with the pace of big time U23-elite racing in Europe.

Today, Wong was gridded close to the back of the field but thankfully she, and the other riders, managed to side step potential disaster at the start when Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg) missed her pedal at the start.

While Schreiber - the eventual silver medal winner - switched across the packed field a little, she somehow managed to stay upright, with Wong not far behind her.

Wong worked away at it through the six laps of the 2.8km course in Liévin, on a cold day when frost was as much as an issue as the mud on the steep inclines and tricky descents.

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Up front, 20-year-old British rider Zoe Backstedt powered her way to her second U23 world title in succession, and her second of the week having won team relay gold already at these French championships.

Backstedt was first into the opening corner of the race, and while she took a couple of tumbles later in the contest, they did not disrupt her focus. Once alone out front she powered her way to gold, winning by 39 seconds from Schreiber.

Though the winning margin was significant, Schreiber had pegged the champion back to just 16 seconds at one point on the final lap to keep the destination of the title, at least in theory, in the balance.

Leonie Bentveld took the bronze medal for the Netherlands, at 1:20, and the gap to the 10th placed rider - Simona Spěšná of the Czech Republic - was 4:48. Ireland's Wong finished in 35th at 1 lap.