On Saturday night, finally the women’s elite took action. Here there is a competition within the competition, where the U23 winner will also be chosen. As has been done for NM for several years now. We had four Norwegian women at first. Katrine Aalerud (Vestby SK/ Movistar Team Women), Anne Dorthe Ysland (Gauldal SK/ Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), Ingvild Gåskjenn (Horten OCK/Team Coop-Hitec Products), Mari Hole Mohr (Stavanger SK/Team Coop-Hitec Products) and Marte Berg Edseth (Ringerike SK/Uno-X Pro Cycling Team). Ysland and Hole Mohr are our two guys who can fight at u23 class.

The route for the women is 164.3 km with an altitude of 2433 meters. The women also experienced Mount Pleasant as a junior and u23, but they started in Helensburgh as the men’s elite will tomorrow. There they ‘intro’ 27km towards Wollonggong, before they make another loop in Wollonggong about Mount Keira. They then went into a familiar environment for those who had attended WC in the past. The final six rounds, where they would then climb Mount Pleasant.

At the starting line, 130 women stand on the starting line in the sunshine in Helensburgh. From the start, there were quite a few people who were eager to break through. When crossing the finish line in Wollongong, Verhulst from France made a solo break, ahead of the two drivers who were 34 seconds behind. Next came the Danish Koerner 1.02 behind, and then the main court trailed 1.34. All the Norwegians are in the main square.

Above Mount Keira, more and more people know about it, and the field is well laid out. But in the downhill run and the easier sections thereafter, some were able to drive onto the course again. With approx. With 110 kilometers to go, three riders broke down. Andersson from Sweden, Backstedt from Great Britain and van der Velde from Belgium. They are approx. minutes +/- before the main field. Unfortunately, Marte Berg Edseth had rolled over Mount Keira, and had to stop the race on their return for a round at Wollongong. But four other Norwegians were still on center field.

The first time climbing Mount Pleasant, it was controlled in the main field and the Norwegians managed to join up on the hill. The second time up the hill, Andersson found himself struggling on the break, and had to shake off two other resting partners. Aalerud also struggled a bit up the hill, but held his ground at the other end of the field.

With 70 kilometers to go, the duo still had a one-minute lead on center court where our four Norwegian women were still on. On the fourth final lap, the main course picked up speed and added seconds at rest. Then Aalerud had to leave the field again. And this time he could not follow the hills as he was pushed steadily up Mount Pleasant. Iceland also felt the pace and had to drop a few meters onto center court, but recovered. Gåskjenn and Mohr managed to keep pace with the main square on the hill. Against the pass for the third and final time, the break was made. Then Spela Kern from Slovakia took a broadside and hatched into the main square. It didn’t take a few kilometers before Kern was pushed onto main square.

To collapse on the third final lap, Katrine Aalerud fell behind 5 minutes 17 seconds and then broke the race. Aboard the third and final Mount Pleasant, Anne Dorthe Ysland and Ingvild Gåskjenn felt the pace and had to leave center court. Mari Hole Mohr sat at the tail end of main course as they crossed the finish line in the penultimate lap. Iceland is 1.07 past behind and Gåskjenn is 1.37 past behind. And with two laps to go, the race really started. This time it was Sarah Roy from Australia who tried to move, and managed to hold on for a few seconds in front of the field.

More and more people started getting the hang of it and more fell off the main court up the slopes for the last time. The field is divided into small groups over a second time. A tight group of six riders is formed. Italian Borghini, German Lippert, Danish Ludwig, Polish Niewiadoma, and South African Moolman-Pasio get hatches of approx. 25 seconds to group 2.

Mari Hole Mohr trailed 2.11 at the last round, in group no.5. Anne Dorthe Ysland is 4.40 behind and Ingvild Gåskjenn is 6.48 behind. Groups 1 and 2 meet again with a distance of 14 kilometers. Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser went to and entered the speed hill with 16 seconds on the field. Rausser is at the top, and a new group of 5 people is formed, the same five as in the previous round. The group of two drew closer, and with another kilometer the groups were brought together.

And of course Annemiek van Vleuten joined the sprint and she became world champion again after a long sprint from behind! Silver went to Lotte Kopecky and bronze to Silvia Persico. Happy! The U23 world champion is Niamh Fisher-Black from New Zealand. Silver for Pfeiffer Georgi from Great Britain and bronze for Ricarda Bauernfeind from Germany.

The best Norwegian is Mari Hole Mohr at 39th. 9th place in class U23! This was approved by the WC debutant. Anne Dorthe Ysland is turning 55 years old, placing 14th in the class u23. Ingvild Gåskjenn is in 67th place.

Published September 24