Bradbury wins U23 silver, Roseman-Gannon fights to 6th in Elite Road Race World Championship

Neve Bradbury has won Australia’s first road race world championship medal for under-23 women, taking silver in Zurich on Saturday.

Meanwhile, up ahead, fellow Victorian Ruby Roseman-Gannon rode brilliantly with the favourites to place sixth overall in a rain-soaked Women Elite Road Race at the UCI Road World Championships.

It was an excellent display from the ARA Australian Cycling Team, whose riders animated the 154-kilometre race throughout its key moments.

This attritional race was the last time the elite women’s event would be combined with the under-23s since the latter category was created in 2022.

The steep climbs and twisting descents were made all the more challenging by the miserable conditions, with rain falling on a freezing peloton all day long.

Bradbury follows an attack by Demi Vollering. (Tim de Waele / Getty Images)

The early skirmishes began with 100km to go when Sarah Gigante bridged to a 12-rider breakaway featuring many of the major nations, including the Netherlands and Belgium.

After that group was reeled back in 30km later, the peloton constantly split and re-formed over the undulating hills, but Roseman-Gannon maintained good position in the pack with Bradbury.

On the penultimate lap, the race split on the main Witikon climb, and Bradbury kept company with a front group of around 15 riders, even putting in an attack of her own.

A rider each from Belgium and the Netherlands formed a two-up breakaway before Roseman-Gannon, who had been distanced earlier, returned to bridge across to the leaders along with the legendary Marianne Vos.

From there, Roseman-Gannon rode a tactically astute race with maturity beyond her 25 years. The Melburnian resisted the pressure to waste energy, backing herself to follow the favourites until deep into the finale.

That allowed her to latch on when the top climbers attacked across from behind: Demi Vollering (NED), Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA) and Liane Lippert (GER) made the junction – followed later by Lotte Kopecky (BEL) and Chloe Dygert (USA) – to form an elite leading group.

Ruby in the breakaway. (Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

In one of her strongest performances since winning the Australian championship in January, Roseman-Gannon stayed in contention even as Vos and others were dropped.

She reached her limit, however, on the last climb of the race with 6km remaining. There, the legs gave out and Roseman-Gannon let go with a big fight to get herself back to the front.

Chasing hard with Dygert, who had also been dropped, Roseman-Gannon dug deep to return to the leaders under the flamme rouge with 1km to go.

She then played her last card, attacking over the top with her momentum, but was unable to get a gap, and the race would come down to a sprint between six.

Defending champion Kopecky proved quickest, sprinting to her second world title in a row. Roseman-Gannon, empty from her huge earlier efforts, had to settle for a hard-fought sixth place.

"Today was an unimaginable surprise for me because I came in as the number-one domestique to try and help my team," Roseman-Gannon told Eurosport. "But, sometimes good things happen when you least expect it.

"I came in with absolutely no pressure and I really wanted to do a good job for the team, so I was doing as much lead-ins and positioning and giving my bottles and gels. To make it to the final, I was like, I kind of wished I hadn’t done that because I really needed that extra bit in my legs.

"But it was one of those days: I trained really, really hard this year only for the mixed relay and I wasn’t able to contribute much to the team. It was amazing that we won, but I was really disappointed that I couldn’t give more to the team.

"And then, today, to have the legs, it’s just – sometimes the world works in incredible ways."

Neve takes silver on the under-23 women's podium. (Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

The race for the under-23 title played out in the main peloton three minutes behind. It was a bunch sprint in the the race-within-a-race, where Dutchwoman Puck Pieterse outkicked Bradbury and Germany’s Antonia Niedermaier to take the rainbow bands.

Bradbury’s breakthrough season draws towards its conclusion with a world championship medal to go alongside her stage wins, GC podiums and young rider’s jerseys from the Giro d’Italia and Tour de Suisse, and her under-23 Australian title.

Gigante finished just off the back of the peloton in 20th, while time trial world champion Grace Brown completed her final UCI World Championships with 30th, finishing in the same group as Brodie Chapman.

Earlier in the day, Alana Forster won bronze for the ARA Australian Cycling Team in the Women C5 Road Race.

2024 UCI Road World Championships - Results

Women Elite Road Race

1. Lotte Kopecky (BEL) 4:05:26
2. Chloe Dygert (USA) +0
3. Elisa Longho Borghini (ITA) +0
6. Ruby Roseman-Gannon (AUS) +0
15. Neve Bradbury (AUS) +3:00
20. Sarah Gigante (AUS) +3:21
30. Grace Brown (AUS) +10:10
38. Brodie Chapman (AUS) +10:10
DNF. Tiffany Cromwell AUS)

Women Under-23 Road Race

1. Puck Pieterse (NED) 4:08:26
2. Neve Bradbury (AUS) +0
3. Antonia Niedermaier (GER) +0

Feature photo: Tim de Waele / Getty Images