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Danish rider Albert Philipsen underlined his versatility when he soloed to victory in the junior men’s road race at cycling’s world championships on Saturday, ending the race over a minute clear.
The 16-year-old had previously won the European cross country mountain bike title last month, as well as national titles across a range of disciplines.
He launched a decisive attack with 15.8km remaining, gapping the six other riders he was with, and continued to ride powerfully to the finish.
“I felt really, really good out there,” he said. “I could feel that I really wasn’t getting any more tired after all the laps and I felt as if I had just started. It was really, really good.”
Philipsen said that the game plan from the Danish squad was to make the race hard. He and teammate Theodor Storm ended up in the decisive move, with the latter helping pave the way for his success.
“On the second to last lap I did a little attack and I got a little gap to all the other guys. So knew that when I went [again], I was going to be able to get away. I just waited patiently for the right moment and went full gas from there,” Philipsen said.
The tough course saw the 127.7km road race completely blow apart, with the combination of steep hills and technical corners taking its toll. A spate of riders crashed out, while many others faded due to accumulated fatigue.
Philipsen eventually finished 1:19 ahead of the next two riders, with Paul Fietzke (Germany) beating Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Norway) for silver. The latter is the half-brother of pro rider Alexander Kristoff.
Fourth place went to Juan David Sierra (Italy), who dropped his chain on the last ascent of Scott Street, but who rebounded to beat Storm for fourth. Henry Neff was the best US rider in 31st.
Philipsen has tipped compatriot Mads Pedersen for success in Sunday’s Elite road race championships. He’s celebrating his own rainbow jersey now. “It is a bit weird. It is something that I have been dreaming of and working towards for such a long time. It is just crazy that it has finally happened.”
Following on from Ferrand-Prévot
Julie Bego of France solos to victory in the women junior road race at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Meanwhile Julie Bego took what was France’s first gold medal in the junior women’s road race in 13 years, soling to victory on Saturday morning.
The 18-year-old echoed the country’s last such triumph in 2010, when Pauline Ferrand-Prévot landed world championship gold ahead of Rossella Ratto (Italy) and the USA’s Coryn Labecki.
Ferrand-Prévot has since gone on to a glittering career, landing senior world titles in the road race, cyclocross, gravel and mountain bike events.
Bego will hope to follow in her wheel tracks, and showed confidence with both her ride and also in her post-race quotes.
“It’s two months that I’ve been telling everyone that I’ll be world champion,” she said after her win.
“Today I made it happen. I’ve worked so hard, and there have been six months that I’ve thought about it.”
Bego launched her bid on Glasgow’s steep Eldon Street with 20km remaining, gapping a select lead group, and hovered between ten and 20 seconds clear for the final lap.
She admitted that going so early in the 70.3km race was a risk.
“I was told to stay quiet for the first few laps and come to the front in the third lap and in the end attacked before the last lap.”
“I was worried I went too far out, and I wouldn’t have the strength to go all the way to the finish. I convinced myself that I wasn’t going to make it just to be focused. I took a few risks in the corners but now I’m world champion.”
British favorite Cat Ferguson and Belgium’s Fleur Moors were second and third, nine seconds behind, while Italy’s hope Federica Venturelli was fourth.
Makala Jaramillo was the best USA rider, finishing 43rd.
Bego said a big part of her success was the strength of the French squad.
“I was afraid that I wanted it so much I’d make mistakes,” she admitted. “I had an amazing team around me, and today I knew that success wouldn’t just be about how strong I was but how the team would be there. The atmosphere in the team was amazing.”